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Does Gestational Diabetes Cause Birth Defects?

David Miller • • 7 min read
Does Gestational Diabetes Cause Birth Defects?

Growing baby, growing impact
Gestational diabetes affects the mother in late pregnancy, after the baby's body has been formed, but while the baby is busy growing. Because of this, gestational diabetes does not cause the kinds of birth defects sometimes seen in babies whose mothers had diabetes before pregnancy.

Can you have a healthy baby with gestational diabetes?

Women with gestational diabetes can and do have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. Most pregnant women get a test for gestational diabetes at 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. If untreated, gestational diabetes can cause problems for your baby, like premature birth and stillbirth.

Can diabetes cause chromosomal abnormalities in a fetus?

There have been few human studies of the effect of diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes on the risk of chromosomal anomalies, although a limited body of data suggests that there is an increased risk of Down's syndrome among women with either preexisting diabetes or gestational diabetes (31, 32).

David Miller
Author

David Miller

David Miller brings 15 years of experience in global economics, personal finance strategy, and market dynamics. He specializes in turning complex economic trends into actionable insights for everyday readers.