Helping your child control their diabetes

For a child learning to live with and control their diabetes, responsibility must come gradually. As a parent, you can help educate them and prepare them for self-care as they get older with these tips.

Children vary in their ability — and desire — to understand diabetes. But you can put your child on the road to responsible self-care if you bear these principles in mind:

You should learn to recognize how hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia affect your child's behaviour, since she simply doesn't have the words to tell you how she feels herself.

• Expect some battles over insulin injections and blood-sugar tests around toilet training time, as your child starts to assert herself more, but stick to your guns to get them done.
• Don't worry too much if blood sugar ranges between 150 mg/dL and 200 mg/dL (higher than what's recommended for adults). Children need more blood sugar for normal development.
• Forget trying to control when your child eats. Instead, accept irregular eating patterns and compensate by using shorter-acting insulin when your child does have a bite.

As your child develops physically and mentally, he'll be better able to understand why his treatment is necessary and become more willing to cooperate with its demands. Educate him about how caring for his condition now will protect his health in the future.

• Tighter blood-sugar control now becomes more important, especially at night, when there's a higher risk of hypoglycemia. Make sure he has a bedtime snack and doesn't skip meals.
• Encourage him to participate in school and social activities to build friendships, promote self-esteem and make sure he doesn't feel different from other kids.
• Around age eight, your child can probably start taking on some of the responsibility for injections and blood tests himself.

Control — over a number of things — now starts falling into your child's hands. Studies find that tight blood-sugar monitoring as early as age 13 can prevent complications in adulthood, so encourage her to take charge, but don't expect the thought of future consequences to motivate her too much.

• Now's not the time to completely let go of the reins; worries about what other kids think might cause her to skip steps in her care.
• Make an issue of it, expect an argument — but be confident that using you as an excuse ("My parents make me do it") can help her do the right thing. Gradually give your child more responsibility as she's able to handle it.
• By the time she's choosing which college to attend or looking for work, responsibility should pass to her.