Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
May
8
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“You Must Have Had Diabetes…Even If Only For One Day…”
“You must have had diabetes. You must have. Even if only for one day. That’s the only way you get a baby that big.” – Lactation Consultant to mother of a 8 lb 10 oz baby.
There are 61 comments to this post.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again.
anything in the single digits is TINY.
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Sheva Reply:
May 8th, 2012 at 8:43 pm (Quote)
My biggest baby was 8lb 7oz. But I’m smallish. But you’re totally right – they’ve narrowed the definition of ‘normal’ until no one really fits. Not to mention all the early inductions resulting in lowering the average weight. And don’t get me started on what ‘average’ really means. You need a couple of solid ten and eleven pounders to bring the average up to a ‘whopping’ seven pounds.
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Kit Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 7:49 am (Quote)
My cousin was “shopping” for an OB and went to our local guy to check him out. She was looking at the “averages” for the hospital and liked them until she saw that babies in that hospital have a higher average weight. She asked and he told her “Its because we only induce if there’s a damn good reason. We get the natural sized babies not the travel size.”
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Knitted in the Womb Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 8:14 am (Quote)
LOL! That quote should be a “Thoughtful Thursday” quote. Hysterical.
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Bonita Reply:
May 8th, 2012 at 11:19 pm (Quote)
Two 10 1/2 lbs babies here! I totally agree! Anything smaller than 10lbs feels so small!
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Annora Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 5:42 am (Quote)
I count my 8 lb 3 oz kiddo as big, but that’s because he was born at 35 weeks… Had he baked long enough he’d have been a proper 10 pounder, I’m sure. 
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Toni Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 6:11 am (Quote)
I had one 8lb 4oz child and one 9lb 2oz child, both at 42 weeks, so I consider them “average” considering how long they gestated 9heck, my first one would have been on the small side had she been born closer to the EDD). I’m expecting my third and I imagine she’ll be somewhere in between (just by how I feel this time). In all three pregnancies my glucose screening came back in the low to mid 90s (you can go up to 130, to put it in perspective). My second (being over 9 lbs) did have her blood sugar tested after delivery as a precaution, but it was well within normal range. Some women just have, hell, I can’t even say big babies. Normal sized babies…
As for having diabetes “for a day” (GD or otherwise) I don’t think I could have stopped laughing if this was said to me….
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How in the heck do you get diabetes for one day?! And since when is an 8 pound, 10 ounce baby huge? And someone please tell me that this LC wasn’t actually certified. Seriously, please tell me that she got her certification out of a Cracker Jack box!
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Sheva Reply:
May 8th, 2012 at 8:43 pm (Quote)
It’s amazing, the things you find in cereal boxes these days…
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jenni Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 10:01 am (Quote)
my boy was 8lb 11oz, and born before his due date, my DD was 8lb 8oz at 38 weeks…. and i got some strange comments for her, “big for a girl” “maybe you’re dates were wrong” but considering her immature suck, no, she realy was 38 weeks not 40. and compared to the 6lb baby the nurses were playing with when i arrived, i’m sure mine didnt feel like dolls at least.
and nobody EVER asked if i had GD or anything because of their size! what idiots….. freakng idiots…. i bet they think that my friends 5lb 7oz baby was “normal” … of course, preemie diapers barely fit her.
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This makes my head want to explode. My last baby was 8lbs 9oz, and they pricked his heels no less than 16 times checking his sugars and insisting that I give him formula (which I refused,) because his sugars were on the low end of normal and he was “a big baby for me.” Except for the fact that I have never carried a baby past 39wks before. My first was PROM at 36wks, my second was induced at 37wks due to pre-e, my third was born at 37, and my fourth was 39wks. I had preterm labor with all of those pregnancies and not one of them were over 8lbs. So when my 5th is born and he weighs in at 8lbs 9oz and 23 inches long, I must have had undiagnosed GD, right? I mean really, how else could I have had such a huge baby for me? He was a whole lb heavier than his largest sibling. It couldn’t be that he was actually in there longer than all of his siblings, could it? Or that at 23 inches long he had two inches on their length? Must have been that pesky one day GD. Watch out ladies, you could be at risk of having monster babies and not even know it.
