Diabetes & skin to skin

[Kirstylvsya]

Those that have/had diabetes when babies were born were you able to have skin to skin & do you remember how long?

Do all diabetes babies get low blood sugar and need special care?

Is there a difference in after care after a virginal vs section birth?

Any information on diabetes and after birth would be great.

2 gd pregnancies and after both births (vd & ecs) got skin to skin.

Although both had stints in NICU, neither were because of low blood sugars.

I did know in advance of each delivery that I'd be expected to stay in for 24h after birth to monitor mine and baby's sugars.

You should have a specialist diabetic Midwife assigned to you during pregnancy. They'll be best placed to answer queries relating to specific hospital policies.

Good luck!

GD with first born election section at 38+5. Skin to skin allowed, 3 blood sugar pricks for him and all were okay (I controlled my blood levels when pregnant so not sure if that made it better for him) and no extra monitoring. In 7.30am Wednesday and discharged 4.30pm Thursday - would of been earlier had we not waited all day for the dr!

Diet controlled throughout the day and then insulin (70units!!) at night due to fasting sugars!

I don't have diabetes but I am a midwife 😊

As long as you and baby are both well at the birth then skin to skin is always encouraged! Skin to skin helps babies stay warm and therefore helps keep their blood sugars stable. You can have skin to skin for as long as you want, although most women pass baby to birth partner whilst their helped onto clean bedding afterwards. We like to give baby a full top to toe check too, but can do that when you're ready.

No not all babies need to go to special care- only if a baby's blood sugar drops particularly low and doesn't respond to treatment. Your midwives should help you to feed baby as soon as possible after birth, particularly if you are breastfeeding. Then baby's blood sugars will be monitored regularly for 24 hours. This is the same regardless of how you give birth.

Have you thought about collecting colostrum before birth, you can buy 1ml syringes online (or some hospitals provide harvesting kits especially for this) and there's YouTube videos on how to hand express. Colostrum can then be given if baby is slow to feed/any concerns about blood sugars.

Had GD in my first pregnancy and baby was put on my chest immediately once born for skin to skin, where he stayed!

I had GD and had a vaginal birth.
Baby was put straight on me and nobody was in a rush to take her from me, the midwives wanted her to feed within the first 30 minutes but i don’t know if that’s standard because she is my first.
At the time it felt like we were rushed off the labour ward so baby was dressed quickly but looking back at photos we were in the labour ward room for 3 hours after birth and she stayed on me the whole time- it’s crazy how fast time goes 🥺

I had baby girl at 7am so we knew we would be in all day and night, she had her heels pricked twice for blood sugar readings and was in the perfect range so she didn’t get tested again after the second time.

Regarding aftercare, ive only had one birth but i was on the post natal ward and just left to do my own thing with her. Midwives popped round to check on baby and asked about bleeding/pain relief for me but other than that we were just left to cuddle and love little lady!

I had my repeat bloods done at 6 week PP and my bloods came back within the normal range again- my GD was fully diet controlled though.

I had GD with my second, and the whole experience was the same with my first.

I had skin to skin right away and held baby the whole time, except for when they took him to be weighed and have the vit K injection or when DH held him.

In relation to the diabetes, DS needed two consecutive good readings to be in the all clear. He therefore had his blood sugar checked immediately before feeds two and three. I had to buzz for the midwife before I fed him to do this but they told me that’s the plan. I also had to wake him for his feeds as he had been fast asleep for almost 3 hours each time and he initially needed to be fed every 2-3 hours because of the diabetes. The readings were normal so we could move on to responsive feeding.

He did also have his obs taken every two hours for 12 hours. I can’t remember that happening with my first but it could have been, so not sure if that was a diabetes thing or just a routine thing for all babies.

I saw PP mention colostrum. Yes, that was something I did differently with my second.

All babies born to mums with GD need regular feeds until it’s confirmed their blood sugar is normal. To take the pressure off trying to feed him before my milk came through, I harvested colostrum. In the end, DS had a good latch so he was able to feed from me, but the colostrum was handy later in the day when he was struggling to get some during a feed and I could see that he was getting frustrated!

Thanks so much for your replies. My first was undiagnosed GD so was different. Was a big baby and went to special care. I didn't get skin to skin. I was also 10 years younger so didn't know as much back then. Really want skin to skin this time and delayed cord clamping if possible.

I had both skin to skin and delayed cord clamping with my second.

But just to add, I didn’t have GD with my first, and I wanted delayed cord clamping then as well but they never did it. They also did skin to skin after they took him away to clean, weigh either, when I requested skin to skin right away, so there is an element of whatever the doctor and midwife does on the day!