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Hypo treatments for toddlers

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R

Ruthie

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Parent of person with diabetes
Hi!

My son is 2 1/2 and is newly diagnosed. I've got a range of hypo treatments (Ribena, jelly, glucogel in yogurt) but I am finding that he is refusing them all. I even tried rubbing jam in his cheeks today, as suggested by our nurse, and was bitten for my efforts! I was wondering if any of you guys had tried and tested foods? - I read about fizzy drinks but am a little worried about introducing them (probably the pre-diabetes mum in me still!)

I'm so pleased to have found this forum! Thanks!
 
Hi,

My little one enjoyed golden syrup, has now moved onto jelly babies, is trial and error - have to sell at as a real treat!

Best of luck x
 
Glucogel is on perscription (Small tooth paste tubes) It depends how far gone he is but full fat coke ,Lucozade etc are good , I know when i was a kid i hated beeing forced to eat ! I would fight my Mam & Dad. Milk is my fav & choc digestives. Really good luck 😉
 
I am not a great lover of fizzy drinks and as Lucozade is my chosen rememdy, I leave the top off overnight - and I have the orange flavour because I love orange anything - so I have flat orange Lucozade .... at 2.5yrs he won't know you've flattened it. Actual Orange Juice is also a remedy he might like.

I find drinks best, because I have difficulty chewing and swallowing when I am hypo, but the fizz makes them harsh on my throat in that state. For all you know, your toddler might have the same difficulty and at least you only need 100ml of Luc to get 15g of carbs, whereas it's a fair bit more of Coke.

Furthermore, I wouldn't want it out of the fridge either - that makes it harder to swallow too.

Mad , isn't it?
 
Hi Ruthie,
would your little one like icing? You can buy it in tubes all different colours. So perhaps a choose the colour game might help. Does he like jelly babies?
If he hates the taste of the hypo gel then buy some liquid glucose from the cake section in the super market this is a lot more palatable 🙂 Another option is powderd glucose and mix it in a drink for him.
Hope your finger soon recovers 😱
 
Hi,
My daughter was diagnosed at 2 1/2 - now 4. We tend to use orange juice cartons, glucotabs (various flavours) or lucozade. When i mentioned the fizzy drinks to the dentist they said as long as you use a straw it shouldnt cause tooth decay. I find the orange juice cartons/ glucotabs useful for school or when out and about and use lucozade at home. She always has a bottle of lucozade with a straw in her bedroom in case of night time hypos!!. So glad you found the forum - lots of good advice here xxx

Ruth - Mum to 3 daughters 🙂
 
Hiya,
We've used all of the above with varying degrees of success. Originally used little 10g cartons of orange juice but over time found they took too long to bring him up - apparently because it's fructose in them as opposed to glucose the body has to break it down first (I think!). Jelly babies work well mostly but the best advice I ever got was from a mum on here in the early days who said teach him to drink fizzy juice even though it totally goes against the grain - he hated it at first but after months of the odd sip of diet coke he developed a taste and will now drink coke - the little mixer cans are 15g. I found these bring him up quicker than anything (got used to the disapproving looks from other mums!!). There are still times I need to force the glucogel down his throat but not often.

Ruth (mum to 3 boys!)
 
Fantastic! Thanks all. I think a trip to the supermarket is in order! It's quite a re-education at times. I thought I was being good not allowing him cordial juices and kept him on water and milk and now, with the diabetes, I really wish he had had them so he was used to them!

Thanks again x
 
I treat my little girl when she have hypos with small carton of orange juice, if I run out of them then it will be full fat cola. Im afraid I prefer to treat her hypos than worry about her teeth or send her hyper!!
 
Um, yes, I would also prefer to treat the hypo. My son was only diagnosed on the 23rd Jan and I think it takes some time to re-educate yourself.

I have found the last few times that if I just give him a glass of milk he will drink it rather than keep offering him alternatives.

I'm new to all this diabetes stuff and forums for that matter!
 
Ruthie said:
Um, yes, I would also prefer to treat the hypo. My son was only diagnosed on the 23rd Jan and I think it takes some time to re-educate yourself.

I have found the last few times that if I just give him a glass of milk he will drink it rather than keep offering him alternatives.

I'm new to all this diabetes stuff and forums for that matter!
Click to expand...

