#440 - 🔵 [PAS 2026] - Could Donor Milk Cream Replace Dextrose Gel for Newborn Hypoglycemia?

Dr. Arpitha Chiruvolu, neonatologist and infant nutrition researcher, joins Ben to share three posters from this year's PAS covering two of her core research interests. She presents pilot data on using Prolacta human milk cream as an alternative to dextrose gel for treating asymptomatic neonatal hypoglycemia — highlighting the well-known limitations of dextrose gel including inconsistent dosing, poor tolerance, and the way it interferes with breastfeeding immediately after administration. In 25 babies treated with cream, blood glucose rose from a median of 36 to 56 mg/dL, only one baby required NICU admission, and nurses and families loved it. She also shares her center's experience with probiotics in extremely low birth weight infants — where NEC rates dropped significantly with no cases of probiotic sepsis — and raises the urgent question of what is happening to NEC rates now that probiotics have been pulled from use in the US.