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Jessica had this to say,
May 8, 2012 @ 7:30 pm (Quote)
What business is it of the LC to insist the mother even had GD at all? Diagnosing diabetes isn’t within her scope of practice.
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Jane Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 4:14 am (Quote)
Totally the time to ask the LC to put it in writing so you can bring his or her diagnosis to you own doctor, and then carry a copy of that “diagnosis” also over to the hospital’s legal department and ask why a lactation consultant is second-guessing their labwork and the OB’s diagnosis. 
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And how in fact could I have diabetes for ONE DAY!??!
I didn’t have GD and my FIRST baby was 9lbs 8oz!
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Nica Reply:
May 8th, 2012 at 7:47 pm (Quote)
Same here, DS was 9 lb, 12 oz and I tested negative for GD twice. PP are right – the stupidity hurts.
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Laura Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 6:45 pm (Quote)
Negative for GD both pregnancies *and* blood sugar tested fine after the first (no extra test after the second). They were 11 pounds 9 ounces and 10 pounds 8 ounces respectively.
Of course, my husband’s uncle was a 10 pound baby and my uncle was a 12 pound baby. Maybe, just maybe, it’s genetics?
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I’ve got it! “Your mother must have had brain damage during her pregnancy. Even if only for a day.” (With apologies to brain damaged persons everywhere.)
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The diabetes ninja ATTACKS!
Seriously, the stupidity of this statement is astounding! Diabetes for one day?! Then why do they only want to test you for it once (possibly twice) per pregnancy. If one day could balloon a baby’s weight like that, then we would be testing every day. I have tested negative every time and still had 9lb+ babies!
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arzt4empfaenger had this to say,
May 9, 2012 @ 2:16 am (Quote)
Diabetes – you’re understanding it wrong. This must be one of the stupidest statements I’ve read so far, the mind, it boggles!! (Also, “larger than average” starts at about 9.9 lbs, and even then… some women just have huge babies, especially but not only when the parents are tall as well!)
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arzt4empfaenger had this to say,
May 9, 2012 @ 2:23 am (Quote)
Also, this is a prime example what happens when people read “stuff”, but fail to read enough to comprehend it, believing their half-knowledge (or in this case quarter-knowledge) to be the one truth and scientific fact: “*speed reads out of context* …GD is a common cause for big babies…”, sure it is! But that doesn’t mean there can’t be other reasons, or that you can apply it in reverse to all heavier babies. If you want to feel so special and knowledgeable, maybe it’s best to read up on the baby-weight-influencing mechanism of GD or diabetes in general… not only does it make you be and look smarter, it prevents you looking like the ignorant moron you seem to be.
I don’t know what I would have done. Probably would have laughed in her face (not the classy reaction, but sometimes you can’t help it). If I had been too stunned to do that, I would have wordlessly given her a fact sheet on GD and DM at the next appointment, or via mail (since I believe I might have cancelled the next appt).
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Well ladies…you have it all wrong!!! Clearly Momma ate a huge hot fudge sundae and spiked her blood sugar to 150 one day. So that accounts for the one day GD. Didn’t you guys know about that? (eyes rolling….)
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Details Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 6:15 am (Quote)
Perfect since GD is just psuedo science for a diet that isn’t balanced. And no wonder considering the GD challenge test is the measure of the body’s response to totally assine consumption of sugar. LC could have just as well said, “We see larger babies a lot right after the holidays.” (Not that it would be true, as in if they did a seaonal chart it would probably show nothing.) But just that it would sound a little less crazy.
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I had a nurse ask if I had diabetes after my second son was born weighing a “whopping” 8lbs 4oz. He didn’t insist, just asked and then let it go when I said “no.” To be fair, I am a pretty small woman, so I can see why people wouldn’t expect me to have babies over around seven or so pounds. However, my husband’s family are all bigger, so it stands to reason that our children should be bigger than you would expect from someone like me, especially since we have already discovered his genes are by far the more dominant.
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This is mine. And she was referring to gestational diabetes. She came in to see how we were doing with nursing. The LC took one look at my one day old son and asked this question. I answered as stated, and she kept insisting that i’d had GD at some point in my pregnancy, if even for only one day… As if an 8 lb baby is THAT big. He was born at 40+3. All the staff kept referring to this. Comments like, “Oh, he wants to eat again even though he just ate an hour ago. It’s those POSTDATE babies. They’re always hungry.” OR, “we have to go to peds to get diapers for him because, being a POSTDATE baby, he’s too big for ours.” Oh, for heavens sake!
