It can feel overwhelming to hear that your child has been diagnosed with diabetes. The diagnosis generally marks the beginning of many changes needed to keep your child healthy. Fortunately, once you know the key areas that you need to take care of, it can make their care easier to manage.
It’s imperative to ensure that you have a schedule for checking your child’s blood sugar levels. You should work with the doctor to determine when this should be and what the signs are that the blood sugar levels are outside of the normal range.
Depending on your child’s age, you should also teach them how to check their blood sugar. If your child is old enough to be in school, you need to communicate your child’s needs as well.
Your child’s doctor will develop a treatment plan based on their needs. This may or may not include daily insulin shots. As with the blood sugar checks, you may need to teach your child how to administer their medication.
It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor about insulin pumps or other devices that can automatically dispense medication when needed. You should also have an emergency plan in place to immediately handle low or high blood sugar issues.
RELATED: 9 Tell-Tale Signs Your Child Has Type 1 Diabetes
Carb counting is an integral part of taking care of a child with diabetes. That often comes in the form of planning all their meals, including their snacks. Your child will need to eat at the same time every day while taking into account how these meals might affect their blood sugar.
Doctors often recommend exercise if your child needs to maintain a healthy weight. Even without that, being physically active can be essential to your child’s overall health.
However, if your child is active, you’ll need to monitor their blood sugar levels before and after exercise. Your meal plan and medical regimen will also need to take the effects of physical activity into account.
Even when you do a commendable job of keeping your child’s blood sugar levels in check, diabetes can still affect their health. People with diabetes are more prone to heart issues, kidney problems, and nerve damage.
The best way to stay on top of it is to take them to the doctor regularly. You should also ask the doctor about a schedule for seeing any other specialists that your child may need.
There are two different types of diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t make the insulin you need to process sugar. This usually happens because the immune system is attacking the pancreatic cells that make insulin. This type of diabetes may be diagnosed at a much earlier age.
Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, may occur later in life but it doesn’t mean that children are immune. When you have type 2 diabetes, it means that your pancreas is making less insulin than it used to and your body isn’t using the insulin it has. This type of diabetes can be caused by a genetic predisposition, other health issues, and being overweight.
Regardless of the type of diabetes your child is dealing with, the symptoms are typically similar. Children with this condition may have increased thirst, unexplained weight loss, blurry vision, chronic fatigue, increased hunger, frequent infections, irritability, fruity-smelling breath, frequent urination, and darkened areas of skin around the neck, armpits, or groin.
When you’re planning meals for a diabetic child, you have to consider how the food will affect their blood sugar levels. To accomplish this, it’s best to stick to complex carbohydrates that break down slowly and won’t cause a spike in blood sugar. Conversely, you should avoid sugary foods and drinks. Doctors also advise including lean sources of protein in two or more meals per day as well as moderate amounts of fat. You don’t want to give them too much fat as people with diabetes are more prone to heart disease.
Since meals don’t always go according to plan with children, it’s also helpful to have low-carb snacks handy. These can include cucumber slices, lettuce with meat and cheese, sugar-free drinks, reduced-fat string cheese, a hard-boiled egg, scrambled eggs, and a small serving of nuts.
It can be challenging to take care of a child with diabetes but you’ll be able to manage it if you have a plan. While your plan should include the items listed here, you shouldn’t make any decisions without consulting your child’s doctor. A support system will also be important.
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