Most women can treat gestational diabetes by changing the way they eat and exercising more often. If these changes do not keep your blood sugar level within a safe range, you may need to take insulin. You may also need to take insulin if your doctor thinks that your baby is getting too large.

If you need to take insulin, your doctor will teach you how to give yourself an insulin shot. For more information, see:

Preparing and giving an insulin shot

Medication Choices

Insulin

What to Think About

Insulin is the only medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat gestational diabetes. Insulin is only used if you cannot control your blood sugar level by eating well and exercising regularly.

How much insulin you need depends on how much you weigh and on how close you are to your due date. Some women need more insulin as they get closer to their delivery date because the placenta makes more and more hormones that make it harder and harder for insulin to do its job. In rare cases, a woman with gestational diabetes has to stay in the hospital for a short time to get her blood sugar level within a safe range.

There is a pill called glyburide for type 2 diabetes that some doctors are using to treat women with gestational diabetes. But until more information is available to prove that glyburide is safe and effective, the American Diabetes Association continues to recommend only insulin for women with gestational diabetes.