My son was dx as type 1 diabetic and he is 2 years old. any advice?

my heart was rumbled by the news. if it weren’t for my mom, my child would have been worse. as a nurse, i have no problems giving injections to patients but it hurts when i inject my 2 year old son. he cries everytime i inject him and i cry too.:(. i know this is keeping him alive. it just hurts. any advice on how to raise a two year old with diabetes?

Hi jellyman, welome to tudiabetes. Hopefully you will get feedback from some of the other parents and from type 1’s who remember being diagnosed as children.

thank you so much for your encouragement. my son is on lispro and nph. his bg goes up and down. he doesn’t mind the fingerpricks but the needles. he is fighting me and my wife. how can i encourage him? also, was his bg all over the place after he left the hospital?

Some suggestions… Might want to get your child an insulin pen/pen syringe and pen needles. they tend to be be avalible with smaller needles and less painful than syringes and theres less anxiety with them… Also check out Multiclix/Delica/or BD (green or blue, blue is smaller), and Tiniboy lancets… The BD ones seem a lot smoother/sharper/less painful than most of the meter manufacturers loose lancets, but the multiclix lancets are really smooth insertion, plus come in a 6 lancet drum. Also you can use ice before you swab to actually numb the injection site to try to make it a little less painful… ice for a min or two, then wipe dry, then alcohol swab. Plus at some point getting your child on a pump can make things less painful… Sets tend to insert a lot smoother than needles… One (insertion) vs multiple injections for 2-3 days (depending on set/person using it, some people have delivery issues after 2 days…)… And as someone suggested, the children with diabetes website…

Best of luck
-j

Hello Jellyman, I’m 60 years old and type one for 20 years. This might help with injection pain. When I was learning to do self injection in my tummy area, I would run my finger all over the area to find an area that was least sensitive to touch. This might be called “the sweet area”. The more sensitive the area the more the needle would hurt. I wonder if numzit would work? This is used to numb the gums of teething babies. Just a thought. Hope this helps. Give the little guy a big hug from grandpa Sid.

i fall so sorry for you some day he will no that the shots are keeping hem forme going in to a coma
or diying

thanks for the advice. is there a pen for the long lasting medication? i have only the pen for the fast acting. the pharmacy said the manfucature stopped making the long acting pen. is that true?

Lantus pen
http://www.lantus.com/solostar-insulin-pen/solostar-insulin-pen.aspx

Levemir pen
http://www.levemir-us.com/about-levemir-using-FlexPen.asp

Unfortunately i think your pharmacist may be referring to cartridge based insulin pens… a lot have gone to disposable boo

I feel for you. My son was diagnosed in February at 3.5 years old. It has been tough on all of us. It has gotten better but there are still bad days. He still has days when he just wants it all to go away, but for the most part he has learned that injections and finger pokes are part of life now. Food is hard for me, he sneaks snacks from the pantry and so I’ll get some surprising highs now and then that don’t make any sense until I find the pop tart wrapper behind his bed! Hang in there. We don’t plan on looking into using pens or pumps or anything different until he’s really comfortable with everything and when he wants to make the change. Honestly though I don’t see him on the pump for at least a couple more years. It does seem to help when he gets to test his stuffed animals and give them injections (sometimes after I’ve given him his insulin he’ll use the syringe to give Rufus his insulin too).

This may help. There is another website just for type 1 and they have a lot of stuff for parents of t1 kids. Check it out juvenation.com.

Wow i just read back… they are having him use NPH… I don’t think anyone makes a pen for NPH anymore… Lily used to make a disposable for NPH but im sort of not surprised… I hope they move him to Levimir or Lantus… Even if the peaks are bumpy due to kids being kids… at least with 2 injections a day they can be flatter than NPH…

(Notice… Big fan of splitting Lantus, Levemir behaves better than lantus for splits however)

I can vouch for the tiniboy lancets. they are extremely small. If you do try them hopefully your son won’t cry anymore everytime you prick him.

I found a site that has them $12 a box. Hope this helps you out!

www.diabeteshealthsupplies.com

My son was dx’d when he was two also. He is now 5yrs old. Be greatful that this new “normal” Will be what he can remember. You have all the tools of giving him a great foundation for a very healthy life. Yes it sucks…the injections, the extra worry, finger pokes ect… But it could be a lot worse. This is managable!!! Hang in there. Allow you and your son grieving time for the life you had and then dive head first into you new life.

thank you for the encouragement. we have somehow adjusted to the new life. right now, we are tackling the sneaking of food. he has been having alot of highs. we are worried about it. we trying to bring it under control. we are hanging in there. thanks.

Been there, done that! My son was Dx’d at 18 months and we’ve been at it now for 2 years plus. I’ve got plenty of advice but I’ll take it offline…

I just spoke to an Eli Lilly rep. Despite what your pharmacist heard they are still making their NPH pens.

hi! im new here, but i have a 17month old son, diagnosed at 8months as type1. He hates the injections but honestly have to steel myself and remind ME that its for his good and persist in a firm and ‘got to be done’ manner. I know it sucks completely. But to keep it in perspective other things you do as a mum seemingly torture your kids, like eating brussell sprouts or brushing their teeth?! But you know its good for them. You know they have to look both ways before crossing the roads etc. I want my son to grow up remembering my strength in dealing with his diabetes. This is the strength I want him to have dealing with it. Maybe I didnt answer your question sorry to go off on a tangent!