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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Gestational diabetes?

13 replies

ThatFairRoseHare · 15/09/2025 23:37

Hello,

My Son is 9 now. I'm incredibly proud of him. He has autism and requires a lot of support. But I've always wondered about risk factors.

We had a horrible and very long labour and I had ketones in my urine which the midwife gave me jelly babies to eat. As a result prerhaps, I ended up with sugar in my urine when she next checked. She made a comment about this but at the time, I was too busy to process!

I'm now wondering if I'd had undetected gestational diabetes. Does anyone know if the sugar in urine would be a conclusive indicator please? I'd been for my checkups during pregnancy they never picked up GD. But he was also a huge baby and maybe they missed it.

I'm upset to see recent research publications that GD increases risks of challenges like autism and I'm now spinning out a bit. It would just help me to know.

Many thanks

OP posts:
Marmite1992 · 15/09/2025 23:40

Please don't beat yourself up over this. Even if you did have gestational diabetes, it is not your fault. I had it in the later stages of pregnancy despite not having any risk factors whatsoever. It can just happen sometimes! Even if you did have it, it's not likely to have caused autism in your child.

lnks · 15/09/2025 23:40

Where did you see this research?

OP posts:
Katemax82 · 16/09/2025 07:38

I have 2 sons with autism and blame myself because it came out after my oldest was born that paracetamol can cause autism (I had bad headaches in early pregnancy)
And I was on antidepressants with my 2nd son even though doctors said if the benefits outweigh the risks I should carry on I wish I'd come off them because I'll always wonder if I caused his autism
I had gestational diabetes with my 4th child he's 6 months. He will probably be autistic as his 2 brothers are and his sister might be (were waiting for an assessment).
I think autism happens and you can't blame yourself because there will always be some article saying something causes autism

Fearfulsaints · 16/09/2025 07:47

You cant change anything. If there is a link, you couldn't have stopped developing it.

But more importantly if you think you had gestational diabetes and it was missed, its really important to have a blood sugsr test every couple of years as you are at more risk of developing type 2 and it would be good to know early so you can change diet.

Barso · 16/09/2025 07:50

ThatFairRoseHare · 15/09/2025 23:43

Thank you. I was sent a link by a well meaning friend and for some reason, it really upset me. Here it is

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/gestational-diabetes-linked-to-adhd-and-autism-among-children

The article referenced in the link could be correlation rather than cause. For example, gestational diabetes and neurodiversity are both more common where mothers are older. You sound as though you are anxious and blaming yourself, but please try to focus on something else

Original poster
ThatFairRoseHare · 16/09/2025 07:52

Thank you. I'd never 'blame' another parent in the way I'm doing to myself by looking for causes rooted in research threads and if I look at it in that way, it feels like I've created an inappropriate post.

I'm sure there are so many different factors including some genetic.

I'm sorry you've had to work through similar thought patterns but thank you for sharing your experiences with me. Wishing you and your family lots of health and luck.

OP posts:
Didimum · 16/09/2025 08:10

Did you have the fasting glucose test when pregnant?

MidnightPatrol · 16/09/2025 08:12

Katemax82 · 16/09/2025 07:38

I have 2 sons with autism and blame myself because it came out after my oldest was born that paracetamol can cause autism (I had bad headaches in early pregnancy)
And I was on antidepressants with my 2nd son even though doctors said if the benefits outweigh the risks I should carry on I wish I'd come off them because I'll always wonder if I caused his autism
I had gestational diabetes with my 4th child he's 6 months. He will probably be autistic as his 2 brothers are and his sister might be (were waiting for an assessment).
I think autism happens and you can't blame yourself because there will always be some article saying something causes autism

Can you share links to the studies re paracetamol and autism, as I have never heard this before.

ComfortFoodCafe · 16/09/2025 08:24

did you have the fasting glucose check?
My eldest has autism and i didnt have gestational diabetes, autism is genetic. Its just other people determined to prove it was caused by something else. Mainly the Americans. Grin
It has never been proven to be caused by medications etc. and was severely disproven to be caused by vaccines.

Hominim · 16/09/2025 08:28

Your urine would have been screened at every antenatal appointment. If there was no sugar except after you’d eaten jelly babies, I think you were just fine. Also, other indicators of GD were obviously not present on scan. Written by an expert 🙂

RidingMyBike · 16/09/2025 09:15

I had GD, it was picked up by one of the routine urine tests during pregnancy. That’s one of the reasons they do those. So if you’ve had those and they were fine?
A big baby could be a baby with bigger than average parents or grandparents.

Autism is genetic.

polkadothorse · 16/09/2025 10:43

Barso · 16/09/2025 07:50

The article referenced in the link could be correlation rather than cause. For example, gestational diabetes and neurodiversity are both more common where mothers are older. You sound as though you are anxious and blaming yourself, but please try to focus on something else

Edited
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Agree. Correlation is not causation.

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