What Is Gestational Diabetes?
9. Complications
Gestational diabetes is a condition that affects both mother and child due to high blood glucose levels. In babies, it can cause chemical imbalances and growth abnormalities after birth. This may require the babies to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. These infants also tend to be large for gestational age (macrosomia) resulting in an increased risk of assisted birth where instruments such as forceps, ventouse, or a caesarean section is required.
Neonates from mothers with uncontrolled gestational diabetes are also at increased risk of low blood sugar, low blood calcium, jaundice, low blood magnesium, and high red blood cell mass. It also interferes with maturation of the baby causing them to be prone to respiratory distress syndrome after birth. There are also some studies that have shown that women with gestational diabetes are more likely to have babies with congenital malformations. However, evidence supporting this association is limited.
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