Patient's question:
My wife gave birth to a son two days ago. My wife is very weak, and the delivery wasn't smooth. When the doctor checked the newborn, they said he had low blood sugar. What factors or causes can lead to low blood sugar in newborns? What kind of impact does it have on their future?Doctor's answer:
1. Premature and small for gestational age infants have low glycogen stores. After birth, maintaining body temperature, respiration, and muscle activity all rely on energy supplied by carbohydrates. If supplementation is not timely, hypoglycemia is prone to occur. Wang Xinliang, Department of Pediatrics, the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University.2. Newborns with respiratory distress syndrome, hardening syndrome, or hemolytic disease often have poor feeding ability. The existing glucose consumption in their bodies is high, leading to hypoglycemia.
3. If the mother has diabetes or the newborn has hereditary diseases such as galactosemia or glycogen storage disease, hypoglycemia in children may also occur.
4. Rapid glucose infusion may stimulate the secretion of endogenous insulin in newborns. When glucose infusion is abruptly stopped, reactive hypoglycemia may occur. Therefore, for newborns after asphyxia, especially low birth weight infants, glucose should be gradually reduced and then discontinued after infusion to avoid reactive hypoglycemia.
5. Some diseases, such as hormone deficiency, diabetes, congenital hypopituitarism, and congenital metabolic defects like maple syrup urine disease and galactosemia, can all lead to hypoglycemia. There will be no future impact.