Effects of Dextrose Gel in Newborns at Risk for Neonatal Hypoglycemia in a Baby-Friendly Hospital

To describe the effects of the introduction of dextrose gel to the neonatal hypoglycemia (NH) protocol on exclusive breastfeeding rates at discharge and NICU admission rates among clinically well newborns born at 35 weeks gestation or greater who were at risk for NH in a Baby-Friendly hospital.

Quasi-experimental, pre- and postintervention.

A suburban, Baby-Friendly hospital with approximately 2,000 births annually.

Clinically well newborns born at 35 weeks gestation or greater at risk for NH who were admitted to the mother-baby unit.

We compared 198 newborns at risk for NH born in the 6-month period before the introduction of dextrose gel (November 15, 2016, through May 14, 2017) versus 203 newborns born in the 6-month period after the introduction (May 15, 2017, through November 14, 2017). In the preintervention group, the NH protocol included blood glucose monitoring, prolonged skin-to-skin contact, feeding, and dextrose administered intravenously. In the postintervention group, oral dextrose gel was added to the NH protocol.

We found no differences in maternal or newborn characteristics between the pre- and postintervention groups. Dextrose gel was given to 50 newborns (approximately 25%) of 203 in the postintervention group. The proportion of newborns who were exclusively breastfed at discharge was similar between groups (56.6% of 198 vs. 59.1% of 203, p = .62), as were the NICU admission rates for hypoglycemia (2.5% of 198 vs. 1.5% of 203, p = .50).

In a suburban Baby-Friendly hospital, introduction of dextrose gel into the NH protocol had no significant effect on exclusive breastfeeding at discharge or NICU admission rates.