Having a hypo and trying to look after my 6month old

Hi Karen and welcome to the forum.

I helped look after my children when they were little as both my wife and I worked so we shared the responsibility around our work schedule, all I can say is test your bg levels regularly and make sure you eat properly, as your child gets older make them aware of your diabetes and what to do if they find you and your unresponsive, other than that just relax and try and enjoy your time with them when they are young, they soon grow-up.

Karenratcliffe1 said:

Hi
My partner is working away at the moment, my 6month old baby is waking up all night so have had very little sleep. Just tested my blood at it was 2.7 i have treated it but am juggling my diabetes and trying to look after my baby! Has anyone else been through this?

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Hi, I have been on my own most of the time and my child is now a teenager. It can be a struggle and exhausting at times and some hairy moments, but try to keep testing and if you can, try and have a little nap when baby eventually does. Is baby teething, or maybe has colic ? Also have you been in touch with your health visitor or GP ? It won't last forever (thank goodness) and hopefully your partner will be back soon to share the childcare. But in the meantime, try and Google and it may come up with some good solutions from other parents who are going through the same thing.
Good luck and take care RRB

Hi, are you breastfeeding ? as this can lower your BS.

Best wishes RRB

I was diagnosed in January and I'm a single parent to a two year old so I can understand all too well the difficulties of juggling diabeties and looking after a baby. It's not easy!! I find that having somewhere safe to put my little one for 5 minutes helps, whether it's in their cot, moses basket or just now I put my little boy in his room with his safety gate closed.Then I can go and sort my hypo and know that he is safe for a moment. He's very inquisative and he watches me checking my blood and taking injections, I dont try and hide it from him and as he gets older I'll involve him and explain more. My big achievement was taking him to Alton Towers last week for his birthday. 5 hour car journey and 3 days at a theme park with a hyperactive 2 year old, if I can get through that then my day to day life with him should be easy!

I just think myself 'lucky' I didn't get diagnosed till my wee one was almost 2, I remember the baby days well and it's hard enough as it is juggling everything a new baby demands without adding diabetes into it. For me it's all about routine, I know they don't conform to a routine as such but I'm a stickler for them. When he was younger 8am was when I made breakfast (he had his milk before if needed but actual food was 8am), so if I was diagnosed I could check my blood and take injections while making breakfast. I still have pretty much the same lunch and dinner routines now. I've always been a believer that he eats what I eat, ever since he was weaned at 6 months, so while I'm making dinner (which will have been meal planned in advance so I can know the carb count beforehand) I can check and inject. It's not easy juggling it all but it is managable and I've become the master of multi tasking. As for your nurse, that's just a stupid comment! I inject 5/6 times a day and very rarely leave a mark.

Hi Karen,
I have a 2 year old and an 8 week old baby. My partner works away for a month at a time so I spend a lot of time home alone with the kids who are completely dependent on me. Some things I do...

1. Test my BS lots.
2. Have hypo treatments to hand in all rooms and bags and car.
3. Keep test kit to hand (well in theory).
4. Keep easy to prepare/eat food in for me so can grab a meal when it's chaos.
5. Test BS before bathing kids - I treat bathtime similar to I would driving.
6. Have friends to hand who can help out if needed.
7. Safe places to put kids if hypo
8. Shut stair gates top and bottom whether needed or not so hopefully it is so ingrained that I will do it always
9. Don't hide testing / injections from kids. 2 yo knows I 'test bloods' and have special pens. As he picks up more will teach him to call for help if necessary.
10. Recognise that sometimes the most important thing is to make sure that I am ok so that I can look after them properly. It might mean they have to cry for a minute or so.
11. Where a medical alert wristband - particularly when swimming and out and about.
12. Let key people know that you are diabetic.
13. If you inject your bolus make sure you then eat the meal!
14. Sod the housework and make time to enjoy time with your kids and look after yourself.

If I think of anything else I'll come back.

You've had some great advice. As for the nurse you saw I understand how you feel!! My daughter was three weeks old when I had a hypo resulting in unconsciousness. Luckily my mum was with us. I had no warning signs.

As a result I have a habit of over correcting or letting my blood sugar run a bit higher my consultant told me to stop making excuses and start taking my insulin. (I never stopped) he couldn't understand my concerns and worries or the reality of having children.

My daughters three now and like trixy83 I don't hide it from her she helps me test my bs, watches me inject and knows if mummy is feeling poorly to get me something out of her 'sweetie box'

It does get easier as their understanding grows and as you get a bit more sleep! Keep going and don't be disheartened by your nurses lack of support. As you can see from the responses to your post you are not alone and we get it!

For anyone with kids my daughters age who's struggling to explain it to them I found the mysugr app is brilliant. It's basically an app for keeping a record of what you eat, inject etc but it has a fab monster Avatar. The cute monster changes colour if your in your target range and giggles etc goes red if your high, yellow if your low and makes silly noises. My daughter loves 'feeding' him and always asks me now if what I'm eating will make my blood sugar monster happy. X

As others have said it is difficult with children but it does get easier. I was diagnosed just before our Son arrived. He is now at the stage where he knows I have to test my blood and he won't let me do it without reading the numbers back to me, then asking me if I'm high, low or ok. He does have an awful habit of reading them from the wrong end so you can imagine my surprice the day he says 1 and 6, when I'm actually sitting at 6.1.
He seems to like when I'm hypo though as he likes to raid my jelly babies, but i'll need to make sure he knows it's not a good thing.

My wife has had type 1 for 49 years. When our daughter was around 5, she used to bring her friends in "to watch Mummy do her injection".

Also...
Due to distractions and tiredness it can be easy to forget if I have done my insulin or not, I particularly find this with my basal. So I find it particularly necessary to have systems in place to help. I use the Novo Echo pens which can tell you how many units and how long ago I used the pen and as well as the MySugr app on my phone to record injections and data.

I can understand this feeling - I have a 2 year old and a 10 month old! Husband is excellent but also away with work sometimes!

Brilliant list of advice from @hels

I test a lot to make sure I know exactly where I am - I always have my hypo treatment handy (dextrose tablets).

The best thing I have done is set alarm reminders on my phone to set myself a routine for my own breakfast, lunch and dinner to make sure I eat properly. I also found a routine for my little girls helped me to know what I am doing next and that was one less thing to think about when trying to manage my sugars I wasn't hard with my routines for the girls - just helped me plan my day better!

My HbA1c went up after both my girls were born but my consultant was very good and said well what do you expect your a new mum - it will settle down!

He was right - littlest baby is now 10 months and a lot more settled and I am focusing on my diabetes a lot more now and control is much better.

It's hard to put yourself first with a baby but when your hypo you must otherwise you are no good to them - I have to tell myself this all the time!!!

Also babies crying all night always make everything seem worse x

Hope you and baby get some sleep soon x