Hi Ruth,
just to let you know that as a child I was just given a sugar lump or 2 for hypo treatment and if sinking fast liquid glucose.
Coke/soft drinks were never allowed in the house. 47 years later I am still alive and well.
This idea of coke is really only one persons idea of how a hypo should be treated.
Milk may be a bit slow due to the fat so perhaps pop some glucose powder in it.
Has your little one ever been used to sweets as in jelly tots or dolly mixtures? they are very high carb so will work quickly as well just be aware of any choking hazzard though.

Bottom line is that you need to treat the hypo in the best way that suits your son, he is the one with the condition so he needs to be happy with the treatment so it's administerd quickly and life goes on as in playing with his toys or friends.
 
Jelly Babies worked well when we were in the hospital but he unfortunately contracted NoroVirus whilst there and the association has put him off!

I've noticed that lots of things work well for a while but as soon as he realises whats happening he'll refuse and we are back to square one. He's too little to appreciate that he'll get better if he takes the treatment and just screams 'it's not fair' at me - a gift from the nurses!

I really appreciate all the suggestions, thank you all. It's just terribly hard sometimes, isn't it? Especially when I really have little idea what he is feeling. I'm going to the library tomorrow to borrow a few books.
 
I can't really give you any advice - just to say that I think you are doing a great job in difficult circumstances. It must be really frightening for your little one and horrible for you when he won't eat or drink what you offer him.

My only suggestion is do you have any shops near you that does pick and mix sweets - they often have different forms of jelly sweets.
 
Ruthie said:
Jelly Babies worked well when we were in the hospital but he unfortunately contracted NoroVirus whilst there and the association has put him off!

I've noticed that lots of things work well for a while but as soon as he realises whats happening he'll refuse and we are back to square one. He's too little to appreciate that he'll get better if he takes the treatment and just screams 'it's not fair' at me - a gift from the nurses!

I really appreciate all the suggestions, thank you all. It's just terribly hard sometimes, isn't it? Especially when I really have little idea what he is feeling. I'm going to the library tomorrow to borrow a few books.
Click to expand...


Have you tried offering him a selection? May sound daft but have a sweetie tin with suitible goodies in it and when you see him going hypo sit down and share a sweetie together.
 
Coming late to the thread but if you ever go across the channel your can buy all sorts of flavours of sirop., (blackcurrant, strawberry etc etc) My hospital tends to use Sirop de menthe (mint) which I hate but there are nicer ones. You do have to chec ingredients some have fructose(avoid) rather than glucose as the main ingredient.
 
A sweetie box sounds a great idea! I have the box my Grandfather used as his sweetie box so it would be nice to resurrect a tradition!

I'll look out for the sirops too! Thanksx
 
Ooooh - can you still get Crusha syrup - the stuff they used to make flavoured milk shakes with in Milk Bars when I was little? That must be 100% sugar near enough, thinking back.

French sirop though, you dilute with water - bit like we do with cordial - but ssoooooooo much nicer tasting!
 
trophywench said:
Ooooh - can you still get Crusha syrup - the stuff they used to make flavoured milk shakes with in Milk Bars when I was little? That must be 100% sugar near enough, thinking back.

French sirop though, you dilute with water - bit like we do with cordial - but ssoooooooo much nicer tasting!
Click to expand...

Crusha syrup is available in quite a few shops 🙂

Did wonder about the sweetie tin/jar as this way the little one thinks he is in charge. He doesn't then feel as if he is being force fed if he is allowed to choose his own sweeties.
 
Just wanted to say that you sound like a lovely mum! 🙂 When I was a toddler the hypo treatment my parents used unnegotiable & was undiluted ribena (still shudder thinking about it now!!) or dextrose tablets (bluegh, chalky!). 😱

I think the sweetie tin choice idea is really good if time allows. 🙂 One thing about the glucogel which many people may not realise is it's horribly bitter (don't ask me how they achieve that!!), so that might put little ones off. I wonder how sugary normal squash is? Just thinking if little one has a favourite squash maybe you could add some glucose powder to the non-sugar free version & sneak a treatment in that way? My little ones aren't diabetic but I'm mean with sweets / chocs so they are a real treat & bribery works well, maybe you could offer a deal (my older one loves deals!) that IF you eat/drink this first, then you can have some choc buttons / etc?... I guess whatever you do, like everything else with kids (well, the kids in this house at least!) it will be a bit like an arms race, it will work well for a bit & then all change again! Best of luck, hope everyone's ideas here help! x
 
Thanks Twitchy, that's very kind!

Today I had a success (of sorts) with an Innocent smoothie carton but he liked it so much that he drank the whole 180ml, so then I had to guess how much to bolus so he didn't go over the other end!

Thanks again everyone, it's so nice to be able to pick your brains! x
 
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