Pre-pregnancy preparations

Following my recent marriage my husband and I are starting to think about having a family. I have spoken to my GP about this (in Hong Kong where I am currently living) but would value tips on readiness preparations e.g. advised HbA1c levels (my latest test result is 7.1), folic acid intake (do diabetic women need to take more) etc

I have booked a full assessment with a diabetic specialist here in HK but would value thoughts from a DAFNE perspective.

Many thanks

Hi Kvirdi, The key things our antenatal diabetes team stress to women planning pregnancy is to: continue using reliable contraception until your Hba1c is as good as possible (6-7 %). A higher dose of folic acid than normal is recommended of 5 mg/day. We ask mums to test their blood glucose more frequently aiming for blood glucose to be less than 6 mmols/l before meals and no more than 7.8 mmols/l 1 hour after meals and before bed. It is best to discuss with your diabetes specialist in Hong Kong what targets they aim for in pregnancy there as it may differ from what we do in the UK