It’s Never Too Early…To Prevent Diabetes

If you had gestational diabetes when you were pregnant, you and your child have a lifelong risk for getting diabetes.

Gestational diabetes mellitus, or GDM, is a type of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy and affects at least 7 percent and possibly as many as 18 percent of pregnancies in the United States. Women who have had gestational diabetes should be tested for diabetes 6 to 12 weeks after their baby is born. If the test results show that blood glucose is higher than normal, but not high enough to be diabetes, women should get tested every year. If the test is normal, women should get tested for diabetes again in 3 years. Women with a history of gestational diabetes have a 35 to 60 percent chance of developing diabetes in the next 10 to 20 years. Additionally, the children of pregnancies where the mother had gestational diabetes may also be at increased risk for obesity and diabetes. Check out the sections below to learn more.