Diabetic Children

If your child has diabetes, he or she can continue to lead a normal childhood, attend regular schools, go to summer camp, travel, and also participate in the athletic activities. You cab let your child continue to be a child. When the disease is under control and the child is knowledgeable about diabetes strenuous activities are not harmful. Many professional athletes have diabetes.

Diabetes is not contagious. There is no way one child can “catch it “from another. And, unlike most of the illness the child has had before, diabetes is a disorder that rarely goes away by itself. Early recognition and treatment of the disease are important. The goal of the treatment will be adequate growth for the child, both physical and mental. You, your child and other family members will want to learn as much as possible about living with diabetes so that the family life can continue as smoothly as possible.

Coping with Your Diabetic Child

A you learn to help your child regulate his or her body chemistry for a healthier life, remember to do what your physician and health care team advises. Friends and relatives will offer well-meaning advice and suggestions that may be based on something they read or heard and may or may not be applicable to your child’s condition. Control of your child’s diabetes will depend on your diet, emotional stability, well regulated insulin, injections, exercise and regular glucose testing.

Families that have adjusted well to caring for a diabetic child do not make the child’s diabetes a central concern to the family and do not need to change the entire family’s  lifestyle . If you set reasonable goals for diet, testing, exercise and self care, your child will adapt to the situation with the flexibility and good humor, and so will others in the family.

The best assistance you can give your child or adolescent with the diabetes is to keep calm and not express constant concern over every detail of the management of the diabetes. Your matter of fact attitude will rub off your child. If you accept the additional activities of daily living related to diabetic care as a part of family routine, so will your child. Your child should come to view diabetic care as an uncomplicated aspect of life.

If your child takes injections, he will learn to view the minor discomfort as part of his regular day, just as he accepts daily hygiene routines, occasional skinned knees, falls from his bicycle, and other cuts and bruises. If you express too much sympathy for occasional discomfort, your child may begin to feel sorry for him and thus have a harder time taking injections and caring for himself.

Children with diabetes should not be permitted to use their disease as a frequent excuse for avoiding special lessons, taking the school bus or other situations. Of course, occasional headaches or sick spells may occur just as they do in non diabetic children. However, you should encourage the diabetic child to learn to view illness as something to overcome, not something to hide behind. If you, as parent, are not overprotective and encourage carrying on routine activities despite some occasional under par feelings, your child will develop a mature outlook toward living with diabetes.

Encourage your child follow his or her physician’s recommendations to take the daily injections of insulin at the same time each day, using the correct dosage. A common cause of poor diabetic control is changing the time of the day for injection and taking an incorrect dose of injection. Frequent and unnecessary changes may cause blood sugar to become too low and then go too high.

Additionally your doctor may recommend that you do not adjust the amount of insulin on days when your child expects more activity than usual. Instead, you can give the child additional food before he or she engages in heavy sport activities. Also, the child may keep some extra food handy in case of an insulin reaction during a game or strenuous activity.

Overall, your role in coping with your diabetic child will be supportive but should not be overindulgent. Encourage self care and participation in routine activities. However, two medical emergencies may require quick action on your part; hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis. There may be times when you suspect that either of these reactions is taking place. If you suspect low blood pressure, use a self monitoring blood glucose test, if you can. Or use a urine test for acetone, a sign of possible ketoacidosis. Ketones do not always indicate ketoacidosis , as it may result from emotional stress , diet , exercise , and especially low blood sugar . Your health care team will give you specific instructions to follow if these conditions occur.

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