Ask An Expert: Infants and Diabetes

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Ask An Expert: Infants and Diabetes

Question:

Could a baby be diabetic from birth?

Answer:

Yes, diabetes (also called diabetes mellitus) can happen at any age, but it is extremely rare during the first few months of life. Diabetes happens more often as children get older, probably because of how diabetes develops.

Diabetes is a condition where high amounts of sugar (glucose) build up in the blood. Normally, insulin made by the pancreas helps move sugar from the blood into the body's cells, where the sugar creates energy. Diabetes happens when someone does not make insulin or when the insulin the body has does not work as it should.

With type 1 diabetes, the kind of diabetes usually seen in children, people do not make insulin due to a problem with the body's immune (infection-fighting) system. The body's immune system mistakes the special insulin-making parts (beta cells) in the pancreas for "invaders" and attacks them. As the immune system destroys more and more beta cells, less and less insulin is made and symptoms of diabetes begin to appear. However, a baby's immune system is not fully developed at birth, so it usually cannot make this kind of attack so early in life. Since it takes some time for the beta cells in the pancreas to be destroyed, it would be unusual for a newborn baby to have diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes, the kind of diabetes usually seen in adults, is the most common form of diabetes in the United States, affecting more than 16 million people. Someone with type 2 diabetes makes plenty of insulin, but the cells in their body are "resistant" (do not react the way they normally do) to the action of insulin. Therefore, high levels of sugar build up in their bloodstream, which is not healthy.

Leann M. Lesperance, M.D., Ph.D., is a lecturer on the Harvard Medical School faculty and a clinical assistant professor at SUNY-Upstate Medical University. She practices pediatrics in Binghamton, New York. She also holds a doctorate in medical engineering and is a research assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Binghamton University.

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Last updated:	January 24, 2007

Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.

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