Confused: Pregnancy diet & PCOS

[Roseflower]

Has anyone with PCOS and is/has been pregnant been given diet advice?
I was told briefly during a private scan yesterday by the doctor that my diet could harm the baby (special k, Jackets & fruit; all harmful)

I have never been told any of this in 8 years been diagnosed, even through 1st pregnancy.

The doctor says I should follow alow GI diet and fruit is limited and no snacks. This conflicts with the standard advice and left me very confused & worried.

Can anyone else share experiences of diet advice with PCOS whilst pregnant?

I am currently 13 weeks pregnant and have PCOS.

Firstly, congratulations on your pregnancy, I know it can sometimes be a struggle.

They do say to try and stick to a low GI diet as PCOS can cause diabetes, and gestational diabetes during pregnancy, and also high birth weight babies. You should have been told that you will need the glucose tolerance test at 28 weeks.

This book has a detailed section on low GI diet, and PCOS during pregnancy.

FWIW, I am not following the low GI diet as I have hyperemesis so any food is good enough for me, to prevent me losing weight. I also have a 3yo DD and I didn't know I had PCOS when I was pregnant with her so didn't follow anything specific or have the GTT. She was over 9lbs but I never had any diabetes problems.

HTH

I have PCOS and I'm 37 weeks pg. Not been told anything about changing my diet and I have been attending a too much cake metabolic clinic throughout.

Had GTT at 28 weeks and all was fine. Only problem I've had is SPD and that has nothing to do with PCOS or being overweight. Although growth scans have shown he might be over 9lbs at term! Ouchy!

Good luck with it all.

Thank you for the replies.

I don't know if this doctor is being too alarmist- I managed to lose weight succesfully twice in the past whilst eating all the 'forbidden' things.

During my 1st pregnancy my diet was awful and I never got diabetes and she was 6lb. Dc1 is perfecty healthy 4 years on.

The problem is the reason for private was I had bleeding on Friday night and couldn't bear to wait until Monday to get a scan we were so worried (thank God baby fine!)

But doctor said in scan there were a few places the placenta had not attached and blamed my diet and said baby wont get all the blood it needs.:(

I feel quite vunreable and the bleed is my fault. I feel like a awful mother.

But same time I never heard this advice and also have bad sickness and snacks of fruit and small salads are all I can tolerate.

I also have PCOS and am now 28 weeks. I wasn't told anything about changing my diet even before I got pg. But then I'm not surprised, when i saw the consultant to get PCOS diagnosis they gave me the impression getting pg was going to be very hard and involve hormone therapy. 6 months with no periods later (not odd for me due to the PCOS) I found out I was 24 weeks pg! Exciting times!

Wow you didn't find out for 24 weeks!

I just don't know what to make of all this- surely women with PCOS should be given special diet advice, before and during pregnancy if there are real cause for concerns?

I think you need to speak to your MW/GP as soon as you can, tell them what the Dr said during the scan and get a referral to a consultant with experience of PCOS. I was referred to a consultant at my booking because of my PCOS. TBH they weren't sure why I was there as they don't normally see ladies with PCOS . If there is a metabolic clinc attached to your hospital (generally for ladies with a BMI of 35 of over, my one is a Tommys sponsored research clinic www.tommys.org/Page.aspx?pid=367) they have dietians attched to them that you can see anytime. I don't go there for my PCOS though, I am overweight, probably as a side effect of the PCOS, but they had spoken to be about PCOS and never mentioned altering my diet.

sorry link here

Thank you LisMcA

I think that's a good idea to see MW/Gp I'm going to book in tommorrow. I think I need some clearer answers.

I had a NHS scan only on Thursday and the sonographer didnt pick anything up apart from baby is very healthy and doing well. My Dh keeps telling me to focus on that but it's hard especially after such a scare...

Sounds like the doc you saw needs a reminder about bed side manner and dealing with patients. when you see your GP/MW mention them by name and make sure they know you aren't happy. That kind of comment isn't helpful - just worrying.

I was referred to a consultant early on because with PCOS there is an increased risk of GD. I did go on to develop it and initially I was told to manage it through diet. I wasn't able to eat cereal for breakfast as it raised my blood sugar too much. Perhaps this is what th doctor was thinking of?

I am advised to follow the low GI diet in any case, even when not pregnant. Have you not been told this previously?

Hi, no I was never told to follow a GI diet at all and I have seen countless dr, midwifes, ob's etc in 8 years. Really is all news to me.

The doctor said all cereal was bad (but a few websites said things like All bran fine and the print out she gave me said low-sugar museli fine so again all confliciting).

I dont mind swapping to low-carb diet but am a bit confused about no snacks at all and limited fruit, no carrots etc

My dh mentioned to her that last week I was craving dr.Otteka (sp?) pizza with chicken and spinach and she said that was great and very clever. But I thought all the dough would be a no-no?

I think I need a specialist or a specific book

I was diagnosed with PCOS before 1st pregnancy. Was told that I was at higher risk of gestational diabetes and should follow low GI diet, so that if I did develop it risks would be lower etc....

