Once you have the baby, your body should be able to use its insulin more effectively. Shortly after the baby is born, the placenta is "delivered." (This is sometimes called the afterbirth.) Because the placenta causes insulin resistance, when it's gone, gestational diabetes usually goes away, too.
For most women, blood sugar levels go back to normal quickly after the baby is born. Six weeks after the baby is born, you should have a blood test to check your blood sugar levels. The test also checks for your risk of getting diabetes in the future.
If you have gestational diabetes, you are at higher-than-normal risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in your life. Type-2 diabetes, like gestational diabetes, occurs when the body doesn't use its insulin properly. Keeping your weight within a healthy range and keeping up regular, moderate physical activity after your baby is born can help lower your risk for type-2 diabetes. Following a healthy diet and physical activity program, maintaining a healthy weight, or taking certain medicines can help people control type-2 diabetes.
Certain traits increase your chances of getting type-2 diabetes within five years of having your baby. If you have one or more of the following, you should talk to your health care provider about type-2 diabetes:
- You developed gestational diabetes before your 24th week of pregnancy.
- Your blood sugar level during pregnancy was consistently on the high end of the healthy range.
- Your blood sugar levels after the baby was born were higher-than-average, according to your health care provider.
- You are in the impaired glucose tolerance category (see the After-Pregnancy Test Categories table).
- You are obese, according to your health care provider.
- You have diabetes in your family.
- You belong to a high-risk ethnic group (Hispanic, African American, Native American, South or East Asian, Pacific Islander, Indigenous Australian).
- You have had gestational diabetes with other pregnancies.
If you have any of these risk factors, it is even more important that you get tested yearly for diabetes. Remember that you can take steps to lower your risk for type-2 diabetes, such as eating a low-fat diet, losing extra weight, and getting regular, moderate physical activity.
