# Big baby = blood sugar problems?



## NoraB (Dec 10, 2002)

Can anybody tell me if there is hard data on this?

When DS was born, he was 9lbs10oz. B/c I'd had a c/s, DH went w/ him to the nursery. They told DH they had to do a glucose on DS b/c he was over 9lbs. It was "routine." DH didn't know to refuse (b/c DS had NO symptoms of low bs) and none of us expected DS to be over 8lbs. His sugar tested low (though I'm convinced that was an error b/c he had no symptoms as I said and he tested completely normal the next time around) but they put an IV in him and gave him a glucose bolus.







They then proceeded to test him every few hours over the next day and a half or 2. Once, when it'd been more than 3 hours since he'd nursed, he tested 2 less than normal and the nurse told us he'd have to be admitted if he didn't test normally the next time around. It was a terrifying experience for us.

On another thread, a poster mentioned that big babies tend to have blood sugar problems. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless the big babies are mostly coming from diabeteic moms.

Anybody have more information?


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## atozmama (May 2, 2005)

I am anticipating a 10 lb+ babe in 7 weeks or so. My first was 9 lb and in the NICU for 4 days so I am not sure what all they did besides the work up for sepis (neg). My next two were 9 lb 8 oz and 10 lb 7 oz, they never took them from me or tested them for glucose levels. I nursed them right away and as often as needed. I have heard that colostrum is best for regulationg blood sugars. I think that Jack Newman has some info on this. I'll have to dig it up. for this baby I am at a new hospital and new dr.


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## pamamidwife (May 7, 2003)

larger babies have lots of fat - which beautifully sustains them for the first two to three days until milk comes in. it's a perfect system - and you're right, unless the mother has true diabetes and had been starved in labor, there will be no problems with baby postpartum.

nobody really knows for sure what "normal" blood glucose is in newborns - it varies greatly and there is a ton of debate about it. just poking a baby puts stress on them and causes their blood sugar to spike and then drop dramatically.

skin to skin with mom is the best remedy for "low" blood sugar. but, alas, in the hospital, few babies get that.


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## Peppamint (Oct 19, 2002)

A friend of mine had a baby a few weeks ago who was the same size as yours Nora and went through the same thing (well, and more because of possible fever so he had the tap and everything too







). She said she did some reading and was dismayed to find it's pretty common for bigger babies to have lower blood sugar... so why the hospital panicked I don't know... he certainly wasn't skin to skin as Pam suggested, he was off being tested and poked/prodded.


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## Mama2RMM (Aug 24, 2004)

Rach was 9 pounds 8 ounces and was pricked and diagnosed with low blood sugar levels. They wanted to shove a sugar water bottle down her ASAP.







: We refused, and when tested the next day she was perfectly fine. I did not have GD and she started nursing like a champ Day 1, so we weren't concerned about refusing the "medical" advice.

I've also been told since that it's a common "problem" with larger babies... it doesn't really seem that big an issue to me.


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## mamaroni (Sep 12, 2003)

from what I understand, individual hospitals set their own weight limit so it's arbitrary to begin with. my 2 hospital born kids were over the limit for that particular hospital, but my very good friend who is a labor nurse at another hospital said that my kids would have fallen below her hospital's weight limit. We refused for both kiddos and all was fine.

I hope that made sense!


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## katja (Apr 13, 2004)

What would be the consequences of untreated low blood sugar in a newborn? I've only ever heard about interventions/refusal of interventions for it, but nothing beyond that.


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## Mama to 4 (Jun 1, 2005)

Whats up with the glucose water? Why cant you just nurse the baby, doesnt breastmilk have sugar in it?

W I E R D

Is there any issues with UC or homebirth with this? My baby was 11 pounds and we didnt test him for anything........hope that was ok, as we plan on it again.......!


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

If your baby faints from hunger, your baby had low blood-sugar?








Oh, scary thought though







what if one of those scheduling idiots had a homebirth with a baby that actually had low-blood sugar. Eep, that baby might actually faint from hunger, that's not so funny.









Anyway, my guess is that nursing on demand'll fix anything along those lines?


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## ldsapmom (Apr 8, 2002)

My first was 9.8 and they made me feel like I had undiagnosed GD, even though his sugar came back fine (and they did it a few times during our stay).

My second baby was 9.9, so I laughed -- that's just how big my babies grow!

I am anxious to see what size this baby will be!


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## CarolynnMarilynn (Jun 3, 2004)

At our hospital they do 24 hours of blood sugar testing on all babies below 2500g or over 4000g (high eight pound range). Many of our clients refuse and discharge home early. The idea is to catch babies born to women that had undiagnosed gestational diabetes. Even if women had gd testing that came out normal, their babies still get tested. Apparently there is some research that a lot of hospitals are paying a great deal of attention to that shows a correlation between high birth weight and blood sugar instability and poorer school performance at age 7. Hospitals, being the insane liability avoiders they try to be, catch a VERY wide net hoping to catch a few fish, all in the name of reducing liability. It's stupid and pathologizes an often normal situation. ADDITIONALLY, it separates moms and babies, and introduces a substantially substandard substance (formula at my hospital) in place of a superior and perfect food for babies. The damage done in separating moms and babies and impact on breastfeeding goes largely ignored. We talk to all of our clients about these policies and have had parents choose homebirth just to avoid this policy. Gotta love CYA policies, eh?


