Gestational Diabetes
What it is
Gestational diabetes (GDM) is diabetes that develops while you are pregnant. Gestational diabetes is still diabetes, which means your blood sugar levels are abnormally high. That excess sugar crosses the placenta and can make your baby grow too large and lead to problems with your pregnancy and delivery.
The following guidelines for diagnosing GDM were revised in 2011 by the American Diabetes Association:
- Screen in the first trimester if a woman has risk factors for type 2 diabetes
- In pregnant women not known to have diabetes, screen for GDM at 24 – 28 weeks of gestation, using a 75-gram 2-hour glucose (sugar) tolerance test. A diagnosis of GDM is made when any of the following glucose values are exceeded:
- Fasting >92 mg/dl
- 1 hour >180 mg/dl
- 2 hour >153 mg/dl
