Gestational diabetes treatment during pregnancy

Your team may ask you to check glucose at set times, often around meals, and keep a written or digital record. The pattern matters more than one isolated reading. A dietitian or diabetes clinician can help balance carbohydrate foods with protein and fibre without restricting nutrition needed in pregnancy.

If your results do not reach the targets set for you, insulin or another medicine may be offered. Regular antenatal care checks your wellbeing, while scans may follow your baby’s growth and fluid levels when clinically appropriate.

Keep testing supplies available, follow the timing instructions, and bring results and questions to visits. Eat at the intervals recommended for you and choose activity only after your maternity team confirms it is appropriate. Ask whether a Glucose Tolerance Test or Growth Scan is part of your follow-up.

Call your maternity team if you have repeated readings outside your plan, vomiting that prevents eating or drinking, or symptoms such as unusual thirst with frequent urination and marked tiredness. Get urgent assessment for fainting, confusion, severe shortness of breath, or noticeably reduced fetal movement.

What are my personal glucose targets? How should I respond to a high or low reading? What are the benefits and practicalities of each medicine? Which appointments and scans will guide decisions near birth?