So I have a good friend who is in her 40’s who was diagnosed with type 2 last year and is now four months pregnant.
She looked so tired today and told me that her clinic dietician has told her that she should be eating 45 grams of carbs at each meal and two snacks of 20 grams of carb each day. She’s been doing this and just feels awful! And she’s gained weight and her sugars keep climbing so she’s had to keep taking more and more insulin.
When she tried to tell the dietician that ever since her diagnosis she has been eating low carb the dietician told her that there aren’t any studies to show that it’s healthy for the baby to go low carb during pregnancy and did she want to be the one to test on her baby. Talk about the guilt trip!
Surely it’s better for her to stick to a low carb diet to keep her A1C down and just to feel better. Any thoughts?
Having her check with her Obstetrician and or Endo instead of dietician may be a place to start at.
we have a T2 member here who recently had a baby who’s been very helpful with others
@yourhanner
thanks for paging me, @MarieB!
In my experience, OBs have a one size fits all plan for GD or T2 pregnancies. It doesn’t work for everybody! Throughout my pregnancy, I worked very closely with my endo instead of relying on what the OB recommended, it just worked better for me. I checked my blood sugar about 6 or 7 times a day and ate to my meter. I was constantly adjusting my insulin. I basically told my OB (I saw a MFM for high risk pregnancy) that I was managing my diabetes with the endocrinologist and that my numbers looked great. I maintained a 5.4 - 5.6% A1C throughout pregnancy and had a totally normal baby.
I think 45 g of carbs per meal sounds like way too much for your friend. It’s so hard when you end up eating to your insulin, instead of the other way around. That happened to me, especially for overnights. In order not to go wayyyy low over night, and still hit my fasting target of below 90, I had to take a lot of NPH and eat kind of a big carb-y meal. It took a long time for me to figure out what worked for me!
So, I’m not a doctor. I had a lot of pressure on me to maintain a good A1C (because man, those doctors can be scary). The risks of a high A1C during pregnancy are real. Anyways, I prioritized stabilizing my blood sugar over whatever the OB/MFM said about eating a lot of carbs. That just doesn’t work for me… can’t have it both ways (all the carbs AND regular blood sugar???).
Not that this means anything, but I had a very healthy and totally average size baby!
Finally, one last thing I will say: informed consent. You (or your friend, in this case) are in charge of your own health care. Sometimes it seems like when there’s a baby involved that maybe it’s not really your choice. But it is. So do some research, consult with an endocrinologist, and make a decision that works for you.
Good luck 
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Thank you @yourhanner! I will pass this on to my friend.
When I was pregnant a few years ago with both my daughters I ate very low carb. Plenty of protein, healthy fats, non starchy vegetables. My girls were perfect. They still are, now aged 5 and 8.
I strongly suggest she ignores the carb recommendations and does what was working. Her providers advice is not up to date or realistic.
Many ladies have successful low carb pregnancies.
It is, not important how many carbs she eats… Carbs are just c-h-o molecules. Cho can also come with much less drama and effect on blood sugar from protein. Baby is affected by blood sugar levels. Blood sugar must be controlled.
All her to look up keto pregnancy groups on facebook . there are 100s of women eating this way.
