Will my daughter be diabetic?

[Flick]

Hi,
I have been type 1 for 14 years, 3 years ago I had my beautiful baby girl. I was just wondering how likely is it she will get diabetes? There is a strong history of diabetes in my family (Myself, brother and Mum are all type 1 then the usual grandparents with type 2.. also on her Dads side his Dad has Type 1) however I have been led to believe there is little to no evidence that
Type 1 is hereditary. I'm just worried I may have passed it on to my baby too?
Any help or advise on the subject would be gratefuly recieved.
Thanks guys. x

 

[Gizmo123]

As far as I know t1 is not hereditary but if there is a family history the risk is slightly higher but just a fraction. I've been t1 for 30+ years. My daughter was diagnosed t1 at 2 yrs old. However my son isn't. Try not to worry as its not preventable and nothing u can do will stop your daughter getting it. I beat myself up for years for my daughter but the doctors have told me its not down to me as its just one of those things.


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[Flick]

It's a great help to hear from you, I keep hearing different things from doctors etc who seem to just be reading from a text book. Good to finally hear from someone who understands. Thank you.

 

[Candybabe]

Hi Flick, I have two children age 14 and 15 and like you I do worry about them developing Diabetes. There is some research which you may be interested in, which involves close family members being monitored for Diabetes. here is the link to the web page:
http://www.diabetestrialnet.org/about/

My children are part of the trial and it involves a blood test yearly. Although it doesn't prevent Diabetes from occurring, if it does, it will hopefully get picked up a little sooner as they can also tell you if your child/relative is at an increased risk of developing Diabetes (at the time of the blood test). It certainly has given me some peace of mind, whilst it also obviously helps towards research.

 

[ljwilson]

I was diagnosed in 1974 and my brother was diagnosed 6 weeks after me! ?I gave birth to my first daughter in 1988 and my second in 1989, neither are diabetic I used to worry when they were younger and I used to test their blood if they were ever ill but now they are in their 20's I have stopped worrying, I now have lots of other things to worry about with them .................

Lorna

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi,
I have been type 1 for 14 years, 3 years ago I had my beautiful baby girl. I was just wondering how likely is it she will get diabetes? There is a strong history of diabetes in my family (Myself, brother and Mum are all type 1 then the usual grandparents with type 2.. also on her Dads side his Dad has Type 1) however I have been led to believe there is little to no evidence that
Type 1 is hereditary. I'm just worried I may have passed it on to my baby too?
Any help or advise on the subject would be gratefuly recieved.
Thanks guys. x

Hello flick, it can be a little worrying. I tested my daughter on Sunday ( she is 12 and was happy for me to prick her finger) as she was feeling a bit under the weather and she was 5.3 after dinner.

I am an older mum and the consultant in the hospital said that even though I am type 1 it doesn't mean my child will get the condition, but 2 years ago my granddaughter was diagnosed at 2 1/2 years old with type 1. It does appear to be hereditary, but may skip one or two generations. There is no evidence that it can be passed on to our children, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Try not to worry to much and just enjoy being a mum to your little girl and watching her up grow up

Take care and best wishes RRB

 

[SPARKLE4]

Hi Flick,
I was diagnosed as type 1 two weeks after having my first child, I was reassured that my child was no more at risk of having diabetes just because I had it. Two years later I had another child and none of them have developed diabetes. I think being aware of those first signs and symptoms is always on your mind and knowing more about diabetes through your own experiences enables you to be in a very good and helpful place.

 

[Dillinger]

Hi Flick,

There is a hereditary link, as I understand it it is more pronounced if the father is Type 1 - I spoke to a pediatric consultant about this (on an informal basis) and he said that it raises the chance of becoming diabetic to about 7% (for my children) - it would be less for yours. That is higher than average but even it you were a man (from what you posted I'm assuming that you are not) your daughter would have a 93% chance of not becoming diabetic.

That aside I do the following; make sure my children have an adequate supply of vitamin D3 - could be snake oil but have a look at the literature below. I give both my boys now 2 and 4 2,000 IU's of liquid D3 a day except in the summer. Sunshine is the best source of vitamin d and I think it's important for children to get 10 minutes or so of exposure before the sun cream goes on.

http://www.direct-ms.org/sites/default/ ... ention.pdf

"Several European observational studies in humans have
now raised the possibility that providing supplemental vitamin
D to infants may prevent the development of type 1 diabetes."

"Limited data from human observational studies suggest that early supplementation with 10
g/d
(400 IU/d) or less of vitamin D may not reduce the risk for type 1 diabetes but that doses of 50
g/d (2000 IU/d)
and higher may have a strong protective effect."

http://plantbasedresearch.org/articles/ ... hort-study

"Dietary vitamin D supplementation is associated with reduced risk of type 1 diabetes."

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance ... 40-6736(01)06580-1/abstract

All that would then suggest to me that for Type 1 parents the evidence strongly points to the need for supplementing our children's vitamin d3 above the recommended 400 IU a day; 1,000 IU for 0-12 months and 2,000 IU for older children.

