Can you cause complications in pregnancy by eating too much cake??

[BotBotticelli]

My not so lovely mother has made a few snide comments about how I should watch what i eat during this pregnancy for DC2 to avoid the baby being 'enormous again' (DS1 was 9lb4), and to to 'avoid getting diabetes'.

She is a pretty horrible woman most of the time so i know I should probably just ignore this, but her comments have stuck and they're worrying me.

i have a sweet tooth at the best of times...and this is not the best of times!! I am very hungry this pregnancy and a worried that i am eating too much/too much bad stuff and am gonna cause problems for myself and the baby.

Is this is legitimate concern, or should I just chill out?

For example, here is what I ate yesterday, which is pretty average at the moment (am 16 weeks and often feel ravenous!)

• Bowl of shreddies with milk for breakfast at home.
• Piece of toast with butter for second breakfast when i get to the office.

• 1 slice of pumpkin seed crispbread as a snack mid morning (have recently brought a pack of these into the office to stop myself raiding the meeting room biscuits at 11am!).

• A plate of veggie chilli with chips and salad for lunch from the office canteen

• A can of pepsi max and a large white chocolate cookie mid afternoon

• A slice of toast at 6pm when giving DS his supper after nursery.

• Smoked haddock fillet in a creme fraiche saude (homemade) with roasted potato, carrots and peas for dinner at 8pm.

Gawd....that's a lot of food isn't it, when it's all written down like that??

Anyone else being a total glutton? Am I going to make myself/the baby ill if I keep this up??

Puh-lease! The diet you describe is a good day for me! I think as long as you are including fruit and veg and getting your vitamin fix - and trying to get some mild exercise in there too - you'll be fine. But then this is the lady who has already eaten two biscuits and kitkat a today so maybe ask someone healthier!

Doesn't help that my colleague and I are both preggers and both having sweet cravings, so even when is trying to be good, the other is bringing in yet more sweet treats...

Thanks all - well DS1 was definitely in proportion: his head was feckin massive as well!! 98th centile for head circumference and 91st for weight and height at birth. I managed to push him out though :-) >

Maybe he is just going to be built like a brick shithouse when he grows up??

Hard to know whether I was a big baby or not cos I am a twin which kind distorts things somewhat. Believe I was 6lb something and my sister was around the 6lb mark though, which sounds big for twins? We were born at 39 weeks.

DH was 8lb6 so not petite by any means.

Maybe I just grow em big.

heartisaspade your story is very scary - sorry to hear you had to go through that. Is it normal policy to do a CS before 37 weeks when there is a diagnosis of GD? That is surprising. Especially when your baby turned out to be on the small side in reality. Did the do the CS due to concerns about your baby's size, or for another reason?

Oh and hi minipie...didn't realise you are pregnant too!! How far along are you? I am 16 weeks?

How's your DC1 these days? I remember you well from the high needs baby threads! Hope she has not turned into a high needs toddler! My ds1 has mellowed and transformed into a wonderful, happy little man since he learned to talk and the baby days are a distant bad memory

Fingers in ears. Not in ewes. I am not a vet.

Sounds delicious! Take advice from your doctor and not your Mum. DR will let you know if there are concerns. Otherwise just eat to appetite. Smoked Haddock Fillet in Creme Fraiche sauce, now I'm hungry....

Botbot I am 31+5 aaaghh! DD is now like your DS - a delightful, happy toddler who loves talking and is SO much easier than as a baby. (Well, most of the time. She is a terrible teether so we have Jekyll and Hyde depending on what the teeth are doing.) Re going back to the newborn stage: I have convinced myself that DD's high needs were mainly due to prematurity and tongue tie completely ignoring her naturally demanding personality and ability to survive without sleep and that these Will Not Happen with DC2.

Re birth plan for GD - it seems to vary a little bit between hospitals. I will be induced at 40 weeks if my GD is kept under control through diet... 38 weeks if GD needs medicating... C section only if scans indicate enormo baby (but, induction often leads to C section, so...)

