Recently diagnosed 4 year old starting full time school

[pianomum]

Hi

I'm new to posting on here although I've been reading a few posts here and there since my daughter's diagnoses in March (type 1). She turned 4 a week after her diagnoses and is due to start school next Tuesday. We did have a meeting with the school and her DSN in July but I personally came out of the meeting feeling we had achieved nothing. The secretary of the school has overseen an 11 year old diabetic who basically tested and injected themselves with the secretary double checking his insulin dose first.

Being 4 obviously she doesn't always eat all of any meal she is given and so the current plan is to give extra insulin at breakfast to allow for the fruit snack they have at morning playtime. Then I am to go in at lunchtime to test her and then (I assume) wait around for her to finish her lunch so that I can then work out her insulin and inject her with a view to training her class teachers on testing, injecting and looking out for hypos. I might add that the teacher's looked extremely worried and daunted by this prospect and seemed to be relieved I'd be coming in.

Basically I'm worried sick about it all!! She hardly ever knows she's in a hypo, she is quite good at explaining to people how to do her blood test but we've already had bad experiences at her nursery (they weren't changing to a new needle on her finger pricker each time!) and I can't even begin to explain how nervous it makes me feel the thought of letting someone at the school calculate and inject her insulin!! The DSN is all for the school doing all of it asap as I "shouldn't have to be going into school every day" and whilst I can see what she means to a point this is my baby girl and I feel so uneasy about letting someone else control her health. I'd really appreciate advice from anyone more experienced of having a young child with diabetes.

 

[andybob]

Hi there
I realise it is a very worrying time when your child starts school let alone with the complication of diabetes. I work in a school as a Teaching Assistant and we have had a number of children with diabetes. The parents started off like you coming in to sort out diet and insulin, but very soon felt confident enough to let us the staff deal with it. We had a visit from the 'Diabetic nurse' she went through all of the details with the staff and even spoke to the children (Reception children) about the childs needs and what to look out for if the child needed help, the children were marvellous. Getting your daughter to do as much for herself as she can is all part of the process and I'm sure with your support and the school she will be fine. Time will tell and then you'll feel more relaxed. We have never had a problem with any of the children at our school who have diabetesbecause we were all so well informed of the condition and the needs of the child. Make sure you have a named person on your childs health plan that way you can address any concerns or new info to that 1 person rather than a whole host of people. The school should have prepared a health plan as part of their safeguarding and health and safety procedures.
I hope it all goes well for you all.
Andy

 

[leggott]

I totally understand your concerns. When my son started school, also aged 4, I would initially do a 2 hour blood check ( about 10 am) and then go in a lunch. I would also then do another 2 hour check after lunch. I did this for a few weeks to check what was happening as they are a lot more active at school and so the insulin requirements change. After a few weeks, I dropped the mid morning and afternoon test and the school took over the lunch test and injection.

My children have always had packed lunch so I can work out the carb accurately and also I know they will eat it all. Perhaps this might be an easier option for you at the start? It just means you remove the guessing of her lunch which may help in achieving tighter control.

I would suggest that you draw up a care plan for your child, so the school fully understand your requirements. Your DSN should be able to help you with this. My school also have large photo's of my kids in the school staff room with ' hypo' instructions' clearly printed underneath. This means that all teachers including new and occasional staff will see this and be aware of my children's requirements.

I am lucky that both schools have fully understood my children's requirements and have always been accommodating, but I also know of others schools who are also not quite so much 'on the ball'. If you are not happy with things then speak again with them. As much as it is difficult, try and stay calm as you need to get your point across and at the end of the day they need to be on your side and working with you.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[leggott]

just a further point to say that I have never let anyone calculate my children's insulin and I know that the other 4 diabetic children at our school don't either. This would worry me too and I guess most other diabetics. We put instruction sheets in with their packed lunch which tells them how much insulin to give depending on the blood reading. I have pre- printed sheets and all I do is enter the carb and insulin each day depending on their carb to insulin ratio. This takes out the guess work and means corrections can be given for higher blood readings and less insulin given for lower ones. My kids are pumping now so most of the info is stored on the pump, but it is the same principle with the injections.

 

[pianomum]

Thank you both so much for your replies. It's good to hear that the other children are supportive, I do plan on taking in the information chart and children's story about diabetes that we received when she was diagnosed and her teacher seemed OK about reading this to the children at some point.

She is going to be having a packed lunch as, like you say, having a school lunch would be just making life far too complicated, but even then she is not guaranteed to eat all her packed lunch. She is very up and down in how much she will eat, depending on her mood/blood sugar levels it seems. I was planning on writing down the amount of carbs and insulin required for what I put in the lunch box but then if she doesn't eat it all they are going to need to correct it and I suppose this is what concerns me.

When you say you write it all down in detail with adjustments for different blood readings - how exactly do you mean?? That's a very good idea to have some little forms printed to enter it all on, thanks!

I like your idea of doing a two hour blood check morning and afternoon too so that I can see how school life affects her at first. I think I'll see if they will let me do this.

I think whatever I am obviously destined to have little sleep these next few weeks with the worry, but it is good to know that it will hopefully settle down fairly quickly. I've been trying to train my Mum to be able to look after her for an upcoming night away to give myself and my husband a break and she is still struggling after weeks so I think that makes me more concerned that the teachers will have the same trouble getting the hang of it all!

 

[leggott]

Yes, pre-printed forms really worked for us and still do. I will PM you a copy of the forms we created and perhaps you they will gives you some ideas for yours.

 

[pianomum]

Thank you so much, you've been very helpful. I can't access private messages apparently as I'm new to the forum but I really appreciate you taking the time to send them.

 

[Avril]

My daughter is now 9 and was diagnosed in feb. I too am still learning but have been lucky in the fact that her school have been fantastic. All teachers know and she has a wee book where I record how many carbs are in her lunch and they make sure she has her insulin and record it in her book as well as every blood check and hypo. They also phone me and keep me informed.