My son Griffin is 8 years old. He was invited to a sleepover but I am very worried about letting him sleep at someone else's house without me. He has never left my side since he was diagnosed at 4 years old. He is very excited about this sleepover and he is telling me he really wants to go. He said he would even call me and tell me his sugar numbers and since we have Nightscout I'll be able to monitor him from my home. But my real concern is during the night. I am just nervous about letting him go. He said he would be fine. But he does still need help with giving himself insulin and calculating the correct carbs. He has the Omnipod Pump. Does anyone have any input as to what I should do? Have any of you guys let your kids go on a sleepover?
My Daughter Leah is 11 now. She was diagonised at 8. Than she was on insuline shots i did let her do sleepovers. She had Lantus which is the long lasting insulin. I was ok. Now that she is on the pump, I would be hesitent! She would want to. She is good because she is good with carb counting and giving herself a correction when needed. My daugher now is on the dexcom so i might think about it. One day we all have to let go. It is hard. If it is local i would try for him to go. If you or him feel that your not sure. I would tell him to call you. If you know the parents and the parents are aware of him being diabetic. Than that is ok.
My son is only 3 years old , but this is something I think of often. First step would to contact the parents first and see if they are even open to having him spend the night (they might not be aware.
I guess the way I will handle this will depend on how responsible my son is at the time self managing his diabetes, If you do not think he is ready then I would not let him god. If your worried about him carb counting and using the pump then you could either try to work with him prior or have him call you with and inform you what he is eating and what his levels are so you can inform him of what he needs to put in the system./
The other option is let him go until its time for bed and then go get him and tell him he can host the very next sleepover with the friends.... I will know for me personally I will encourage my son to host things at our house to take away the fear of him going somewhere else.
Good Luck
We started sleepovers at about that age, maybe 9... he's now just turned 10 and only slept away a couple times. I made sure I knew the parents and they were willing. they were also close by, ~ 5 minutes away. I had the mom keep the dexcom by the side of her bed, and so she could treat if a low happened. When awake he could call me and check carbs/numbers etc. He could do the pump himself by that age (i.e., put in the carbs and bolus properly, which he does at school every day also). I was clear that the mom could call me at any hour of the night. I think with the nightscout you are in good shape! does it alarm if he goes low? If so, could you call their house (or go there) and would they treat it? Before 8 or 9 I did not let him go on a sleepover. He has had them at our house though.
My son was 7 when diagnosed, he is now 11. I do allow him to sleepover at friends houses, but there are two things I do to feel comfortable.
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At all times I have him show me that he can take care of his diabetes. The way I do this is simple; I continually ask him what should be done for each blood sugar reading and each meal/snack. He makes his own decision of what action (ie more insulin and how much or more carbs etc), we then discuss if this is a good decision before he takes action. Through continually making these decisions together he has learned almost as much as I know about how to manage his diabetes. I now fully trust him.
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I make sure an adult is willing to wake him up in the middle of the night so he can check himself and correct if necessary. He does not wear a CGM.
I have talked to the parents and they are willing to do anything that needs to be done. They live maybe 10 mins from our house. So if worse came to worse I could go over there and treat it. Thanks for the input :)
Griffin is very good at managing his diabetes and he is already making some decisions but I always have the final say. He knows a lot about carbs and how to bolus but sometimes he still needs a little help. I am definitely going to make sure a parent will wake him up in the night to check.
My son was diagnosed three years ago when he was 12. It took a year before I would let him out of my sight other than going to school! I agree with others on here that the first thing to do is make sure the parents are willing and capable to care for your child. I also agree that a child is ready to spend the night away when he or she is able to deal with all the different facets of T1D on their own. Having said that, I am already dreading when my son goes to college in 2 years! I’m hoping to get him a diabetic alert dog or maybe I can stay in his dorm! LOL
You will know when the time is right to let him stay overnight somewhere good luck!