Treating a Low in an Infant
Reviewed by CDE Mehandi Sharma · Updated
The adult rule for treating a low — fifteen grams of glucose, wait fifteen minutes — does not transfer to a baby. Amounts have to be scaled to a very small body, and only your team can set them for your child.
In general terms, and following your own plan:
- For a baby who is alert and able to feed, a feed is usually the treatment — breastmilk or formula, given promptly.
- Recheck after the interval your team specified, and repeat if the reading has not come up.
- Once the glucose has recovered, the next scheduled feed still matters, so that it does not fall again.
- Write down what happened, what you gave, and what the readings were before and after.
Hospitals also use a dextrose gel applied inside the cheek for babies who will not feed. If your team has supplied this and shown you how, use it as instructed. Do not improvise with honey, sugar water or anything else unless you were specifically told to.
Repeated lows are a dosing problem to solve, not something to keep absorbing. Report a pattern rather than waiting for the next appointment.