Gestational Diabetes: Home Treatment

Content provided by Healthwise

Home Treatment

You are the most important person in determining whether you will have a healthy pregnancy. Gestational diabetes, like any form of diabetes, cannot be successfully treated with medicines alone.

Your doctor, diabetes nurse educator, registered dietitian, and other health professionals can help you learn how to care for yourself and protect your baby from problems. If you learn as much as you can about gestational diabetes, you will have the knowledge you need to have a healthy pregnancy. As you understand how food and exercise affect your blood sugar, you can better control your blood sugar level and help prevent problems from gestational diabetes.

Home treatment for gestational diabetes includes changing the way you eat, exercising regularly, and checking your blood sugar.

Eating healthy foods

Changing what, when, and how much you eat can help keep your blood sugar level within a safe range. After you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes, you will meet with a registered dietitian to develop an individualized healthy eating plan. Your dietitian may ask you to write down everything you eat and to keep track of your weight. He or she will also teach you how to count carbohydrate in order to spread them throughout the day. For more information, see:

Carbohydrate counting

Getting regular exercise

Most doctors recommend that pregnant women exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes. Regular, moderate exercise during pregnancy helps your body use insulin better, which helps control your blood sugar level. Often, exercising and eating well can treat gestational diabetes.

If you have never exercised regularly or were not exercising before you became pregnant, talk with your doctor before you start exercising. Exercise that does not place too much stress on your lower body—such as using an arm ergometer, a machine that just works your arm muscles; or riding a recumbent bicycle, a type of bike with a seat that looks like a chair—are especially good for pregnant women. You may also want to try special exercise classes for pregnant women or other low-impact activities such as swimming or walking.

If exercise and changing the way you eat keep your blood sugar within a safe range, you will not need to take insulin. If you do need to take insulin, make sure you have a quick-sugar food with you when you exercise in case you have symptoms of low blood sugar. If you think that your blood sugar is low, stop exercising, check your blood sugar level, and eat the snack.

Checking your blood sugar

An important part of treating gestational diabetes is checking your blood sugar level at home. Every day, you will do a home blood sugar test up to 4 times a day (first thing in the morning before breakfast and 1 hour after each meal). If you take insulin, you will need to test your blood sugar up to 6 times a day (before each meal and 1 hour after each meal). Even though it can be overwhelming to test your blood sugar so often, knowing that your levels are normal can help put your mind at ease. For more information, see:

Home blood sugar monitoring

Other aspects of your care

• If changing the way you eat and exercising do not control your blood sugar level, you may need to take daily insulin shots.
• If you were overweight before you became pregnant, do not try to lose weight while you are pregnant. Ask your doctor how much weight you should gain during your pregnancy.
• Your doctor may have you count fetal movements and let him or her know if you think your baby has been moving less than usual. Most pregnant women can feel their baby move after the 28th week of pregnancy. Normally, a baby moves several times during the day. If you don't feel movement for what seems like a long time, lie on your left side for 30 minutes or longer. If you don't feel movement within 2 hours, call your doctor.
• If you take insulin, it can cause your blood sugar to drop below the safe range. Even though very low blood sugar is rare in women who have gestational diabetes, it is important to know the symptoms of low blood sugar and have quick-sugar foods with you at all times. For more information, see:

Dealing with low blood sugar when you have gestational diabetes

E-mail This | Print This Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Last updated:	January 12, 2006
Author:	Caroline Rea, RN, BS, MS
Reviewed By:	Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine, Lois Jovanovic, MD - Endocrinology
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman