How diabetes can increase the risk of birth defects

Diabetes during pregnancy puts both the mother and baby's health at risk (Photo: Shutterstock)

Dealing with diabetes while you’re pregnant is a high-risk situation. Women who have diabetes are more likely to give birth to babies with birth defects and it is also a health risk for a mum.

The two types of diabetes associated with pregnancies are pregestational and gestational diabetes. Pregestational is the type where the mother already has diabetes prior to the pregnancy while the gestational diabetes comes up during the pregnancy.