Relationships between maternal glucose intolerance and neonatal blood glucose.

Blood glucose changes in 63 infants during the first three hours of life were related to indices of glucose tolerance of their mothers. Of the mothers, 34 had insulin-dependent diabetes, 16 had gestational diabetes, and 11 had minor abnormalities of glucose tolerance. The fasting blood glucose level of the mother and the umbilical cord blood glucose level were both proportional to the rate of glucose decline in the infant after birth which, in turn, was inversely related to the lowest glucose level attained within three hours. Hypoglycemia occurred in 77% of the infants of diabetic mothers, 25% of the infants of mothers with gestational diabetes, and one of 12 (8%) of infants of mothers with minor degrees of glucose intolerance. The blood glucose level at two hours during an oral glucose tolerance test in the mother can be used to predict the probability of her infant having neonatal hypoglycemia.