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## NoraB (Dec 10, 2002)

Thanks for the replies. My gut told me that the arbitrary bs testing was...well BS. LOL. I would really like to HB, but I'm not sure if I'll be ready for it next time around (as I've had 2 c/s and no vag birth...though the last c/s was after attempting a VBAC and baby's head came down crooked).


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## DaryLLL (Aug 12, 2002)

Colostrum, transitional milk and mature milk all have lactose--milk sugar-- in it so I don't know why they would push IVs of sugar or glucose water or--gack!-- artificial baby milk! Unless the baby was not able to nurse, I just don't see the point.

Drs get on these kicks, don't they? Now it's all about the "low blood sugar" and the "kidney reflux."


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

I wish I had more actual info at hand (sorry!)....

My first was 9#5 oz, and they did the testing and pushing of glucose water, even though he was nursing. He had trouble gaining in the 1st few weeks, and I wondered later if the glucose water affected my supply early on (there was bad advice, too, which could have affected it). Anyway, everything fine in the end.

2nd time... I talked with my kids' ped ahead of time, asked him whether it really needed to be done. He stressed that it's just a precautionary thing, that yes, in rare cases, very bad things can happen (but crap, I don't remember now what those bad things are or how often it occurs). What we agreed upon (since I knew I'd have another big one--he turned out to be 9#4 oz) was intermittent monitoring only if necessary (I think either the 1st 12 or 24 hrs) and frequent nursing instead of whatever else they do (he thinks this is the best way to deal with the blood sugar situation, anyway). I think they only checked Z's blood sugar once or maybe twice, as opposed to every 4 hrs round the clock for 2 days for T (till a nurse told us duh, we could refuse).

I think there are a ton of things newborn-related that it's good to discuss before the birth with the ped, and this is one of them. It's good to decide what you're going to refuse and why (and what you're okay with doing) and to get your reasons straight.


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## celtic_angel (Jul 27, 2005)

lurker coming in late here to say that the entire theory of big babies= blood sugar issues is bs...
*my 1st baby was 9lbs 6oz and they hurried her out of the delivery room to test her ~ i was 18 at the time and had no clue what was going on.
*with my 2nd they were convinced they had missed me having gestational diabetes the first time and i went through the horrible fasting blood sugar test(fasting while pg what are they thinking??but w/ this one i was still young, only 19, and thought they knew something i did not). everything came back completely normal and that daughter was 12 lbs 6 oz(completely natural birth -no c-section!!







)i refused to let them test her since at that point i knew for certain their was no issue, finally feeling the mama power!
3rd dd was 9lbs
4th child my only boy was 9lbs 13 oz
apparently i just have really big babies!!
i had a midwife w/ # 4 for the first time and am planning a homebirth for when we succeed in our ttc efforts.it took me a while to get the confidence to tell the docs to buzz off.they always seemed to think i was a freak of nature







i am naturally very thin, but will gain an average of 65lbs with every pregnancy and produce these roly poly bambinos...friends told me w/ dd#2 it was like i gave birth to a 6 month old!


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## Amylcd (Jun 16, 2005)

Mine were 9 lbs 7 oz and 10 lbs 3 oz... they were not tested. Actually, it wasen't even mentioned


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## Yummymummy74 (Jun 7, 2004)

Actually... now that I am thinking about it. I am in the same region as Carolynn, and I have never had a babe under 8 pounds.. my last two were UC so no testing.. but the other guys the hospitals did not do this.. is this new? my last hospital birth was in 2002.


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## Pastrydemon (Feb 3, 2005)

DD was 10lbs 8oz. I did have GD but it was well controlled with diet and exercise. I had concerns going in that there might be bs problems, but I seem to remember the midwives told me that they just visually monitor the baby for a few hours postpartum. No tests were done. My huge newborn and I went home a few hours after birth with no problems.


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Frank Sinatra was an only child born at home to an Italian mother who was diabetic. He was fifteen pounds, and the midwife thought he was stillborn.

There is a tendency for women with blood sugar problems to have large babies; but then some women tend to have big babies.

I took care of my Maternal Grandfather who had adult onset diabetes in his last days; I do not have diabetes and had small babies. My younger sister now has diabetes; she had GD and had one large baby.

It does tend to run in families, so I am still careful.


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## myniyer (Feb 24, 2004)

I did not have GD and had a 10 lb baby. I started out at a birth center, the medwife transferred me to hospital against my wishes, the nurse glucose tested my DD without my permission and then started pushing formula on us.







: When I refused I was told I was endangering my baby's life.







It took a call to my LLL leader, a request for the pediatrician on call's opinion, and tons of vigilance to get her to back down. It had been a difficult delivery (she was posterior and I pushed 3 hours because I was required to be in an uncomfortable position) and she wasn't really interested in nursing until the next day... but she turned out fine. Like someone else said, big babies have that fat cushion for a reason.


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## beansavi (Jun 26, 2005)

My babies were 10 lbs 6 oz, and 9 lbs 10 oz. Neither had blood sugar probs and my pregnancies and births were healthy and done naturally. Both babes were very alert and happy.







Now I am having number three...


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