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Jane Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 9:44 am (Quote)
The very scary subtext to what you’re saying is that this hospital never sees full-term babies, if an eight pounder is so humongous they all need to talk about it. Any idea what percentage of their patients are induced at 38 weeks?
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sara r. Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 11:35 am (Quote)
40 +3 is barely postdates anyway! Geez, it’s not like he was a 43 weeker. that is just crazy, but I guess right along with all of the people who say “wow, he was a big baby!” when I tell them that my 7 week-old was 7 POUNDS 4 OUNCES. At 41 weeks, no less. Umm…no, 7 pounds is less than AVERAGE for a full-term baby.
Of course, now he’s 7 weeks and 14 pounds….but that’s something else entirely, lol.
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Elizabeth Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 2:54 pm (Quote)
My baby was 8 pounds 10 ounces and he fit into newborn diapers. And LOTS of babies go right into size ones. Those nurses clearly need to take some diapering lessons.
Everyone kept saying my baby was big, too. It actually hurt my feelings a little because I DO have diabetes (type 1) but worked SO hard on keeping my blood sugar normal. I did a VERY good job and had an A1C well within the non-diabetic range the ENTIRE time (always 5.2 or 5.4, for those who “get” the numbers). But the truth is that most of the babies in my family are born in that weight range.
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stephanie Reply:
May 14th, 2012 at 10:53 pm (Quote)
that such a nice sized baby! They’d've had a fit over three of mine… 9.5 (c/s), 10.5 (VBA2C) and 9.5 (VBA2C)again. My second was only 7#11oz and that’s b/c the dr insisted on doing the Rc/s at 39w. no GD in any pregnancy though a couple people were sure I’d just not been diagnosed. (eyeroll)
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You ladies aren’t getting it! See, this is how it goes:
All babies are exactly 6 lbs, 12 oz at term. Every day you have gestational diabetes (even if it was never detected), you add 1 oz to their weight. So if you have an 8 lb baby, that means you had GD for exactly 20 days of your pregnancy. If you had a 9 lb baby, you had GD for 36 days. If you had a 7 lb baby, you had GD for 4 days– that’s how they know the C/S they did for your HUGE BABY was warranted.
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Again, I find it funny when my sis and I had our babies three months apart that her DD was 8 lb, 13 oz and mine was 9 lb, 12 oz. My sis had GD and delivered her daughter at 41 weeks. I did not have GD (and was tested twice) and delivered at 39 weeks.
So, so much for this “theory” LOL!
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This one is just too stupid. Even my guy friends laughed when I read it to them (and they know very little about birth and babies in general). My babies have all been 8lbs or higher, with my 8 pounder being two weeks early I’m sure he would have been bigger if he had cooked longer. Whenever I told their weights people just said “oh so not too big”. THAT is the proper response. We were expecting bigger babies because my husband was 9lbs 11oz. 8lbs was a relief to me lol. I don’t consider it a big baby until at least 9+ lbs and even then, its not that big. This one is just dumb!
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Kathryn Reply:
May 11th, 2012 at 10:33 am (Quote)
Yep. To me, babies in the 8-lb range are normal-sized. Babies in the 7′s are small, and anything below 7lb is tiny. Babies in the 9′s are big-ish. It’s not until a baby is 10lbs or larger that I consider that a BIG baby, and they aren’t HUGE until at least 11lbs!
My two were 7-13 at 40+1 and 9-2 at 40+5.
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Oh, the stupidity hurts so bad. Please make it stop, Mommy, please make it stop!!
1. You don’t have to have diabetes to have a child at a HEALTHY WEIGHT.
2. It would take having diabetes for more than one day to get a child that was at an unhealthy weight. 8lb10oz is a HEALTHY WEIGHT.
3. With the exception of gestational diabetes, if you have diabetes you have it forever. It’s not a virus. It’s damage to your pancreas. At that, women with GD have to be screened for type 2 diabetes for the rest of their lives. You may reduce your weight, blood sugars and A1C with diet, exercise and medicine but the damage has already been done to your pancraes and you will have diabetes for the rest of your life.
