Pregnancy and diabetes

Guidelines for women with diabetes (or previous gestational diabetes) planning a pregnancy.

With more and more people being diagnosed with diabetes (affecting an estimated 2 per cent of the UK population), the numbers of women with diabetes who also have to negotiate a pregnancy is also increasing.

With ongoing improvements in understanding the condition, medicines and accessories, the chances of having a safe and successful outcome for mother and child are greater to day than they ever have been.

As with any pregnancy, someone with diabetes should undertake the step after proper consideration and consultation. More than ever, close control of your blood sugars will be required, both for your own health and the health of your child while in the womb.

Blood testing
It will be important to undertake frequent blood testing, if you do not do so already, and you will be encouraged to tighten up on your targets.

Blood sugar values should be as close to normal as possible prior to conception to minimize risk to the developing baby. Fasting blood glucose (your morning blood test taken before you’ve eaten breakfast) should be around 6 mmol/L as often as possible. At King’s College London, a leading centre for diabetes, the guidelines are for 3.5 – 5.5 mmol/l) Aim for blood sugars below 8 mmol/L all the time. Again, King’s guidelines are for blood glucose levels to be between 4 – 7 mmol/l after meals. The aim is to average about 6 mmol/L. If you’re familiar with adjusting your insulin doses, based on frequent blood sugar levels, then do so to meet your new targets.

Being pregnant will mean that your energy requirements will alter. How your body processes the food you eat and the insulin you take means you will have to change from your normal, pre-pregnancy patterns, but it is likely that you will find control is actually easier to attain and maintain than when you’re not pregnant.

Insulin
Many people with diabetes now take two insulins — a long- acting (or ‘night-time’ insulin which lasts over 24 hours, as well as a short-acting one taken at meal times which lasts up to three hours. One or possibly both will have to be adjusted and probably re-adjusted throughout the duration of the pregnancy, with your body returning to pre-pregnancy requirements after the birth.

Any diabetic woman will be advised to do more blood tests, possibly as many as eight a day in order to achieve the tight blood sugar control that is desired.

In the main, you will probably stay on the same insulins that you were already taking, and most of the insulins available in the UK have some studies related to them on their affects during pregnancy. If you have major concerns, you can contact the insulin supplier for detailed information.

With your medical team:

If you are taking an ACE inhibitor because of renal disease (protein in your urine) or hypertension (high blood pressure), then this needs to be stopped and changed to a BP tablet that is fetus friendly prior to conception. (Statins – cholesterol lowering tablets, also need to be stopped). However, the protein in your urine may return during the pregnancy. If you do have kidney disease then you should consult with your medical team and possibly with a high-risk pregnancy specialist, as there are additional increased risks to a pregnancy. The decision for a pregnancy in this circumstance should be made very carefully.

Hypos
Plan to stay very active both before and during pregnancy, unless your obstetrician tells you to slow down. In fact, the more you exercise, the easier it should be to keep your blood sugar levels down. However, you should carry a store of quick-acting carbohydrate with you at all times in order to treat possible hypoglycaemia, which may occur with less notice than usual as your body has increased energy requirements during the pregnancy. In case of more extreme needs, be sure your partner and, if you are working, someone in the office knows how to give you a glucagen shot if you’re knocked out by low blood sugar. That will mean keeping a glucagen emergency kit handy (be sure those around you know where it is!).

Kitbags can really help in this endeavour.

Always wear some form of identification that indicates you have diabetes. With the very tight control that is recommended, you might have a severe insulin reaction that would need help from someone else.

Keeping your insulin injection device, blood testing kit as well as a source of sugar together in one, easy to access place can help both you and the people around you gain good control and will ensure that you can quickly test and take any action necessary on the result of the test.

The birth
Mothers with diabetes are often encouraged to either be induced at around 38 weeks, or to have a caesarean, due to the fact that their babies tend to be a little bit bigger than average, and that the placenta can ‘age’ a little faster, sometimes contributing to a complicated birth. At this stage sometimes a ‘sliding scale’ of insulin solution and sugar solution are giving to mothers via a drip, to allow the doctors monitor control. However, if the mother is capable of blood testing during the birth, then that may also be considered in consultation with the diabetes team and obstetrician.

Breast-feeding
Breast-feeding is encouraged with mothers with diabetes as with the rest of the population, the only issue for diabetic mothers being an impact on their own energy requirements. Continued close monitoring of blood sugars is advised, mainly as the mother will already be tired and having hypos won’t improve that situation at all. At this stage, the mother’s blood sugar levels will not be an issue for the baby or affect the breast milk in any way. Good control will simply be a benefit to a mother dealing with a newborn baby.

General health advice to the mother: