Neonatal hypermagnesemia: report of one case

A female baby was born prematurely to a pre-eclampsic mother at our hospital. The mother had received fifty grams of magnesium sulfate intravenously within the forty-six hours prior to the delivery. This neonate suffered from severe respiratory distress, hypotonia, and hyporeflexia immediately after birth. She recovered completely after receiving low setting ventilatory support for twelve hours and intravenous calcium gluconate supply. All laboratory data were within normal limits except transient metabolic acidosis and elevated serum magnesium level to 2.28 mmol/L of the cord blood. The serum magnesium level dropped to 1.17 mmol/L at 12 hours of age. She tolerated oral feeding within the first day with no obervable neurological sequelae at the follow-up examination. Hypermagnesemia was judged to be the cause of the newborn's clinical presentation.