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Natural Momma Reply:
May 8th, 2012 at 8:02 pm Natural Momma(Quote)
Type 2 diabetes is NOT caused by damage to your pancreas. It’s caused by insulin resistance. Sure, if you have it for a long time you could burn out your pancreas but that’s not the start. Type 1 diabetes is caused by a damaged pancreas.
You can’t do too much about Type 1 as it’s an autoimmune problem, but Type 2 is caused by a lifestyle imbalance… not enough exercise and WAY too many carbs for your body type. Having gestational diabetes does NOT cause Type 2 diabetes. If you are prone to diabetes (and there is some genetic component to it) it tends to show up first as GD, and then later as full Type 2. GD is a warning sign and not a cause. If you drastically cut carbs, lose a bunch of weight and start exercising at least an hour a day you will be cured.
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The Well-Rounded Mama Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 9:09 am The Well-Rounded Mama(Quote)
I’m so tired of the sweeping generalizations of Type 2 as purely a “lifestyle” disease. Baloney. That can have an influence, of course, but many people have “bad” habits yet still don’t have T2 diabetes. It’s more complex than people realize.
There is a very strong genetic component to Type 2, AND there can also be pancreatic issues in some type 2s as well (not as a result of diabetes). Not as severe as type 1s but there is usually a combination of insulin resistance plus problems with the beta cell function. Some get T2 mostly from poor lifestyle (and therefore can fix it via lifestyle adjustments) but for many it goes deeper than that, and lifestyle adjustments might improve glycemic control but won’t “cure” their diabetes at all because of poor beta cell function.
Also, insulin resistance is probably not just a function of increased adiposity. In some folks, there may be an insulin receptor defect or defect in the insulin signaling pathway, as in women with PCOS. This is likely an inborn issue. It can be made far worse with poor diet and lack of exercise, yes, but people can have it even with a perfectly reasonable diet and regular exercise. They often go on to develop diabetes, not because they have poor lifestyle but because their body does not process insulin properly and eventually the pancreas can no longer compensate enough for that, especially those who have poorly functioning beta cells.
Cutting carbs, losing weight, and exercising can help improve insulin resistance and delay or prevent some cases of diabetes, but it’s never a sure “cure” for everyone. The tendency is always there, and for some people the diabetes will come EVEN if they do all the “right” things. That doesn’t mean it’s not important to be proactive, but it doesn’t mean that every T2 diabetic has brought this disease on themselves with poor lifestyle. It’s just not that simple.
Yes, this LC’s comments were astoundingly stupid and off-the-chart ignorant. But there’s a lot of that around diabetes, like the idea that T2 is a lifestyle disease only. Lifestyle is relevant of course, but strong genetic components, beta cell function, and problems with insulin receptors or signaling play a strong role as well.
Some people with terrible lifestyles never get T2 diabetes, despite their “bad” habits, and some people have very reasonable habits and get T2 anyhow. There can be many factors that go into whether or not someone gets T2 or not, and it really doesn’t lend itself to these simplistic and judgmental assumptions.
No, I do not have diabetes, but I know I’m at risk for it because of my PCOS, so yeah, this is a sore point for me. I’m just so tired of this perception of “good/innocent victim” T1 diabetes and “bad/lifestyle/brought-it-on-themselves” T2 diabetes. It’s more complex than that, people.
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Natural Momma Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 12:06 pm Natural Momma(Quote)
>”I’m so tired of the sweeping generalizations
>of Type 2 as purely a “lifestyle” disease.”
I understand your desire not to “blame the victim”, and it’s not my desire to make people feel bad about themselves, but to dismiss the strong lifestyle aspect is dangerous and dishonest. Many people who could be cured (or at least go into permanent remission) are doomed to suffer because they are not being told the truth.
Yes there is a genetic component to it and thus some people can horribly abuse their bodies without ever getting Type 2 diabetes, yet others only need to make mildly bad choices to “catch” it. Regardless of the genetic predisposition there MUST also be a lifestyle imbalance for the disease to trigger. Show me a LEAN person who exercises 1 hour every day, who is on a real low-carb diet (like Paleo or Atkins) and who also has type 2. You can’t. It doesn’t happen. When people make those changes genetics take a back seat.
