Samridh 10 Posted January 25 Apart from the fact that preterm babies less than 35 weeks were not included in the sugar babies study and also possibly may have swallowing issues, is there any other reason why glucose gel is not being used for preterm infants less than 35 weeks and is anyone of you recommending the use in preterm infants less than 35 weeks and upto what gestational age in case you are using?. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rehman_naveed 58 Posted January 27 The reason we use gel in term babies is to avoid admissions and transiently support feeds. On the other hand preterm <35wks is by default admitted to nicu so it doesn't make any sense to use gel in them plus you have to start IV D10w or formula NG feeds so gel has no role. Moreover gel is not 100% effective in preventing hypoglycemia same as vaccines are not 100% guaranteed. Having said that we use gels in terms because they have more glycogen reserves as compared to preterm and sustainability is more attainable in terms as compared to preterm. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan Johansson 393 Posted January 27 I agree with the rationale put fw by @rehman_naveed. We have though used gel sometimes in well preterm infants solely on enteral feeds and with sugars in the range of ~1.8-2.0 mmol/L, and where we have tested gel firstm before starting glucose iv. Usually succesfully. I recall the lowest gest-age to be 33+ weeks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bimalc 79 Posted January 29 Certainly I agree with @Stefan Johansson on the exception to the rule stated by @rehman_naveed. I have never done it, but I've at times wondered if I wouldn't give glucose gel a try in a situation where there was some difficulty obtaining access, just to get the sugar up a bit while I put in an umbilical line. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M C Fadous Khalife 11 Posted February 4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29579758 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spartacus007 46 Posted February 7 We are using it for 34 weeks and above 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites