Diabetes in Children: A Parent's Guide to Managing the Condition

According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 3 million children in the United States are living with diabetes. While this disease used to be seen as an adult-only condition, children of all ages are now being diagnosed with it. Diabetes in children can cause them to feel sick and tired easily, but with proper management, your child can live a very healthy life that’s free from many complications that come with this condition. This article will provide parents of diabetic children with helpful tips on how to manage the disease while raising a happy and healthy child.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes can result from either not producing enough insulin or from not being able to effectively use the insulin that you produce. Insulin is a hormone that allows sugar in your blood to enter your cells. When it's not doing its job, sugar builds up in your blood instead of getting used up. This leads to high levels of glucose (sugar) and other metabolic imbalances that can lead to ill effects on various body parts over time. Type 1 diabetes occurs when an individual’s pancreas stops producing insulin altogether. Type 2 diabetes occurs when an individual’s pancreas produces some but not enough insulin to keep up with their body’s needs. In both cases, these individuals must take steps to manage their condition through diet and exercise, as well as medications such as metformin or insulin shots if necessary.

Diagnosis, management, and treatment

It’s important to keep tabs on your child’s condition. The sooner you know that something is wrong, and have diagnosed them with diabetes, the sooner you can start their treatment plan. The treatment of diabetes consists of diet, exercise, and insulin injections. Diet plays a huge role in managing diabetes – without it, everything else goes awry. Exercise also plays a major role – it helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels while also strengthening your child’s cardiovascular system. Insulin shots are used to lower blood sugar levels if they get too high. While insulin shots aren’t pleasant for anyone, they are especially difficult for children because they are administered by injection (which most kids don’t like). But if done properly, diabetes can be managed effectively and even reversed.

How does it affect your child?

Kids can get type 1 diabetes, too. While diabetes has traditionally been thought of as an adult condition, it’s increasingly being diagnosed in children and adolescents. Type 1 diabetes (formerly called juvenile diabetes) occurs when a child’s body simply stops producing insulin, a hormone that helps turn glucose into energy. Without insulin, glucose builds up in your child’s bloodstream causing blood sugar levels to rise very high or become dangerously low. Diabetes in children is serious business, but there are ways to manage it with diet and exercise, just like adults do.

Work as a team with healthcare professionals

You may not know it, but you don’t have to go it alone when it comes to managing your child’s diabetes. As a parent, you are your child’s number one advocate and resource, but that doesn’t mean you have to tackle everything on your own. Work with healthcare professionals like pediatricians, endocrinologists, dietitians, and diabetes educators to ensure your child is getting all of the care he or she needs. These experts can help provide medical guidance as well as offer tips for helping your child manage his or her condition at home.

Tips for raising an active child with diabetes

Whether your child has Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, you can encourage healthy physical activity. It’s just a matter of finding an activity that you and your child both enjoy and that doesn’t interfere with their diabetes management. Here are some tips for active parenting. The American Diabetes Association recommends that children and adolescents ages 6-17 get at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise every day. If your child is already physically active, don’t worry about bumping up his/her workout time; just focus on getting more aerobic exercise than what he/she already gets through daily activities like walking around school or running errands.

Speaking with your child about his or her illness

For any parent, this may be a difficult time. Diabetes in children isn’t always easy, so take some time before you have the talk with your child and make sure you have enough information about his or her condition. That way, when you do talk to your child about diabetes, he or she will feel like there is a plan of action and that together, as a family, you can manage things. Talk about what kind of diabetes your child has (type 1 or type 2), what caused it, how treatment works, and how long he or she might need to take insulin shots. This can help demystify diabetes for both you and your child. If you need help understanding diabetes, consult a doctor who specializes in treating diabetes in children; if you have questions about nutrition or exercise—or anything else—you should ask those too!

Self-management strategies and life skills

While there are many things we can learn about managing our diabetes from medical professionals, it’s also important for parents to help their children learn how to manage their condition themselves. For example, as your child learns how to track his or her blood sugar levels with a glucometer, you can help your child apply these skills by working together on a family food budget that contains foods and meals low in sugar and carbohydrates. In addition, make sure your child knows what type of exercise is best for diabetics—and be sure to schedule time each day for exercise. Finally, consider teaching your child some basic life skills such as cooking healthy meals at home (instead of eating out), grocery shopping, and keeping up with household chores. These simple tasks will not only help keep kids active but will also provide them with valuable lessons they can use later in life.

Conclusion

Although it’s a serious condition, diabetes doesn’t have to be a scary one. With early detection and treatment, children with diabetes can lead long, healthy lives. For more information on childhood diabetes and its management, contact your doctor or nurse. And remember that prevention is key—don’t let children with diabetes go undiagnosed for too long. It could save their life.