Kathleen asked what the numeric definition of hypoglycemia is in various hospitals in various parts of the world.  

(quoting from her post) "Here in our part of the world, for normal term babies with no other issues, it is a Blood glucose (heel stick) of 50. It used to be 40."


Pam Hendrix in S.Fla responded: "the Blood Sugar has to be 40 or above the first 24 hrs (this may have changed to first 12 hours...I will check when I am at work next week....maybe one of the IBCLCs will see this and know from one of our other hospitals.  We just had a change recently.  After that the baby has to have 3 above 50.  There was a rumor if a nurse wanted to "spot check" a baby not on protocol then she would have to put the baby on protocol."


And Jean Ridler in SA wrote: here it is 2.6 mmol/L (converts to about 46.8mg/dL)

Where I work it used to be 2.0 mmol/L which seems to be about 40 but I am too lazy to find my conversion table.  Now it is 2.0 mmol/L for term babies in the first 24 hours, and thereafter 2.5 mmol/L.  Over the last couple of years it seems we are ordering more blood tests than we used to, with the expected result of using more supplement because if the baby needed a blood test he probably needs supplement too.  (being sarcastic now, but the supplementing has definitely gotten completely out of hand).   Other hospitals have higher values and of course they use more supplement.  There is no national consensus on what should be the lower limit of normal for term healthy babies on maternity wards.  I don't know whether the situation is any less ambiguous in special care settings.

I have a question for Kathleen and Pam.  From your posts it almosts seems that term babies with 'no other issues' are having their blood glucose levels measured as a matter of routine, not on some indication.  Please reassure me that this is not the case!

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome