Gestational Diabetes in Pregnancy

What is Gestational Diabetes (GD)?

The hormone Insulin plays critical role in Diabetes. The body needs glucose, a sugar, as a source of energy. Hormone Insulin helps glucose pass uniformly into the cells of the body where it is broken down into energy. Due to a variety of factors human body either stops production of Insulin or does not use Insulin in an efficient manner. This shows up as high glucose levels in the body and glucose passes out through urine. This can cause problems for the mother and for baby during pregnancy if she is diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes.

How do we diagnose GD?

At The Sanctum, we ensure that we gather as much information about mother’s health history, her family health history, her lifestyle, so that we can obtain a health profile of her. People whose family members (parents, grand parents etc) had diabetes are more susceptible to this condition. We make sure we have a very clear picture of mother’s health conditions and are proactive in putting together a care package for mothers who either have Gestational Diabetes or who may be candidates for Gestational Diabetes.

The most common test we use is blood tests to screen for Gestational Diabetes between 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. If we have prior knowledge of mother’s family health history or if we feel she may be highly prone to it, we may do the blood test earlier. If the tests come out positive for high glucose levels, we perform Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) to confirm the diagnosis. This test requires that mother drink juice and subsequently blood is drawn every hour for a three-hour period.

Now that GD is confirmed how to treat it?

At The Sanctum, GD is more of controlling and management. We create a plan in consultation with the mother and her partner which balances her medication with changes in activity levels and Diet. This may involve Insulin shots if GD is higher than normal levels. The mother faces a higher chance of carrying her baby to full term if she is able to control her GD levels during pregnancy.

The most important controlling factors for GD are Activity and Diet. Exercise, Walking, Aerobics play a large role in burning up of those calories. We recommend our Prenatal Aerobics program for not only for women who have GD, but also for ALL to-be-mothers as it will help them burn calories during pregnancy, not only providing energy to them but also for their growing baby. If GD is not checked and controlled, baby receives increased levels of sugar which causes it to be at increased risk of having diabetes later on in life.

Wht is a typical Gestational Diet?

Perhaps even more important is a controlled Diet that allows the proper mix of proteins, carbohydrates and fat. Following is a sample Diet for Gestational Diabetes, especially for our Indian mothers:

• BREAKFAST
  • Two Idlys, with 1 tbsp of coriander or pudina chutney OR
  • Oatmeal with skim milk; 2 dates; 2 walnuts; 2 almonds; chopped apple or strawberry OR
  • 1 or 2 eggs, boiled or as omlette
• MID MORNING
  • Medium bowl of mixed fruit: Musambi, Apple or Orange OR
  • 5-6 grapes OR
  • 2 small cubes of paneer
• LUNCH
  • 2 chapattis (jowar or multigrain atta) +
  • small bowl of brown rice +
  • 1 medium size cup of daal ( or chana or rajma or black eyed peas) OR
  • 1 serving of non-veg or 1 egg + sabzi
  • 1 cup of Dahi
  • PLEASE INCLUDE either Palak, Methi, etc on a regular basis (as a source of Iron)
• ALTERNATE DIET FOR LUNCH
  • Salad (also can be had as snack during the day)
    • Lettuce, Spinach, Red Cabbage, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Scallion (Green Onion), 2 cubes of paneer
    • Dressing (make sure it does not have sweetener or high calories. Use Lemon, salt, 1/2 tsp of honey/vinegar with a touch of olive oil)
• DINNER – Use similar conbination of LUNCH diet and alternate

One of the benefits of The Collaborative Model of Care at The Sanctum is that we apply the best aspects of the normal birth focused Midwifery Care in normal situations with selective aspects of Medical Management to bring Optimal, Safe and Satisfying birth for mothers who have conditions like GD. We are able to manage conditions like GD with inputs from our backup OB partner so that we give mothers the best of all worlds.

Collaborative Care at The Sanctum and Management of Gestational Diabetes

Every Antenatal Care session is Family Centered, unhurried and personalized. The emphasis is on Holistic Care which improves birth outcomes. We provide parents with unbiased, education counseling about how their baby is growing, on Nutrition and Exercise on an individualized basis. Throughout their pregnancy moms receive care and counseling from the Same team of midwives. This promotes familiarity, trust, and closeness between moms and families and their care providers, which helps a great deal during labor and birth. Use of Test, Scans and other interventions is kept at a minimum.

NOTE: While the above is a generalized Diet for Gestational Diabetes moms, please be very careful of using it on your own WITHOUT consulting your care provider. Each mother’s diet is carefully constructed based on detailed analysis of her condition and her family history. Every mother at The Sanctum receives a customized diet program based on HER specific situation, which may not be applicable or relevant to other moms.

In case you are interested in consulting with us and getting advice on correct Diet please fill out the Contact Us form or Call us at 72071 68666 and mention “Diet Counseling for Gestational Diabetes”. We will get back to you shortly.

Learn more about our Pre-Delivery Services by clicking on the following links

• Prenatal Yoga
• Prenatal Massage