It is typical to have bed wetting during highs. In fact, that’s how we found out that our daughter was diabetic, because she wet the bed 3 times in a week or so, and she had never once wet the bed before then. I thought she had a UTI, nope! Diabetes! Now, if she is very high at night she’ll either wake up to pee or if she’s too out, she’ll moan, etc in her sleep, and we’ll take her to the bathroom. I forget what the threshhold is for high glucose amounts, but it eventually spills over to the urine, thus all the frequent urinating when they are high.
We definitely see the difference when there’s protein in a bedtime (or anytime) snack. Milk, cheese, crackers, etc are good for us - or peanut butter crackers. Just PLEASE be sure to never use anything milk based to treat a low - the protein makes it absorb slower, so that is helpful during the night, but not when you need it to absorb FAST.
Thank you all of you for your insight and stories and wonderful advice. The protein before bed is great and helps our son throughout the night. We still occasionally check him but normally it’s only if we have a feeling that he needs to be checked. Since I do not work shift work anymore and have settled in to a new job it has been more of a challenge to get up and check him but my wife has it pretty well nailed down for his snacks before bed and we have not run into too many lows. We make sure he has a glass of milk every night with his snack before bed and we also keep a baby monitor beside him to listen to him and keep us at ease a bit. I still go through some sleepless nites and weeks but I feel better knowing what his levels are and I eventually get my sleep back, lol.
I am glad to see I am not the only one worrying, I worry more than my wife does but we have been dealing with it so far. I am glad to say he has been healthier since he had tubes put in his ears in July and I pray that means a good winter this year compared to last. We are used to him having back to back colds all year and no real break from being sick. Since the tubes he has been cold free which is fantastic but his asthma seems to have gotten worse a bit this fall. I swear we’re a travelling drugstore when we go out. Lol. Anyways, he has started JK this year and so far so good. No real issues with the teacher other than making her understand his D and putting emphasis on communication between all of us. The one thing I put my foot down on was we were unaware he had another teacher who we had not spoken or met with to discuss his diabetes. She also would not let him eat his snack in the library or computer room! She would make him go to the office to eat it, not what we wanted to hear. He felt like he was being punished for having to go to the office. One of the things we stressed to his teacher was that he not be singled out or made to feel different because of his diabetes. Let his friends watch when he gets his finger checked and when they question why he is having a snack tell them why, don’t hide his D, they will be the ones that will be looking after him as they grow up together and they should know all they can to help him. This is no longer an issue according to the principal who has been helpful in making this an easy transition for us. We eventually want to meet all staff as he gets older so that the more people who know about him and look after him the better.
I noticed a few other questions about daycare and such, please feel free to ask my wife or I anything. Our son has been in daycare cince he was a year old and only missed 6 months after he was diagnosed. We found a great daycare, which happens to be inside his current school, and the people there are fantastic. We had the local diabetes association (it was a challenge getting them to go) meet with them as well as us showing them how to work his meter and explaining what to look for in signs of lows or high and how to treat them. We are 100% confident in the workers there that look after him. School will take a bit more work as this is new ground for them. Unforunately, the area here is very “diabetes dumb” to put it bluntly. This also includes some healthcare workers as well, but that is another discussion.
Thank you again and if you have anymore suggestions please let us know.
I check my son at least twice during the night, maybe more depending on what his sugar is when I check it. I’ll give you the main reason why. When I checked him at 4 this morning his sugar was 50.
Funny you should say that–when Eric is in a situation where he’s prone to lows (like, when he’s sick with a fever and seems to burn up his sugar faster than usual) the one thing that seems to keep him going is chocolate milk. The sugar in the milk boosts him up and the protein keeps him up, so if we’ve been battling lows all day, we generally give him chocolate milk at night. If he’s crashing, of course, we go with juice till we get him above 100, then chocolate milk to keep him there. But yeah, protein definitely seems to extend the ride for the sugar.
Very difficult to figure out correct dosages and correct basals in a child, especially if the child is in puberty or teens. Basals change constantly. That is probably also true of babies and toddlers, though I would not know from personal experience. Baby monitor would be useless as she does not make sounds while low. By checking blood sugars at night, she has never gone low enough to have a seizure, during which sounds may be made. We are hoping to avoid seizure by diligently checking blood sugars midnight, 2:30 or 3 am and 5 or 6 am (one of us is always up at 5am or 6am for work). I will test out the protein tip though. I will make sure she has a cheese stick before bed, how many carbs, if any at all, would be determined by her before bed blood sugar. We only give uncovered carbs before bed, never carbs with insulin.
We successfully fought insurance company to get cgms (which she now refuses to wear). Seek out info on the web as to how to fight the insurance company. My sister basically immediately got a case manager from the insurance company to oversee her case. We had to appeal and won the appeal. A good case manager, usually an R.N., is key. Document, document document. Keep written logs. Download and save pump and meter records. Research grounds for granting insurance coverage for cgms (for her it was hypo unawareness for lows if sitting down or lying down/sleeping) and erratic blood sugars, lows even with frequent blood sugar checks. Most likely you will be denied the frist time. Appeal and fax insurance company documentation. There are studies you can download from children with diabetes online website to fax as well. But appeals are granted on a case-by-case basis so it is your son’s records that are most important.
I feel your pain! This can happen even with tested basals. We are 3 and a half years in and her lows are more erratic than earlier in dx, can’t pinpoint a specific reason all the time. Also, where she always used to come up with juice or glucose tabs, it now sometimes takes more than one treatment to bring blood sugar back up.
my son was just diagnosed 3 weeks ago today and i was told not to check him at night time but since my son has autism and does not speak i do check him more often in the day time because i dont know when he is low or high