Brand new mommy with Type 2 Diabetes. Help please.

[wollastonblue]

My wife and I are expecting our first baby, and she is now 6 weeks pregnant. However my wife has now been given an Insulin pen after her tablets helped control it previously, and her blood sugar is not what it should be, it's between 8 and 10 not 4 and 6. To make matters worse the specialist mentioned the M word to my wife. It is very worrying for us. Could anyone suggest a meal plan for us to work together on to get he blood sugar to what it should be.

Sorry this is so worrying for you.

I have Gestational Diabetes, but they are querying whether it is type 2 as it was very early onset this time and this is at least my second pregnancy with GD.

As I understand it, the risk of high blood sugars in the first trimester is congenital defects and 5mg folic acid should be prescribed to help prevent these. It seems to be based on HBA1C rather than individual readings though and an HBA1C of under 6 is very good from what I have been told.

The hospital you are booked under should be able to arrange for you to see a dietician, or your wife should be able to increase her insulin (or get advice eon increasing it) to keep her numbers under control. Certainly as a guide, I have been told to stick to around 40g of carbs for breakfast, 50g of carbs each with lunch and dinner and 10-15g of carbs for 3 snacks (I don't have to include veg in those numbers, just fruit and potatoes, pasta, rice, bread etc) and to stick to low GI sources of carbs, so wholemeal seeded bread, potatoes with their skin on etc.

I do think it's best to get advice from her diabetic team though, has your wife got the number for the diabetic nurse so she can ring him/her?