Posted: 30th May, 2024

Issue 18: Diabetes and Asthma in Pregnancy

Pregnancy is an exciting journey, but it can be especially complex when you are dealing with existing health conditions. Whether it is diabetes, asthma, or other challenges, it is important to understand how to take care of yourself and your baby. Find out about the Sussex Maternal Medicine team and how they can support you.

Sussex Maternal Medicine Centre

The Sussex Maternal Medicine Service is a team working across Sussex to ensure that all women/people have access to specialist maternal medicine advice wherever they plan to give birth.

The Maternal Medicine Centre (MMC) is based in Brighton. There you will be seen jointly by a Consultant Physician and a Consultant Obstetrician who specialise in looking after women with medical conditions in pregnancy and you will be supported by maternal medicine specialist Midwife.


Asthma


IMPORTANT

See a GP, asthma nurse or specialist as soon as you know you're pregnant for advice on how to manage your asthma. Also, tell your midwife you have asthma.

Your midwife will support you throughout your pregnancy, but your GP, asthma nurse or specialist will continue to manage your asthma care.

You’re more likely to have acid reflux while pregnant, which can make your asthma worse. Acid reflux is where stomach acid travels back up towards your throat. Read more about Indigestion and heartburn in pregnancy.

Follow the links below for more information about –

  • How pregnancy affects asthma
  • Asthma treatments in pregnancy
  • Asthma treatments and breastfeeding
  • Managing your asthma during pregnancy
  • Asthma and giving birth

Diabetes


Type 1 and 2 Diabetes

If you become pregnant and you have Type 1 or 2 diabetes, you should go on to have a healthy baby. But there are some possible complications you should be aware of.

Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is different, this is high blood sugar that develops during pregnancy and usually goes away after the baby is born. Read more about gestational diabetes.

Reducing the risks

The best way to reduce the risks to you and your baby is to ensure your diabetes is well controlled before you become pregnant. So, ideally, a pregnancy should be planned.

Before you start trying for a baby, ask your GP or diabetes specialist (diabetologist) for advice. You should be referred to a diabetic pre-conception clinic for support.

Follow the links below for more information about diabetes in pregnancy –

  • What it means for you
  • What it means for your baby
  • Reducing your risks
  • Your diabetes treatment in pregnancy
  • Labour and birth

It's important to continue taking any medication prescribed unless your GP/specialist specifically tells you to stop.

Please visit our Existing Health Conditions page for more information.

Other News

27th April, 2023

Issue 6: Book Before Ten Weeks

Read More

30th November, 2023

Issue 13 : Neonatal services

Read More

27th March, 2024

Issue 16: Baby Sleep: A Guide for New Parents

Read More

Accessibility Tools

Your choices will be saved as a non-identifying cookie. This means that each time you load a webpage from this website, your chosen accessibility options will be applied. These cookies will last for 28 days before resetting.

Text To Speech

When text to speech is active, you can click the play button to hear the whole sites content read aloud. You can also highlight a section of text and press play, to hear only the highlighted text.

Settings

1
1

Translate

Choose a language from the Google provided selector below.

Screen Mask

A screen mask is a reading tool which follows your cursor. It allows you to remove distractions from around the page and gives a clear area of focus.

Text Size

Use these icons to increase, decrease or reset the size of the text throughout the site.

Contrast

Change the colour of text and the background of the site with the selectors below. This removes images and makes the content across the site easier to read.