Meanwhile I didn't get gestational diabetes, and did several fasting sugar tests .... in my later 2 pregnancies didn't bother with the low GI diet, still didn't get GD, but did put on loads of weight..... still loosing it (DS2 is 11 months).

The no snacks is rubbish though, need snacks when pregnant, just choose low GI ones. IMO low GI eating is v healthy and probably best for everyone, PCOS or not.

Cereal is pretty sugar laden, to be honest. I usually have porridge or eggs for breakfast. I've got quite a few low GI cookbooks, it is worth googling for more info. The BBC good food website has lots of low GI recipes too.

Exercise is good for lowering blood sugar too. Can you build in some daily exercise?

I used to snack in cheese and apple when pregnant. The right snacks are fine and I tend to snack as and when I'm hungry. Eating little and often works well for me and choosing low GI foods keep me satisfied for longer.

I'm 15 weeks pregnant with PCOS, although after losing 7 stone I have 'lean' PCOS. I tend to be quite fussy when pregnant but now I am pregnant I am eating what I like as I have so little appetite.

I am always quite fussy with cereal though and I wouldnt touch special k as it is laden with 'added' sugar. I have no issues with potatoes and fruit though and even when I was dieting I never avoided them when I was dieting with PCOS.

To be honest I could never follow someone else'sdiet rules though as I am too stubborn.

Well the special K is now gone- after throwing up after eating it several times I was going off it anyway!

How is it special K is advertised as a diet food? All this time I thought it must be really good for me

I like the thought of apple & cheese snack.

I will google those websites and maybe purchase a GI receipe book.

Is there away of calculating how GI friendly something is- i.e the pizza (like you do with weight watchers)?

By the way well doing losing 7 stone! Wow.

They can advertise lots of food as low fat although it has tons of sugar.

I think he was summarising a lot of information so it was not clear to you. I had many appointments before I felt like I understood enough.

I have pcos. Glucose tolerance test put me in gestational diabetes catagogory from first trimester. They are linked so i knew it was a possibility. Went private from 20 weeks. Am now 34 weeks. Am on metformin and now blood sugars are controlled well.

Basically my understanding so far is that a low gi diet regulates your blood sugar. The risks with gestational diabetes are big babies and also babies that are too small if the placenta starts not to work as well. To help prevent this women try and regulate their blood sugars. But as pregnancy progresses, even if you are doing the right things the placenta will Ultimately govern what happens to your blood sugar.

Altogether I spoke to the dietician, nhs and private three times. it is a lot to take in IMO. Certain fruit is better than other fruit. Cereals are not good. Snack regularly. Low gi. portion size is important. Amount of carbohydrate vs protein vs vegetables also important.

It is awful. For me I found the private doctors better as they helped me understand and I found the nhs diabetic nurse and consultant did more of the emotional crap to make me feel bad that I might harm the baby. Very stressful.

My pcos advice has been a low gi diet too but I never spoke to anyone specifically about what that meant in practise until I was pregnant and told I had gestational diabetes.

The way I used to decide whether to eat something or not was to look at the nutritional information. If you look at the amount of sugars derived from carbs, then this can give you useful info. Basically, look at the relationship between 100g of carbs and how much of that converts to sugar. If there is 199g if carbs, if which more than 15g of this sugars, you should avoid it.

I lost loads of weight when I was pregnant following this approach. I also eat, as far as possible, unprocessed foods and have butter, not marge, etc.

I hope this helps, if you search there are loads of threads on how to follow throw GI diet.

I should also add that I controlled my blood sugar very well and my baby was born on th 50th centile. I was on metfromin throughout and have been on it for years. You should investigate getting it on prescription, it is used to treat pCOS. It is definitely worth getting your head around it all because left uncontrolled, it can lead to type 2 diabetes. Since I cracked it I've gone from a size 20/22 to a size 12/14.

Regards your question- they have lists of low, high and medium gi foods. sorry I was a bit waffly.

Ii suppose I would be more careful if I had gained weight in pregnancy but I have gained about 2lbs upto this point, which is pretty pathetic.

Thank you for all the messages. Just spoken to two different midwifes who both have said not to overly worry about what the doctor said, it is quite extreme advice and it is not advice they give out and see plently of PCOS women.

She said there are so many different degrees of the condition that different people need different treatment.

Lolajane2009 I have put on the same amount of weight too! Probably partly due to sickness but I dont think eating carbs really causes a problem for me as I mainly being living off Jacket Potatoes/ Brevita breakfast biscuits as can't bear much else!

Feeling a lot less alarmed now.

The main worry with PCOS is gestational diabetes too be honest. The best way to avoid that is not too gain too much.

I have to admit I rarely listen to specialists after a specialist told me i would never get pregnant naturally. I guess they wer wrong. :)

I didnt get diabetes with dc1 so I really hope it's the case again.

I certainly will be trying to eat as healthy as possible. I have cut my carbs a lot and will be avoiding the mini eggs! But Im not going to stop snacking on fruit...

Tbh Im sure its all great advice... if your not pregnanat with massive food aversions!