Question:
I need to ask if a diabetic person who is pregnant needs to eat more
frequent meals, or more carbs, or neither.. or?
I suspect strongly (according to the tests) that she's diabetic, I don't
know if it's type II or gestational, and being new myself.. well..
I do all the cooking, so I need to know if I need to make a little extra for
her. Tonight's dinner had 10 gms of carbs. That's all. She tested at 92 2
hrs after dinner. So.. it worked, but I wonder if she's going to be okay
with low carbs being pregnant and all?
Answer:
The number of calories needed for pregnancy isn't a great deal more than a normal diet. Do remember
some women either vomit all the way thru pregnancy or may be on drugs
etc and still produce healthy babies, babies take what they need from
the mother, in most cases the mother will suffer before the baby.
When I was pregnant and diabetic (GD) I ate all I needed to keep me
and baby healthy (after the morning sickness that was) i.e. enough
calcium, protein, fibre, fat, minerals and vitamins. I didn't eat
stupidly or too low calorie or carb and didn't eat too much either.
For two pregnancies eating like that kept numbers ok, for two it
didn't and I needed insulin. I got the endo to adjust the insulin to
what I considered a healthy diet rather than lower carbs too much for
example. I also made every bite count as I mostly do now, no empty
calories (or in my case now, empty carbs). Other people would have
their ways of doing things and still produce the goods, but that's
what worked for me and in close conjunction with endo, ob and
dietician.
She does need to have a doctor perform a pregnancy GTT though. In
Australia, a diabetic pregnancy is considered a high risk pregnancy
and a closer watch is kept on mums-to-be. In my opinion your loved
one's status needs to be medically diagnosed then by all means go for
helping her with the meals and testing. You are a loving, caring mum
and everything will be ok.
