A child of the mother suffering from pregestational diabetes is increasingly at risk due to diabetic embryopathy and fetopathy. Diabetic fetopathy also affects children of mothers with gestational diabetes.
Maternal diabetes (any type) may have a negative impact on the baby even postnatally which is not represented by a higher risk of diabetes development only. For these children, for example, a higher incidence of changes affecting their neuropsychic development is reported.
These changes can be induced by an epigenetic mechanism that is conditioned not only by the mother's diabetes alone but also by other possible metabolic factors (obesity, etc.).