The nurse is caring for a large-for-gestational-age infant born to a patient with diabetes mellitus. Why should the nurse schedule routine blood glucose measurements for the infant?

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Large-for-gestational age infants need to be carefully assessed for hypoglycemia in the early hours of life because large infants require large amounts of nutritional stores to sustain their weight. If the mother had diabetes that was poorly controlled, the infant would have had an increased blood glucose level in utero to match the mother's glucose level; this caused the infant to produce elevated levels of insulin. After birth, these increased insulin levels will continue for up to 24 hours of life, possibly causing rebound hypoglycemia. Frequent blood glucose monitoring in large-for-gestational-age infants is not done to determine insulin dosage, to explain the effects of maternal hyperglycemia on the baby, or to estimate the amount of calories to provide the infant through formula.

The Nurse Is Caring for a Large-For-Gestational-Age Infant Born to a Patient