I have PCOS too, but I don’t have to worry about ever getting type 2 diabetes because I refuse to live the lifestyle that will allow it to occur. You also have a choice. The typical American diet (high in white sugar and white flour) is toxic. Just because many people can eat it and be fine does not make it good… it makes them lucky. Same with our chronic lack of exercise.
Cutting “some” carbs isn’t enough. If you are carb-sensitive (which is what those defective genes really do to us) you can’t eat them in any significant quantities ever again. Follow that advice and the excess weight will fall off, add some exercise and you will be as good as gold.
Here is a really good website about a guy who did just that. He had Type 2 diabetes with pancreas damage/burn-out so he needed medication and insulin. He didn’t want to live that way so he made the changes and is now FULLY cured.
http://www.diabetes-warrior.net/about-me-and-diabetes/
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The Well-Rounded Mama Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 3:22 pm The Well-Rounded Mama(Quote)
We will have to agree to strongly disagree then.
I know that some women with PCOS have had excellent results with very low carb eating. Those that do practically make it into a religion, using the kind of language I hear here, and sometimes a very judgmental approach to anyone who does not do the same.
However, I know plenty of folks who have not had this kind of resolution with low-carbing, whatever specific diet is used. For some, it’s even triggered more problems. It certainly makes me feel worse when I’ve done it.
However, I’m happy it helped you, and I think it’s worth letting people know that it helps some…but it doesn’t have the same effect for everyone, and for some it genuinely makes things worse. I think people need to know that. We are all different people and the same approach doesn’t work equally for all.
However, I’m sure I won’t convince you of that. We will have to agree to strongly but hopefully civilly disagree on this.
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Heather Reply:
May 8th, 2012 at 8:20 pm Heather(Quote)
……I’ve had GD twice, don’t have any form of diabetes now. When will the ‘rest of my life’ kick in?
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Mandie Reply:
May 8th, 2012 at 8:49 pm Mandie(Quote)
Yeah, I had GD (although it was very borderline) with my second kid, and no other pregnancy (I’ve now had 5 kids) My Kid #2 is 8….so….am I a ticking time bomb for that too? cause I already have a genetic issue I’m “waiting to kick in”….
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Knitted in the Womb Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 8:12 am Knitted in the Womb(Quote)
It is worth noting that the diagnostic criteria for Gestational Diabetes is SO strict that a woman diagnosed with GD wouldn’t even be close to being diagnosed with Type II diabetes if she weren’t pregnant. She wouldn’t even be termed “insulin resistant”–she’d be considered absolutely WITHING NORMAL LIMITS. This has been true for well over a decade, and the diagnostic criteria for GD has gotten more strict twice during the past decade.
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Heather Reply:
May 9th, 2012 at 12:58 pm Heather(Quote)
I agree. I’ve researched this and it’s insane how because there’s two people, it suddenly should have a lower sugar threshold. I’m declining the glucose test (if you think about it, if my sugars are bad and I chug a bunch of sugar, wouldn’t that put my baby’s life at risk???) and instead doing the A1C. I know how to take my sugars every day (since I monitored it with my son) so I know how to keep track otherwise. I plan on not going on insulin this time if my sugars are ‘borderline’. I was told I couldn’t go above 125 2 hrs past eating, I never went above 135. Yet was put on 10 units of insulin every day. I think they were trying to have an excuse to induce me and it worked but not the way they wanted =) They wanted straight up induction at 39 weeks bc of GD and 38 bc of insulin. At 37 I said no and I wanted more options, I was ‘permitted’ to go as long as ‘safely possible’ so long as I had two NSTs a week and one fluid check a week. I made it to 40w1d and was induced for ‘low fluids’ which I now know wasn’t truly low. Oh what we learn after the fact!
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Kix Reply:
June 10th, 2012 at 6:11 pm Kix(Quote)
Thank you, I was diagnosed GD cuz my fasting level was 95 and my 3rd hour was 141! That is insane! Numbers that close to the range could be as simple as my body runs slightly high!!! During the rest of my pregnancy my fasting levels were 80s and after jeals stayed below 130.
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