Recommendations for promoting healthier lifestyles in postpartum women after gestational diabetes

We read with interest the study by Dennison et al. [1] which provided a qualitative synthesis on the facilitators and barriers to lifestyle changes from the perspective of women with recent gestational diabetes (GDM). We would like to provide some additional insights from our own work. Early intervention for diabetes prevention after GDM is important, but lifestyle intervention during the postpartum period can be challenging. Many of the barriers to a healthy lifestyle identified in this paper were also reported previously by young women and postpartum women in the general population [2,3]. These may be common experiences related to life stage and not unique to GDM, which could explain the high risk of weight gain in women between the ages of 18 and mid-30s [4]. Postpartum women or women with young children have additional barriers such as fatigue and the demands of an infant or young child.