Infant of diabetic mother and feeding....

[LucyRn4]

Hey all!

I was discussing infants of diabetic mothers with some of my co workers and no one seemed to understand WHY IDMs are poor feeders. We've seen plenty of cases where the baby just sits there with a bottle in his/her mouth or even tries to fight us...but what is the physiologic rationale behind this?

Thanks

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

are the babies hypoglycemic? That would make them lethargic/irritable and unlikely to eat

[babyCNP]

I recently was talking with a student Occupational Therapist who was working on a project on infant's of a diabetic mother. She said that there is proven research that infants whose mother did not control her glucose levels throughout pregnancy had neurological defects which are portrayed through features such as hypotonia, poor feeding, and being LGA. These effects on the brain are not necessarily those that could be seen on MRI or CT. We see this problem all the time in our NICU.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

I just went a conference and they are labeling diabetes in pregnancy as a teratogenic . It causes a lot if neuro issues, especially with poorly controlled moms. It seems we are seeing more and more IDM kids. Our hospital considers anyone with an abnormal one hour glucose as diabetic.