title: Hypoglycemia and the breastfed neonate.
abstract: Healthy, full-term infants are functionally and metabolically programmed to make the transition from their intrauterine dependent environment to their extrauterine existence without the need for metabolic monitoring or interference with the natural breastfeeding process. Full-term infants are equipped with homeostatic mechanisms that preserve adequate energy substrate to the brain and other vital organs. Thermal stability and early, properly guided, frequent, exclusive breastfeeding are the keys to success. Thus, routine screening for blood glucose concentrations or feeding sugar water is not necessary and potentially counterproductive to the establishment of a healthy mother-infant dyad.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Hebrew University School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel. eidel@cc.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Eidelman
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose