Risks For The Child
The risks of maternal diabetes to the developing fetus include Miscarriage, growth restriction, growth acceleration, fetal obesity (macrosomia), mild neurological deficits., polyhydramnios and birth defects.
Mild neurological and cognitive deficits in offspring, including increased symptoms of ADHD, impaired fine and gross motor skills, and impaired explicit memory performance, have been linked to pregestational Type I diabetes and gestational diabetes. Prenatal iron deficiency has been suggested as a possible mechanism for these problems.
Birth defects are not currently an identified risk for the child of women with gestational diabetes, since those primarily occur in the latter part of pregnancy, where vital organs already have taken their most essential shape.
Still, having diabetes type I or II has a 2-3 fold increase in risk of birth defects. The cause is e.g. oxidative stress, by activating protein kinase C and lead to apoptosis of some cells.
Read more about this topic: Diabetes Mellitus And Pregnancy
Famous quotes containing the words risks and/or child:
“In America any boy may become President, and I suppose it’s just one of the risks he takes!”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)
“Children need people in order to become human.... It is primarily through observing, playing, and working with others older and younger than himself that a child discovers both what he can do and who he can become—that he develops both his ability and his identity.... Hence to relegate children to a world of their own is to deprive them of their humanity, and ourselves as well.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)