# Low blood sugar in newborns (neonatal hypoglycaemia)

Condition · id `maternal:neonatal-hypoglycaemia` · Maternal & Newborn Atlas · release `c7fb95f1d15a7d13` (public)

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Also called: Neonatal hypoglycemia; Newborn low blood sugar

Browse, life stage: Newborn  
Browse, care area: Newborn care  

## In plain language

Low blood sugar in a baby soon after birth. In the Sugar Babies trial, babies at risk were enrolled and 242 of 514 (47%) went on to have low blood sugar. The trial authors call it common and a preventable cause of brain damage.

## Technical summary

The page rests on the Sugar Babies trial abstract (2013) and its mid-childhood follow-up (Neonatology 2023). It sets out no blood glucose thresholds for diagnosis; the trial defined treatment failure as a blood glucose under 2.6 mmol/L after two treatment attempts. It links to the gestational diabetes page, but no claim on this page is about that link.

## Connected pages

- The gestational diabetes page: Gestational diabetes (`maternal:gestational-diabetes`)
- Filed under this front: Newborn support: warmth, breathing, feeding (`maternal:front-newborn-support`)
- Treated by: Dextrose gel for newborn low blood sugar (`maternal:oral-dextrose-gel`) [a claim, not a settled fact; see claim `maternal:claim-sugar-babies-treatment-failure` and its context]
- Evaluated for this: Dextrose gel for newborn low blood sugar (`maternal:oral-dextrose-gel`) [a claim, not a settled fact; see claim `maternal:claim-sugar-babies-midchildhood` and its context]

## Provenance

Content hash: 111be6f7dee8ee45442f2d449ef28815815b968843e99e3ddfb5b3848c0b48e6
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-14
Evidence last checked: Not recorded