Symptomatic Hypoglycemia in Otherwise Healthy, Breastfed Term Newborns

Abstract

Transient symptomatic neonatal hypoglycemia, a diagnosis that is made in the neonatal nursery, is not usually associated with apparently normal infants who have been discharged from hospital. We describe 3 such cases that presented at home on day 3 of life with seizures or life-threatening apneas. We postulate that early discharge of apparently normal infants with marginal nutritional or metabolic adaptation, may expose some infants to postdischarge (but still neonatal) hypoglycemia and its attendant risks.