New Delhi: Diabetes can leave your child prone to childhood obesity. Now here's a good reason for new mothers to monitor their blood sugar levels.

A new study shows that babies born to mothers with a condition called Gestational diabetes run double the risk of childhood obesity.

Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that affects pregnant women who have never had diabetes before. It occurs in about 4% of pregnancies.

And high blood sugar during pregnancy, could result in overfeeding the child in the womb — leading to changes in the baby's metabolic mechanism. That makes them prone to develop obesity and diabetes.

A five-year study carried on by the American Diabetes Association, found that children born to mothers with poorly controlled high blood sugar are 89 percent more likely to be overweight than those born to mothers with regular levels of blood sugar. 

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