No, Sharon. I still didn't get my point across. I'll try again.

<And thanks to Jean Cotterman for reminding me about hyper and hypo for =
this
condition.  Should keep that straight.  Hyper means too much insulin and
=
this baby
seems to not be producing any insulin (hypo).>

Generally, the problem is not so much with the baby's ability to produce
insulin. A baby who would not be producing any insulin would be a very
sick baby indeed-profound diabetes in the newborn. I don't even know if
such a condition exists, because it would be so life-threatening as to
endanger chances of survival even in the uterus. While glucose crosses
the placenta, insulin cannot, so the baby and the mother each need to
make their own. Perinatal mortality statistics have improved as the
understanding of glucose metabolism has improved. 


Rather, the problem usually lies with the instability of the blood
glucose supply and its feedback mechanism with the pancreas. (Like a
furnace and a thermostat, reciprocating turning on and off, depending on
the heat (glucose) level that's triggering the re-balancing activity
(furnace on/off -- glucose supply/reserve.) This, of course could be
exacerbated by 
under-feeding (not enough glucose substrate in the diet), or 
by temporary reactive hyper-secretion of fetal/newborn insulin due to
maternal hyperglycemia (too high a blood sugar in the mother, either from
poorly controlled diabetes, or too rapid infusion of IV glucose before
birth)
but much more likely due to inadequate stores of glycogen in the baby's
muscles and especially in the liver, in preparation for the transition
from placental to oral nutrition.
Just wanted to be sure to keep the insights on LN fairly straight!

Jean
**********************
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, OH USA


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