The risk of overdoing vitamin d3 is low - I think you would need 10 x that amount for a number of days to provide any ill effects in children and 50,000 IU for a number of days to cause problems for adults.

It's down to you of course, but my children are very used to having a drop of vitamin d3 every day.

Best

Dillinger

 

[Engineer88]

DAFNE says chances are 1 in 100 if your mother is type one
1 in 20 if your dad is.

 

[JontyW]

Here is another link that you may find useful from JDRF .. Junior Diabetes Research Forum, who are involved in lots of research projects..

http://jdrf.org/life-with-t1d/frequentl ... hereditary

In summary ..
"Researchers are still trying to get a clear picture about how genes and environmental factors interact to determine a person’s risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D). Forty percent of everyone in the United States carries one or more of the HLA genes (human leukocyte antigen) which lead to increased risk of T1D. To be at increased risk, however, an individual needs two copies of these genes, one from each parent. One in 400-500 people in the general population develops T1D, but 1 in 20 (5 percent) people are at risk if a parent, sibling, or child has the disease. Research has shown, however, that genes don’t tell the whole story, and suggests that environmental factors (which are not yet fully known) play a role as well".

Having said that, there is definite evidence to show that 'diabetes - both types' can run in families, as my own family experience shows:
- my sister became T1 age 3 (60 yrs ago)
- I became T1 age 27 (44 yrs ago)
- my mother became T2 age 60
- my brother became T2 age 65
- my niece became T1 age 33 (2 yrs ago)
- I have two grown up children and four grandchildren ... all clear so far

So although the risk is increased, T1 is an autoimmune disease, and cannot be prevented as such, although certain vitamin/diet changes may have a beneficial affect.

 

[Flick]

Wow! All the responses to my question have been amazingly helpful. Thank you every one. I know now I have to stop worrying, for my daughters sake as much as anything else. It's great to know I'm not alone with this. I will takke a serious look over all the links.
Thanks again. x

 

[SetheaSpidell13]

Hi, i've been a diabetic for 12 years now and they gave me some information when i was diagnosed. It told me that 1 in 3 children with a history of diabetes (type 1 or type 2) on both sides of the family will develop diabetes. And the other two chilren have a 33% chance of developing the disease. The best thing that you can do is to monitor your children and have them tested by the doctor periodically.

 

[Emily95]

If the mother is type 1 diabetic, there is a 1-4% chance the child will be type 1. If the father is type 1 diabetic there is a 4-8% chance the child will have type 1 diabetes. This is the same for each child you have, first child, second child, third child, the chance with each pregnancy is the same.

 

[Diamattic]

I generally agree with what others have said above, however i have read on the Joslin.org site that the chances increase if a parent was diagnosed before the age of 11, but decrease if the mother gives birth when she is older then 25.

But also the chances are more likely if the father is diabetic, rather then the mother.

I think from everything i have read none of it would stop me from have children, i would be more vigilant and know its a possibility but not having kids because they MAY be diabetic is (IMO) silly. Its like saying diabetes wins, that your life is so bad that you would never want anyone else to have to deal with diabetes to the extent that you would deprive yourself, and someone else of life because they MIGHT have the same thing you have.

My family has absolutely 0 history of any Type 1 or Type 2. No one else has it, except me and my sister, and we were diagnosed 25 years apart.

Maybe do random finger pricks lol

 

[Robinredbreast]

I know a family who have 4 children, 3 of which have type 1 diabetes. Mother and father do not have diabetes. Mother is sporty and competes in a physical sport, as do two of the children.

 

[lizdeluz]

I became T1 at age 29, already had a daughter who is now 32, gave birth to my son during my first year after diagnosis and he is now 29. Neither has diabetes, nor does their father. No one else in my immediate family has diabetes, though I have a cousin with T2.
When I, in fear and trembling, told my diabetes consultant, 1 month after my diagnosis, that my OH and I were expecting a baby, he said that it was great news and nothing to worry about, and he was right!
At least a diabetic parent has the low-down on dodgy diets and can bring up children to have respect for good food.

 

[yingtong]

I have been type1 for over 50 years and I have 4 children,none are diabetic.

 

[Darwin195]

no not necessarily because my gran is type 2 diabetic and either off her sons have it but diabetes may follow though generations or miss a couple of generations.

 

[Dodo]

My son is coming up to 40 and no sign of diabetes. I often tested him when he was younger just to make sure. I'm 49 years a T1 diabetic.

 

[lizdeluz]

I became T1 at age 29, already had a daughter who is now 32, gave birth to my son during my first year after diagnosis and he is now 29. Neither has diabetes, nor does their father. No one else in my immediate family has diabetes, though I have a cousin with T2.
When I, in fear and trembling, told my diabetes consultant, 1 month after my diagnosis, that my OH and I were expecting a baby, he said that it was great news and nothing to worry about, and he was right!
At least a diabetic parent has the low-down on dodgy diets and can bring up children to have respect for good food.

In those days, 1985, if you were T1 and pregnant, you had to spend one day a month in hospital, arriving before breakfast and staying till evening, lying around all day on a hospital bed, doing nothing, and having blood tests on the hour.