Babysitting

pplprincess5480

Active Member
Messages
33
What do you guys do about getting a babysitter. Lottie started pumping a month ago. Before the pump my husband's Mum babysat, although she's type 1 too she has messed up treating Lottie's hypos twice and I'm worried about her ability to use the pump as she can't even use a mobile phone. Am I just being neurotic?
 

phoenix

Expert
Messages
5,671
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Well I'm not able to use a mobile phone, I don't have one...but I can use a pump. I also know what its like to babysit grandchildren. Ok I've managed to bring up children myself but there's still that scary feeling you'll do something wrong! Add diabetes and new technology, you're adding a lot of pressure. You're worried, so I'm sure is your Mum.

Seriously, you need to be easily contactable and not far away for the first few times, don't go away for a day before your Mum has got used to dealing with shorter periods. If you want to go out for longer , over mealtimes,I would really make sure your Mum has been with you, seen your routines and learned how to give the bolus for meals... don't just show her how to do it, you learn much better by actually doing it .Leave written instructions as a back up
Hypo treatments should be no different to when on MDI, make sure that hypo treatments are easy to find, if you have a glucagon pen show it to her and let her read the instructions(there are also a couple of good videos on youtube.) Again leave step by step instructions.
I would again leave instructions on what to do with high levels, the first one would be to phone and contact you, so that you can discuss what to do, so you can (at least at first) make the decision on whether to correct.
Take things gradually, you are only just learning what to do with the pump and even though you deal with it everyday will probably make mistakes or find things don't go the way you expect. You'll learn from your experiences. It will be the same for your Mum so you have to support her as much as you can, otherwise you might find her less available to babysit!
 

ams162

Well-Known Member
Messages
572
Type of diabetes
Type 1
on the rare occasion i need someone my mum does it she feels alot happier with dylan on the pump as hes more stable than he ever was on injections and altho she doesnt understand the pump i leave her instructions, my number and usually a plan of what dylan is going to eat for meals and what carbs are in those meals. luckily at 9 dylan can do the boluses himself so mum doesnt touch the pump just tells dylan the carbs to put in.

if something went wrong neither would know how to sort things out so i leave my number and am usually not too far away should i be needed. i dont use babysitters that often tho as i find it really hard to leave dylan with anyone im constantly worrying and checking my phone my head is always with dylan lol however i dont let my mum know that i show her i have every confidence in her.

anna marie
 

Vikki2

Well-Known Member
Messages
45
Do you mean babysitting during the day or for a night out?
If it's for a night out, then this is what we do:
Kids are fed and in bed by the time the babysitter comes round (which is what we always did even pre-diabetes). We check our daughter (5 yrs old, on pump) before leaving. We leave the babysitter with the old fingerpricker i.e.NOT the one connected to the pump because if they did something wrong then she could get an extra shot of insulin. We leave instructions on how to use the fingerpricker and have also demonstrated this. We say that if our daughter was to wake up and say she felt low or was to wake up all confused then to fingerprick her. We leave instructions on treating a low but not on how to treat a high. In any case we ask the babysitter to call us. If she is hypo then this needs to be treated immediately but if she is high then we would make a decision as to either come home immediately or to stay out a bit longer - it would really depend how high she was. None of this has ever happened though. We once asked a babysitter to fingerprick her at a specific time & give us a call because we weren't 100% certain about how her levels would be and we once cancelled a night out because her evening levels were dreadful. Otherwise we have been out plenty of times and it's been fine. I am usually quite stressed when first leave the house but then relax into the evening.
My daughter now has a CGM and this has really changed things. It's so relaxing knowing that if she drops into hypo or creeps too high that the alarm will go off but still we only get the babysitter to treat a low not a high.
If it's babysitting during the day then full training would be needed in how to use the pump. This is difficult if your m-in-law is only going to use it occasionally. It's always difficult to remember how to use something when you're not using it every day. At my daughter's school I spent a lot of time training them and then shadowed them every day for 2 full weeks until we all felt confident that they could 'fly solo'.
Hope this helps
Good luck
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pplprincess5480

Active Member
Messages
33
Thanks for your replies. I was thinking about daytime and evening babysitting. We have had my mother in law babysit for us before and left her specific written instructions, which she failed to follow. I also always leave her a full hypo kit which she should know how to use as she has Type 1 too but she still doesn't do as she's asked. I think maybe I'd be better off training up someone different who might actually listen to our instructions.
 

Vikki2

Well-Known Member
Messages
45
I'm shocked she won't follow your instructions. Poor you, how awful. I guess because she's had T1 for longer she probably feels that she knows best. Yes, I would find someone else that you trust. You need & deserve to get out once in a while
Good luck
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