• Low blood sugar is common in many babies right after birth, as the baby’s body gets used to regulating its blood sugar level without help from the mother’s body.

• Infants of mothers who have diabetes may have more difficulty regulating their blood sugar.

• High blood sugar can be caused by illness or stress. It’s also common in preemies born very early, because the organ that makes insulin (pancreas) is not fully developed.

A healthcare provider uses a tiny blade (lancet) to take a drop of blood from your baby’s foot. The blood is put on a small test strip. This measures the sugar in the drop of blood.

• If blood sugar is too low, you may feed your baby more often. The natural sugar in your breastmilk or formula helps raise blood sugar level. A healthcare provider may also give your baby supplemental sugar (glucose) through an IV (intravenous) line.

• If blood sugar is too high, a healthcare provider may give your baby insulin. This helps the baby's body use up more of the sugar in the blood. If the baby is being fed through an IV, a healthcare provider may also lower the amount of glucose in the IV fluid. But babies need some sugar to grow and develop as they should. They cannot have all the glucose removed from their feeds.

In adults, blood sugar problems are often caused by diabetes. If a mother has diabetes, her baby is more likely to have temporary low blood sugar at birth. The problem continues until the baby’s pancreas adjusts to his or her normal blood sugar level. But the blood sugar problem your baby has does NOT mean your baby has diabetes. If your baby has low or high blood sugar as a newborn, it does not mean that your baby is likely to grow up to have diabetes, either.