Why would a baby be born with very low blood sugar? Not GD.

[FerminaUrbinoDaza]

Could anyone enlighten me? This has been bugging me ever since DD was born, she's 3 next month .

You could have had undiagnosed GD - it may not show up in your urine until the levels are about 11, if your kidneys are in good nick, but that would be high enough to affect the baby, who would experience a drop in blood sugar after birth, as she'd be used to pumping more insulin into her system to keep her blood sugar level normal. In severe cases, this is very dangerous, but usually they can sort it out with a glucose drip (and slowly let the levels return to normal as the baby adapts).

i really don't think I had GD, no signs whatsoever and DD was 6lbs 12oz at 39+2.

They did indeed give her a glucose drip and were very fussy about her milk (colostrum) intake, I was forced to weigh her before and after feeds for several days and top up after BF in she 'hadn't had enough'. Was also only allowed to feed her for 10mins 3 hourly

Was she very big? All of mine had low blood sugar but they were all very big (10 4, 10 6, 10 4)

Oh no I see she wasn't. I don't know. Sorry.

Our DS also had this, it's called hypoglycemia if you want to search for more information about it on line. We were told it can happen with late babies, big babies and when you have had a long and/or traumatic birth as the baby uses up all their sugar levels.

Our DS was put on the four hourly blood tests because he'd passed meconium at birth and we were only allowed to feed him at a four hour interval and after what I've read I would probably question this if it happened again. When you read some of the research it's very debatable how to measure low blood sugar in newborns and everything I've read suggests unrestricted breastfeeding. However, it can be very dangerous for the baby as it can in some cases result in brain damage so I think they can be very cautious in treating it.

I'm 20 weeks pregnant and am going to meet with the head of the delivery ward to discuss my care last time and this is one of the things I'll be trying to find out more about then.

My DS was born in may & had very low blood sugar at birth,it was 1.4 I think.He was on 2 hourly heel pricks,3 hourly formula feeds although I could breastfeed whenever I wanted to.
In the and he was in SCBU for a week,glucose drip,feeding tube etc.
He was 10lb 6oz and I tested negative for GD.I checked my own blood sugars regularly as my Mum is a diabetic nurse and gave me a kit....and my sugars were always normal.

Sorry haven't answered your question as I don't know the answer!

Thanks for the replies.

I suppose it must just have been the birth, it wasn't long (12 hours, first birth) but wasn't easy. She got stuck and passed meconium, needed ventouse in the end.