If you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes, it is necessary to check and have your blood glucose under control so that you can prevent any complication throughout your pregnancy as well as your delivery to make sure of your baby’s health. You may also have to check future blood glucose levels. Treatment can be:
Checking your blood glucose
During pregnancy, you may be required to check your blood glucose levels between four and five times each day, which can be immediately upon awakening and after each meal, to ensure your blood glucose levels remain in a safe range. In practice, monitoring you blood glucose levels is not as difficult as it sounds. To check your blood glucose, you use a lancet which is a small needle to get a little blood from one of your fingers, have the blood put on a test strip before slipping it into a meter which can measure and show your blood glucose level.
During labor as well as delivery, your healthcare professionals will manage and monitor your blood glucose. When your blood glucose level is raised, lots of insulin may be sent out by your baby and that can result in reduced blood glucose in your child immediately after delivery.
It is necessary to have follow-up blood glucose tests because after getting gestational diabetes, your risk of getting type 2 diabetes is much greater. So, you ought to get your healthcare professionals to help you watch out for high blood glucose levels. This probability can be reduced by having a healthy lifestyle with everyday exercise and a balanced nutritious diet.
Healthy diet
The most effective way to manage your blood glucose is to consume the right amount of the right type of food. During pregnancy, doctors do not recommend weight loss as your developing baby needs the nutrition from the food you consume. However, depending upon your weight before conceiving, your doctor will think of how much weight you ought to put on. Too much weight gain can bring possible complications and therefore, this has to be avoided by eating the right choice of food.
Whole grains, vegetables and fruits are usually used in healthy meals as such foods have less too well refined carbohydrates such as sweets, less calories and fat but contain lots of fiber and nutrition. However, no one diet is suitable for all women. So, you will need a diabetes educator or a registered dietitian to help you design a food plan with regards to your present blood glucose level, weight, your targeted pregnancy weight increases, food preferences, budget, and your exercise level.
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Exercise
Physical activity each day is essential to the health of all women throughout life, even during pregnancy. Your blood glucose level is lowered by exercise which gets your body to send glucose to your cells so that it can be converted to energy. The cells’ sensitivity to insulin is improved by exercise and this means there is less need and therefore, less production of insulin to move the glucose into the cells. Furthermore, exercise does reduce such problems as difficulty in falling asleep, constipation, swelling, muscle cramps and back pain during pregnancy. With exercise, the body will be strong enough to go through labor as well as childbirth.
With the approval from your doctor, do some fairly vigorous exercise almost every day. If you want to start exercising after a sedentary lifestyle, go slow initially and as your strength and stamina improves, you can go on to more vigorous activities. During pregnancy, swimming, cycling and walking are usually good activities. Of course, the usual everyday activities in the garden or the house can be just as good.
Medications
Should exercise and diet be not sufficient to manage your blood glucose, insulin injections may be needed. To have the blood glucose levels remain in the targeted range, about ten to twenty percent of gestational diabetes cases need insulin. There are some doctors who prescribe oral medications like glyburide to control blood glucose but certain doctors feel that there is insufficient research to be sure that oral medications are as effective and safe as insulin in controlling gestational diabetes.
Monitoring baby’s growth and development
To follow the development of your baby is necessary in the treatment of your gestational diabetes. Your fetus’ development and growth may be monitored with a number of tests and ultrasounds. If you do not experience labor at an expected date, or have it too early, induced labor may be necessary. Childbirth after the expected date can bring greater complication risks for your baby and you.
The benefits of breast-feeding
If work as well as other obligations permits you to breastfeed your baby, it can assist in preventing future type 2 diabetes and also reach the targeted weight after pregnancy. Your baby can also benefit from breast-feeding with reduced chances of type 2 diabetes and obesity in later years.