You Did Not Cause This

A GDM diagnosis is frequently followed by a search for the thing you did wrong — the sweets, the ghee, the weight gained, the rest you took. In many Indian families, relatives help conduct that search.

It is worth saying clearly that they are looking for something that is not there.

GDM happens because the hormones your placenta produces make your body resist insulin, and your pancreas cannot fully compensate. That is a matter of physiology, not discipline. Genes and body weight can raise the risk, but plenty of slim women with careful diets develop GDM, and plenty of others do not.

It is also extremely common. India's national study found GDM in more than a fifth of pregnancies. Something affecting that many pregnancies is not a personal failing.

This matters beyond your feelings. Guilt makes women hide readings, under-report what they have eaten, and avoid appointments where they expect to be judged. All of those make the pregnancy less safe, not more.

So if someone tells you this happened because you ate too many sweets, they are mistaken. What you do from here matters. What you did before does not need explaining.