Invited to a sleep over

Type 1 and LADA Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes
#1

Hi guys. Hope everyone is doing well and had a great Thanksgiving.

OK, so a little background for those who don’t know me. My son, Riley, was diagnosed with T1 when he was 3. He is 7 now and in second grade. He wears an Animas insulin pump. He started pumping 5 months after diagnosis.

He does well with his pump and does all of his own dosing at school (with the teacher’s supervision). I send carb counts and he checks his sugar and enters carbs and sugar and then doses himself. When he is home his dad and I do all of the dosing. He checks his own sugars at home maybe about 80% of the time. If he’s at school and someone brings in a treat or something then the teacher calls and I tell her how many carbs it is (or my best guess) and he does his dosing himself.

When I got home today there were invitations to two different birthday parties. And, both of those parties are sleep overs. He is unable to go to one because we already have plans for that night. But, the second one is a sleep over at his best friend’s house. He lives maybe 10 to 15 minutes from us. The party starts right after school and the boy’s mom has asked if Riley can also spend the night (I’m unsure how many other kids will be staying the night.)

First off, Riley has never been to a birthday party without my husband or I present. But, I think he is old enough now to be there alone. And, I trust this boy’s mom to call like she should. So, that will be OK, I think.

But, we have always checked Riley’s sugars a couple of times a night. There is rarely a night that we don’t have to either give insulin or make a basal decrease. Riley does not wake up when he’s low and there have been plenty of nights when we’ve checked and he’s been in the 50s and had we not checked who knows what would have happened.

So, what do I do? I’ve talked to Riley and he said he’s OK with being picked up when it’s time to go to bed. But, I just wanted to see if you guys have any advice on what to do. Thanks.

#2

If they are that close- would it be reasonable to ask the friend’s mom to check? I think I’d just drive over myself if it’s his best friend. If it’s not possible, maybe get him at bedtime and try to set up a sleepover at your house sometime soon.

#3

My son is 11 and was diagnosed at 18 months. We are still not comfortable allowing him to sleep over. But that’s just us. Every year his best friend has a sleep over birthday party and every year we pick him up before bedtime. He has a ball and doesn’t think twice about staying. They make sure he tests before eating and he calls to count cake carbs or any other food. He keeps a bottle of glucose tabs in their kitchen for when he’s over. So they are used to his diabetes.

I think if it were just a sleep over between 2 friends and not a handful of kids I might feel comfortable asking them to test him in the middle of the night. But I just think with a handful of boys who are excited about a sleep over that I just couldn’t ask them to do the night time testing.

#4

Hi Penny,
In my experience I would wait a little longer for a sleep over. Especially if he tends to run low. My son had his first and only sleep over a year ago at age 10. I trusted the mom to supervise his care. I even wrote out detailed instructions and sat with her for ten minutes prior to leaving explaining everything. She is an intelligent person and I felt confident leaving him (the boy is one of my son’s best friends and I am friendly with the mom) But …goodness was I wrong! She just didn’t get it. The carb counting, the importance of checking and making sure if they rough house boys are boys pillow fight etc. it all burns carbs and will cause a low. I ended up picking my son up about 1am after he called me. If your son is ok with being picked up - I would do it. There will be plenty of time in the future when he can be responsible to know his lows and turn down his own basal rates an so on.

#5

Hi Penny,

My daughter is 7 years old. She was diagnosed 2 years ago. She is also on a pump and I reluctantly allowed her to stay overnight at her best firend house. I had decrease her basal rate at night and requested she calls me every time she was abotu to eat something. First it was dinner (pizza), then desert and finally marshmallows. She called all 3 times and I was able to bolus her throughout the evening.

She did get low before going to bed and I urged the mother to give her chocolate milk before bed time.

I did not have a good night sleep but I was proud of my daughter and the way she conducted herself. Calling me and checking her blood glucose and most importantly going to the adults and asking them for juice when she got low.

All said and done, i believe it is important for her to see that she is not much different than her other firends.

Regards,

Carl

#6

Thanks, guys for your help. Riley attended the sleepover/party last week. He went on his own with a cell phone in his pocket. He called at supper and snack and I told him the carbs and he bolused. His sugars behaved and he did an excellent job. My husband picked him up at 1 AM just as everyone else there was drifting off to sleep. It couldn’t have gone any better. Again, thanks for your comments.

#7

Hi, sorry I am obviously too late answering, but for the future. Yes, since it is his best friend I would go check myself middle of the night. If they are going to stay up until 2 in the morning which can happen at sleepovers, I would have him check BS by communicating with him via cellphone. You can manage him over the phone. I also run her high on sleepovers (she does not go on sleepovers that often), reducing basals by 20 percent, as well as checking via cell so she goes to bed at about 180. It’s only one night…