I think I've missed how many weeks you are OP? Overall I thought your food was pretty normal. Soft drinks are the worst thing and even artificial sweeteners are said to possibly cause problems with appetite and blood sugar. Ie they can make you crave more sugar.
In the first trim tho I felt soooo sick I could only eat sweets. Plenty of people do I bet withou getting GD but I still panic I've got it.
heartisaspade how did they pick yours up? I've no diabetes in family, bump is spot on and Im of average BMI. My MW said you don't get GTT unless you trigger the criteria above. U know when they test your wee at the MW, I thought that was fir protein-is it for sugar too?

There is a higher risk of shoulder dystocia or needing a C section if the baby is just big without GD. That's just the mechanics of giving birth.

Does your mother know that there are risks involved in provoking a pregnant woman?

Eating too much sugar/cakes etc does not cause GD ffs. Being overweight increases the risk, as does being older but plenty of overweight, older people do not get GD. It depends on how your body reacts to the pregnancy hormones.

Bake your on cakes, courgette,carrot cake or beetroot brownies. Uses less sugar but still sweet x

heart your comment on type 2 is a bit inaccurate and slightly offensive.

Some of the things people on here have been told about GD make me .

heartisaspade I am depressed beyond belief that for a borderline GTT fail at 34 weeks they put the fear of god into you and gave you a C section so early that it caused your baby problems. Seriously.

Well I am neither old nor overweight and I have pre-diabetes (impaired fasting glucose). My mum wasn't old nor overweight when she was diagnosed as having type2. It's the "get from" which is inaccurate. "Associated with" fine.

I agree TooSpotty. I had very poorly controlled sugars (even on insulin) and the earliest my consultant would induce was 38 weeks.

There are increasingly recognised hormonal factors behind developing type II, the same hormonal factors that can cause certain types of weight gain, eg PCOS. I know people like to sneer at women who claim they are overweight because of hormones but for many it is actually true. Levels of PCOS and insulin resistance are rising in the population.

heart I was at a hospital with extremely conservative treatment of GD, and 90% of their patients are on medication, which is the inverse of the general population. They have seen the outcome of very poorly controlled diabetes in unlucky women. My targets were tougher than anywhere else, far lower than the WHO guidelines. And THEY wouldn't have treated you like that. It is cruelty. Protocols shouldn't be used to steamroller individual circumstance, although I know this is all too common in the NHS.

I am angry on your behalf that you were treated like that. I could go into tedious detail about the ins and outs of the research that they use to rack up the pressure, but the end result for you was vast stress, and medical complications for your baby.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/2299167-Today-I-have-eaten

This thread has cheered me up a bit! Whilst less than ideal, it would seem that my diet is not unusual...!!

17wks today? Defo a sugar addict and totally starving all the time at mo. Here's what I eat:

Cereal breakfast with a large glass of fruit juice (partially watered down) 7am

Second breakfast (most days at mo!) which is X2 slices toast at work (prob 2hrs since main breakfast). 9.30am

Mid morn snacks (everyday in lunch bag)= Apple, oranges (x2 satsumas), banana, grapes, snack bar (cereal bar, or small lunchbox choc bar thing). Anytime I'm hungry!

Coffee x3 max in morn (decaf, milky).

Sandwich, crisps, yogurt for lunch. 12.30 to 1ish

Often several biscuits with cuppa teas (1 or 2 throughout afternoon) etc. Anytime!

Main dinner, meat or fish, potatoes/rice/pasta and plenty of fresh veg (normal 3 to 4 portions worth). Always home cooked. 7pm

Squash drinks. But also partial to a can of pop!

If I get hungry later at night. I've been having peach slices n yogurt at 9pm ish again!

Water by bed for thirst / night.

Now that sounds a bloody lot when written down!!!! but all the fruit is normal lunch bag for me (&hubby). It's the toast and work biscuits (we have a tea club which inc a biscuit tin!) and evening nibbles which are extras when hungry!!

Hubby says I eat lots of crap (he totally could bypass all sugar). But I feel it's plenty of f&v, always home made, so if I want some bloody pop, or sweets, or cake I will have it.??????

I'm size 10-12, top end of normal bmi and have put on 3lb since my booking apt at 8weeks to 17weeks so far. Not bad I think?????

Think I def need to drink more water though. He tells me off for that too, as he's a big water drinker.