One year old son newly diagnosed type 1

[Malibu_Em]

My son was diagnosed last week with type 1diabetes just one week after his first birthday. I have been in shock ever since. We took him into a&e after vomiting, breathing abnormally and excess tiredness and explained a few other things like excess drinking and weeing not realising that was a diabetes symptom as he's just been through teething and was grouchy because of this also. He was fit and healthy apart from a bout of broncholitis a couple of weeks back that was treated with a steroid dose. In a&e his blood glucose was tested and it was unreadable on the machine where it was so high and his ketone levels were also high and was rushed in where he was put on drips and insulin and here we were told he had type one diabetes. We were so scared. It was touch and go for a while as he was so poorly lying there out usually extremely active little boy but the doctors and nurses and diabetic team were so good and we got our little boy back and can't thank them enough for that. When he improved we had to be trained to inject our son with insulin and to do the blood glucose tests on him several times a day and during the night. He doesn't like it but it doesn't hurt him but you can't explain this to a one year old boy. We are now at home a week later and still have a long road ahead but are just happy our little boy is safe and we will do all we can to keep him well and will get through this together. We are now struggling to get his insulin levels right and he is having hypos once or twice daily at the moment. Any advice or similar stories? I'm an emotional wreck

 

[grovesy]

Welcome.

 

[stephknits]

I'm not surprised you are feeling such a wreck. It's an huge amount of info and learning to get your head around, never mind the massive emotional shock as well. You have come to a great place, do ask if you have any concerns, questions etc, we would love to make life easier for you. I was an adult at diagnosis, so can't help with the baby aspect of it, but do have two girls of my own and can well imagine the difficulties. I'm afraid his insulin requirements are likely to fluctuate quite a bit, with such a small growing person and with a new diagnosis. Wishing you all the best, keep posting

 

[Steff]

Hi Em,
A warm welcome to the forum so sorry to hear of your boys diagnosis cant imagine how emotional you all are feeling, we have a parents section on here so have a peek and see from posts what other parents experiences are it may help x

 

[Lindarose]

Hi Em. Welcome and very sorry you're all going through so much right now. You'll get lots of support on here if you need help or just to talk about things.

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

So sorry to hear about your boys diagnosis what an awful shock for you all (((hugs))).

 

[Flower]

Hello and welcome Em

I'm so sorry to hear about your little ones diagnosis. It is a huge shock to start to get to grips with.

There is the parents section on here and also the JDRF where you can order a free kidsac along with Rufus the bear to start the ball rolling. https://jdrf.org.uk/if-your-child-has-just-been-diagnosed/

 

[Northerner]

My son was diagnosed last week with type 1diabetes just one week after his first birthday. I have been in shock ever since. We took him into a&e after vomiting, breathing abnormally and excess tiredness and explained a few other things like excess drinking and weeing not realising that was a diabetes symptom as he's just been through teething and was grouchy because of this also. He was fit and healthy apart from a bout of broncholitis a couple of weeks back that was treated with a steroid dose. In a&e his blood glucose was tested and it was unreadable on the machine where it was so high and his ketone levels were also high and was rushed in where he was put on drips and insulin and here we were told he had type one diabetes. We were so scared. It was touch and go for a while as he was so poorly lying there out usually extremely active little boy but the doctors and nurses and diabetic team were so good and we got our little boy back and can't thank them enough for that. When he improved we had to be trained to inject our son with insulin and to do the blood glucose tests on him several times a day and during the night. He doesn't like it but it doesn't hurt him but you can't explain this to a one year old boy. We are now at home a week later and still have a long road ahead but are just happy our little boy is safe and we will do all we can to keep him well and will get through this together. We are now struggling to get his insulin levels right and he is having hypos once or twice daily at the moment. Any advice or similar stories? I'm an emotional wreck

Hi Malibu_Em, welcome to the forum 🙂 So sorry to hear about your little one's diagnosis, what a terrible shock it must be, especially when he is so young

What insulin is he on? It's very early days, so there will be a fair amount of adjustment to doses I would imagine, to begin with, so just keep testing regularly and keep in regular touch with your team for advice. Find something he is happy to eat or drink to treat the hypos and keep good supplies handy.

I'd recommend getting hold of a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas - it is an excellent reference book, very well-written, and should help you to understand what it all entails - and strategies for dealing with any difficulties that may occur. I'd also recommend looking at the Children With Diabetes UK website which has lots of very useful information from fellow parents, many of whom will know just what you are going through.

I'd also suggest having a read of Adrienne's essential guide for parents of newly-diagnosed children, written by one of our parent members whose daughter was diagnosed within hours of birth (she is now a healthy teenager 🙂).

Please let us know if you have any questions and we will do our best to help out 🙂

 

[Malibu_Em]

I'm not surprised you are feeling such a wreck. It's an huge amount of info and learning to get your head around, never mind the massive emotional shock as well. You have come to a great place, do ask if you have any concerns, questions etc, we would love to make life easier for you. I was an adult at diagnosis, so can't help with the baby aspect of it, but do have two girls of my own and can well imagine the difficulties. I'm afraid his insulin requirements are likely to fluctuate quite a bit, with such a small growing person and with a

Hi Malibu_Em, welcome to the forum 🙂 So sorry to hear about your little one's diagnosis, what a terrible shock it must be, especially when he is so young

What insulin is he on? It's very early days, so there will be a fair amount of adjustment to doses I would imagine, to begin with, so just keep testing regularly and keep in regular touch with your team for advice. Find something he is happy to eat or drink to treat the hypos and keep good supplies handy.

I'd recommend getting hold of a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas - it is an excellent reference book, very well-written, and should help you to understand what it all entails - and strategies for dealing with any difficulties that may occur. I'd also recommend looking at the Children With Diabetes UK website which has lots of very useful information from fellow parents, many of whom will know just what you are going through.

I'd also suggest having a read of Adrienne's essential guide for parents of newly-diagnosed children, written by one of our parent members whose daughter was diagnosed within hours of birth (she is now a healthy teenager 🙂).

Please let us know if you have any questions and we will do our best to help out 🙂

Thanks for your support. He is on levemir twice a day and novarapid three times a day before meals

 

[Grannylorraine]

Welcome, sorry to hear that such a little one has this diagnosis.