What is the normal blood sugar level for newborns?

Every parent hopes that their child can come into this world healthy. However, many newborns always have various symptoms, among which neonatal hypoglycemia is a relatively common symptom. However, the occurrence of such symptoms has a great impact on the health of the child, and always makes parents particularly worried. Therefore, blood sugar testing for newborns is also inevitable and necessary. However, due to our limited knowledge of medical knowledge, we do not know what the normal blood sugar value of newborns is, and thus we cannot make better and more timely judgments. Let's learn about it together below.

What is the normal blood sugar level for newborns?

Neonatal hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia: Disorders of glucose metabolism are very common in the neonatal period. Due to differences in the methods of collecting blood samples and detecting glucose in the blood, the definition of neonatal hypoglycemia is rather confusing. Most scholars have recognized that the hypoglycemia indicators are: whole blood glucose <1.67mmol/L (30mg/dl) within 3 days after birth of full-term infants, and <2.2mmol/L (40mg/dl) after 3 days; for low-weight infants, <1.1mmol/L (20mg/dl) within 3 days after birth, and <2.2mmol/L (40mg/dl) after 1 week. There is currently a trend to diagnose whole blood glucose <2.2mmol/L (40mg/dl) as neonatal hypoglycemia.

Neonatal hyperglycemia is defined as: whole blood glucose >7.0 mmol/L (125 mg/dl), or plasma sugar >8.12~8.40 mmol/L (145~150 mg/dl).

Neonatal hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia

Etiology and pathogenesis

1. Hypoglycemia

1. Insufficient glucose production and increased need are seen in asphyxia and hypoxia, sepsis, cold injury, congenital heart disease, small for gestational age, congenital endocrine disorders, metabolic defects, etc. It is related to the following factors: ① Low storage of liver glycogen, fat and protein, and low enzyme activity in the gluconeogenesis pathway, such as small for gestational age; ② Insufficient calorie intake, high metabolic rate, increased sugar requirement, and gluconeogenesis defects, such as sepsis, cold injury, congenital heart disease, etc.; ③ High oxygen consumption in anaerobic metabolism, coupled with increased sugar consumption due to the release of norepinephrine; ④ Glucagon deficiency, congenital pituitary insufficiency, cortisol deficiency, glycogen storage disease, congenital amino acid and fat metabolism defects, etc., often lead to persistent and stubborn hypoglycemia.

2. Increased glucose consumption is common in infants of diabetic mothers, Rh hemolytic disease, Bechwith syndrome, asphyxia and infantile islet cell hyperplasia, all of which are caused by hyperinsulinemia.

2. Hyperglycemia

1. Using aminophylline to treat apnea can activate liver glycogenolysis and inhibit glycogen synthesis.

2. Suffocation, cold, and sepsis can all excite adrenergic receptors, increase the release of catecholamines and glucagon, or damage pancreatic endocrine cells leading to dysfunction, all of which can cause hyperglycemia. Most cases result in death, but a few can persist for a longer time.

3. Diabetes is rare in the neonatal period.

4. Iatrogenic hyperglycemia is often caused by the rapid infusion rate of glucose in premature infants and very low birth weight infants, or the inability of exogenous sugar infusion to inhibit endogenous sugar production during total intravenous nutrition.

The above are introductions to the normal blood sugar values ​​for newborns. After understanding this, many parents will judge whether this is normal in the neonatal room for a while. In addition, in order to avoid such things from happening, you must pay special attention during your pregnancy, ensure a happy mood, and pay attention to nutritional balance in your diet, and eat more light foods.