Medical Questions » Diabetes Questions » Question No. 260
| Question: | My third child was born ten days ago, and she was a whopper, weighing just over ten pounds. My obstetrician now wants me to have a special test for diabetes, because he said the baby was too big. Do women with big babies always have diabetes? |
| Answer: | If you have a baby that weighs more than 4.5 kg (10 lb) it is possible that you suffer from diabetes, but non-diabetics may also have big babies. After you deliver a heavy baby, doctors will routinely perform a test (the glucose tolerance test) to determine whether you have diabetes or are likely to develop the disease. If this test is negative, you have nothing to be worried about. If it is positive, it may only be the stress of pregnancy that has induced a temporary form of diabetes, or you may develop diabetes later in life. This form of diabetes can be very well controlled.
Large babies also run in families, so there may be no connection with diabetes at all.
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