My grandson is four days old. He is being treated for diabetes. His first blood sugar was 47 mmol/L [846 mg/dl]. The doctors treating him are using textbooks to treat him as this is their first case. My daughter had polyhydramnious during her second trimester of pregnancy and was treated with drugs, which slowly cleared the condition. The baby was born 6 pounds, 8 ounces, but was emaciated. Measurements of his head and body length have indicated that he should have weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces. He is responding erratically to the treatment of insulin. Please, can you give us some information as we can not find any anywhere? Will he have this all his life? Is it transient?

Neonatal diabetes is very rare, so your grandchild should be in a neonatal intensive care unit under a pediatric diabetologist/endocrinologist’s care. Please insist on this so that optimum care is provided. Sometimes this is a transient situation but sometimes it is permanent. Time will help sort this out, but it is critical that frequent monitoring and insulin decisions, as well as fluid management decisions, are made many times each day. If necessary, have the infant transported with a specialized neonatal transport team to a large enough center where such specialized care is available. There are many such centers in the UK, usually in large cities and affiliated directly with medical schools.

SB