January 14, 2001
Diagnosis and Symptoms
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Question from San Diego, California, USA:
Can a baby be born with diabetes? My cousin said her baby was born with diabetes, and a year later, the baby now shows no sign of diabetes and requires no insulin.
Answer:
From: DTeam Staff
Transient neonatal diabetes has indeed been described, but it is very rare occurring in <1:500,000 births. Recently, it has been linked to a condition called paternal disomy in which chromosome 6 is inherited entirely from the father and not at all from the mother. DOB [Editor's comment: In more than 50% of cases, infants with transient neonatal diabetes completely recover the ability to produce insulin after two to four months. SS]