Kidz First Neonatal Care

Low Blood Sugar

• Sugar is the food used by the baby’s brain and other organs.  If the sugar in the blood gets low and stays low for too long, it may cause damage.

• Babies whose mothers had diabetes in pregnancy.
• Small babies, less than 2500 grams, especially babies who are smaller than average for the stage of pregnancy (small for dates).
• Big babies, over 4500 grams.
• Sick babies, such as those with an infection.

• Hardly ever! The blood sugar needs to be low for a long time to be harmful. We will test the blood sugar and give treatment if it is low.

• Blood tests are taken to check the sugar level. The blood is taken from a prick in your baby’s heel.
• The normal blood sugar in babies is 2.6 or more.
• Usually a test is done just before a feed.

• If the sugar is a little bit low, we may give extra feeds.
• If the sugar is very low, or it doesn’t get better with feeding, we will put in a drip to give the sugar.

• Many babies can be on the ward with their mother.
• The baby will need tests until the blood sugar remains normal with normal feeding.
• Usually we want to see three normal blood test results with normal feeding.

• A baby who had low blood sugars does not need special checks after going home.

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https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/public/paediatrics/kidz-first-neonatal-care/