At home with your baby

After birth, you’ll get support on reducing your risk of diabetes in the future, including your need to get a blood test (HbA1c) once a year to make sure you haven’t developed diabetes.

Once you and your baby are well, you will be discharged from hospital and a midwife will visit you. You will get support on how to feed your baby along with certain checks and tests to make sure you’re both doing well.

The link between gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes

If you have had gestational diabetes you are more likely to develop it again in any future pregnancy. You are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

However, the good news is you can make changes that can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes by eating healthily, being more active and losing weight 

It’s important that women who had gestational diabetes are tested for diabetes 6-13 weeks after birth, and yearly after that. This test (known as an HbA1c) is crucial because sometimes you don’t have any symptoms if you have diabetes.

Research suggests that babies born to mothers who had gestational diabetes are also more likely to become obese or develop diabetes so keeping the whole family healthy is vital.

Breastfeeding reduces type 2 diabetes risk

Things you can do to reduce your chance of developing type 2 diabetes include keeping a healthy weight for your height. So stay active and move more.

You could try sticking with all or some of the diet changes you made during your pregnancy.

Breastfeeding your baby is best, as research suggests it can lower your chance of developing type 2 diabetes if you breastfeed for longer.

Get tested before planning your next pregnancy

If you’re planning on having more children, it is best to get tested for diabetes before getting pregnant.

When you’re pregnant next time, you’ll be tested for gestational diabetes again.

You’ll also probably have to check your blood sugars routinely from quite early on, as it is likely that you will develop gestational diabetes again.