Does gestational diabetes require early delivery?

Written by Luo Han Ying

Endocrinology

Updated on January 12, 2025

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Patients with gestational diabetes primarily have higher blood sugar levels compared to normal pregnant women. For such individuals, strict blood sugar control is generally required. Poor control of blood sugar can significantly impact the baby and pose dangers during childbirth. However, for those patients with well-controlled gestational diabetes, it is possible to carry the pregnancy to full term without the need for early delivery. Early delivery, leading to a premature birth, can have a greater detrimental effect on the infant than the effects caused by high blood sugar. Therefore, patients with gestational diabetes do not need to deliver early. They can manage their condition through strict dietary control, including fetal monitoring and close monitoring of the baby’s vital signs, considering delivery only after reaching full term.

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Written by Chen Xie

Endocrinology

1min 4sec

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Risk of gestational diabetes in second pregnancy

For women with gestational diabetes, the risk of diabetes in a second pregnancy is higher. Therefore, it is recommended that mothers who have had gestational diabetes undergo fasting glycosylated hemoglobin monitoring at a hospital before becoming pregnant, to rule out the possibility of pre-pregnancy diabetes. Additionally, it is advised to maintain a reasonable diet throughout the pregnancy, exercise regularly, and avoid high-calorie, high-sugar foods, as this can help prevent and reduce the occurrence of diabetes. In fact, for mothers expecting their second child, age is also a major risk factor. As age increases, the risks of hyperglycemia during pregnancy and hypertension during pregnancy become higher, thus the risk of gestational diabetes in a second pregnancy is relatively higher compared to the first.

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Written by Luo Han Ying

Endocrinology

52sec

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Is gestational diabetes easy to treat?

Gestational diabetes nowadays is often related to excessive supplementation for pregnant women, meaning eating too much and too well. Families tend to be overprotective, and there is no need for exercise. Additionally, during pregnancy, insulin resistance and some special bodily changes occur. Therefore, between the 24th and 28th weeks, high blood sugar levels can be detected. After the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, first and foremost, it is necessary to adjust one's mindset and control the diet strictly. During pregnancy, it is sufficient to ensure adequate protein intake, and it's not about eating more or better. Secondly, for gestational diabetes, exercise can be intensified to control blood sugar levels.

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Written by Luo Han Ying

Endocrinology

51sec

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What should I do about gestational diabetes?

As prenatal checkups are becoming increasingly popular, many expectant mothers undergo a glucose tolerance test between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy to diagnose gestational diabetes. More and more expectant mothers are finding their blood sugar levels exceeding the diagnostic thresholds and are being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Most of the time, gestational diabetes in expectant mothers is caused by reduced physical activity and overeating during pregnancy. For such expectant mothers, we can advise them to control their weight, strictly manage their diet, and increase their physical activity to maintain proper blood sugar levels. In fact, only a small portion of pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes require insulin injections to control their blood sugar.

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Written by Chen Xie

Endocrinology

1min 19sec

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Can you eat pumpkin with gestational diabetes?

The overall principle of dietary control for patients with gestational diabetes is to manage total calorie intake and to eat smaller, more frequent meals. Consuming five to six meals a day can help stabilize blood sugar levels and reduce the occurrence of hypoglycemia. Therefore, for patients with gestational diabetes, foods that can rapidly increase blood sugar levels, such as those high in sugar, starch, and fat, should be consumed less frequently, as these foods can easily be converted into glucose, leading to an increase in blood sugar levels. Pumpkin, which is high in carbohydrates, should also be eaten in moderation. However, this does not mean that pumpkin cannot be eaten at all. When consuming pumpkin, it should be treated as a staple food. After eating pumpkin, the amount of other staple foods in that meal should be reduced. This helps in maintaining good blood sugar control. Therefore, patients with gestational diabetes can still eat pumpkin, but it should not be treated as a vegetable. Instead, it should be considered like rice, and the amount of rice should be reduced when pumpkin is consumed.

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Written by Zhang Yin Xing

Obstetrics

1min 2sec

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What are the symptoms of gestational diabetes?

Diabetes during pregnancy, compared to diabetes outside of pregnancy, still presents symptoms such as polydipsia, polyphagia, and polyuria, but does not manifest as weight loss. Due to the increase in body weight from the enlarging uterus, fetus, and amniotic fluid during pregnancy, signs of weight loss are not evident. There are generally two types of diabetes in pregnancy. One is when diabetes pre-exists before pregnancy, which is termed diabetes mellitus with pregnancy; the other is when blood sugar levels were normal before pregnancy and diabetes develops during pregnancy, known as gestational diabetes. Over 90% of pregnant women with diabetes have gestational diabetes. Those with gestational diabetes have abnormal glucose metabolism, but most can return to normal after childbirth; however, the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the future increases.