How do you get control of the numbers Gam when they are so YOUNG?

[Aidie's Mom]

My fifteen month old son was just diagnosed a few weeks ago. He was crancky, not eating, and drinking a lot. We took him to see the Dr. twice and they said,"it's a virus. Keep up with the liquids and he'll be fine. We finally thought he was getting better when his daycare noticed he was now drinking excessively. We took him in to ER and his blood glucose levels were 34.5.
Log story short we were rushed to the nearest big city (we live in Northern Ontario)to see a pediatrician.
So that is the story, now is the realisation. We are having a real hard time controlling his numbers! We are on NovaRapid during the day and Lantis at night.My husband has done up some spread sheets to track trends. We are doing okay in the mornings, sometimes a bit low. And before bed we are okay. But during the day he's up real high, between 14 to 20 or sometimes he's crashing down to below5 and even around 4. It's really hard becaue he can't tell us how he is feeling. When in doubt we test, but it is just so overwhelming.
To top it off , we had to put him back in daycare because we can't afford to have me take time off. I just got back to work from Maternity leave and I can't afford to take an unpaid leave. I am racked with guilt.
Well that was my rant! Any suggestions from parents with younger dianosed kids or older are welcome. And let me just say what a comfort it is to have this forum here for answers. Thanks for listening.

[Abby-Dabby-Doo]

Aidie's Mom~
I'm sorry to hear of your recent diagnoses, but so glad you found us!
You've just got a little guy~ I don't have any experiance with my child being that young with diabetes, but I'm sure several people will chime right in.
You'll find a wealth of information here, some information will help, some will not. What works for one won't work for another.
I haven't figured out the formula your speaking of with blood sugars to know what your talking about other than high or low. :confused:
I have a log that we fill out on Excel to track trends, if you'd like me to email it to you, just PM me.
I understand your guilt with feeling the need to stay home. It sounds like your daycare is actually pretty good considering they were passing along information to you that something wasn't right with his thirst. I assume a Congrats is in order, with a new baby also?!
Welcome to the Forum!

[Abby-Dabby-Doo]

PS~ I don't look in this portion of the forum very often. I'm staying up until my daughters 3am check, so I'm checking out the forum from top to bottom.

A good majority of us stay within the Parents of Children with Type 1. I hope you haven't felt ignored or left out. I assure you people are very caring here, and haven't seen your post. I would re-post this in Parents of Children with Type 1.

[Mama Belle]

PS~ I don't look in this portion of the forum very often. I'm staying up until my daughters 3am check, so I'm checking out the forum from top to bottom.

A good majority of us stay within the Parents of Children with Type 1. I hope you haven't felt ignored or left out. I assure you people are very caring here, and haven't seen your post. I would re-post this in Parents of Children with Type 1.

Yep. I often times don't check this forum, but if I had seen this earlier I would have responded.

So here is my advice ... first off, remember that these numbers are not grades and don't come with judgment. They are tools that are here to help you figure out what your child needs when. Your son is very young and kids this age fluctuate a lot, sometimes for no good reason at all. I know, just what you wanted to hear right? The best thing to do is to try to identify the causes of the highs, but don't beat yourself up if you can't, the only certain thing about diabetes is that you will never completely understand it. Embrace this and realize that you are only human and you can try your best, but sometimes his BGs will just be crazy.

Second, get a couple of books. Think Like a Pancreas (http://www.amazon.com/Think-Like-Pancreas-Practical-Managing/dp/1569244367), By Gary Scheiner is awesome. It really helps you learn to play the numbers game. You can order it online and I also found it in a major book store. Another great resource that you can check out right now is The Pink Panther Book. This book is actually called Understanding Diabetes and was written by the awesome folks at the Barbara Davis Center, but us parents usually refer to it as The Pink Panther Book (you'll see why when you look at it). Most of us either have the book or check out the online version of it often for reference (or do both--that's me). You can order the Pink Panther Book here (http://www.childrensdiabetesfdn.com/publications.html), or you can read the online version from your computer here (http://www.uchsc.edu/misc/diabetes/ud11.html). (Note about the online version: these are pdf files so you can actually download the chapters and read them on your computer without being online, but you can't print them out.) A third book I would recommend to anyone new to Diabetes was actually written by Moira McC (http://forums.childrenwithdiabetes.com/member.php?u=312) a member of this forum. It is called The Everything Parent's Guide to Children With Juvenile Diabetes: Reassuring Advice for Managing Symptoms and Raising a Happy, Healthy Child (http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Parents-Children-Juvenile-Diabetes/dp/1598692461/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5143208-0924932?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175540463&sr=8-1).

As far as numbers go, it is helpful to have this information in a log or spreadsheet, or even in charts and graphs so you can notice trends. So you guys are definitely headed in the right direction. Take a look at when your son tends to run high during the day. When does it start and how long does it last. Are you giving correction doses and if so do they bring him into range. How long after eating does the high show up. Does it follow a specific activity like being dropped off at day care? So many things play a roll in our kids blood sugars. Sometimes you can figure them out, sometimes you can't. It is tough. Pick a couple of days to troubles shoot and test him often on those days, every hour or two. This way you will have complete data to pinpoint when the highs are starting and maybe figure out what is causing them. If the highs happen within a couple of hours of eating it could be that his insulin dosing at meals is off. If it happens during a stressful time then the stress could be causing the highs. If corrections aren't bringing him down then he may need a different Insulin Sensitivity Factor (the number of points 1 unit of insulin will bring down the blood sugar). It sounds like his Lantus dose is probably good since he is only high during certain times of the day. If I had to venture a guess, I would think that maybe his meal dosages aren't high enough. But this is totally a guess.

Depending upon the doctor, some people start off giving the same dosages for every meal and eating a set mount of carbs at each meal. Others start off counting carbs and giving a certain amount of insulin per the amount of carbs eaten. Sometimes these dosages are originally the same for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But a lot of kids require different dosages at different time of the day. For example my daughter's dinner dosage is close to half of the amount of her breakfast dosage. These can all vary a bunch from kid to kid. So, I would say to keep doing what you are doing, look at the time of day, look at the activity level and what is going on at the time of and for about an hour before the highs. When you notice a trend that happens every day at around the same time (or at around the same activity, or after a certain type of food is eaten) you will be able to identify more of what is going on.

Another recommendation I would make is to start thinking about the insulin pump. There are several parents on this forum who have young ones of the pump and they absolutely love it! I have heard that it helps a lot to be able to use the pump with the little kids who need very small doses of insulin to stabilize their numbers. A good person to ask about this is Amy, EmmasMom (http://forums.childrenwithdiabetes.com/member.php?u=165).
She is a pro when it comes to little ones and pumping.

I wish you the best of luck and don't be a stranger, this forum is an excellent resource. I agree that posting to the Parents of Children with Type 1 forum will give you many more responses. Although you did nothing wrong by posting here, we all just don't check the General Discussion threads as much as we do the others. ;)

[Aidie's Mom]

I have reposted to the children with type 1 section.