What is gestational diabetes and does it go away?
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS
Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar first appearing in pregnancy, driven by placental hormones that block insulin. Screening between 24 and 28 weeks catches it, and treatment, diet first, insulin if needed, protects both mother and baby.
After delivery it usually resolves, but it is a preview, not a footnote: mothers carry a much higher lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes.
That means a sugar test six to twelve weeks after birth and then regular screening for life, plus the lifestyle habits that push risk back down. Managed well, outcomes are excellent.
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