Hypo's & getting sleep

This is for the parents out there...

Anyone with young children getting plenty of sleep at night? Sometimes it is my own panic that gets me up to check but mostly it is because he does drop very suddenly sometimes. I've had 2 full nights of sleep in the last month and really want to find a way to get a few more. Lately I have had to give Khaleb a bottle at around 2am but if I lower his Levemir he ends up 15+ in the morning. Even the 100ml of milk can sometimes push him from 4 to double figures.

Khaleb is on Levemir (split dose with half unit pen) and Novorapid. Khaleb has been diabetic for 2 years and not honeymooning. We have had short periods of time where things have been going well but he keeps growing, getting more active and eating different foods.

Khaleb is also having the odd hypo of just under 4 a few times a month. Is this pretty common for kids or do other kids manage good figures without the odd low. They mainly come from activity but not necessarily during the exercise but anytime in the next 24 hours. Quite unpredictable.

I wonder if my problems are just related to Khaleb's age/size. I know quite a few other parents but their kids are either older or the younger kids have bsl's above 20 a lot of the time.

I wonder how many years the broken sleep is going to go on for. I'm sure it's sending my hair grey and putting wrinkles on my face to go with the black rings around my eyes. I might just be having a bad patch and he'll settle again but if anyone knew some secrets to getting more sleep I'd love to hear them. If you have food suggestions please keep in mind that Khaleb is still on a soft food diet so it would need to be something normally eaten off a spoon.

Thanks, Jen.

Thanks Suzi, You are always a good pick-me-up when things start going a bit haywire. I did a bad thing and left Khaleb a bit high last night and got some sleep. I feel like a better functioning person this morning even if Khaleb did wake with a bs of 16. It is strange how your judgement gets clouded when you are so tired and even though I did the wrong thing last night I had to fix myself a bit to keep going.

I do hear Khaleb in the night and certainly can pick up on strange noises that indicate he is going low but I've had the odd night where he has dropped into the low 3's and sleeping very peacefully. He's been quite ill over the last couple of months and I have resorted to pulling him out of playgroup to get him well. He has really only just recovered and I will attempt going back to playgroup after the holidays.

I would love to get a pet and hope it was a capable animal as a hypo dog but this isn't really an option at the moment.

I had thought I had good control over his bs at night but I've had several nights where he has gone from 16 at 10pm to 3 by 2am and then other nights he has gone to bed at 12 and woken up in the 5's (but of course I have checked him once or twice in the night). I suppose I'll just have to return to experimentation and adjust what I can until things settle. I'm really caught between a rock and a hard place right now.

I usually give Khaleb a supper of either fruit yogurt or custard and cereal mix. I try and pick the lower GI options to get him through the night. I'd love him hooked up to an alarm to let me know when he was out of range and I could sleep peacefully. That crystal ball sounds like a good idea also.

Well, we are back on track this morning. Blood sugar back down to 6 and I don't expect to be confessing any more of my sins for a little while.

Thanks again, Jen.

Thanks for the reply. I tend to only have to get up once in the night (sometimes twice) but after 2 years of this it can get draining. My record for continuous nights of sleep is 9 since Khaleb has had diabetes. I am a single parent (Khaleb's dad left when he was 10wks old) and don't have any help or been able to enrol Khaleb in daycare. I may have to wave the discrimination flag to get some sort of care but am resistant to do this for fear of the kind of care he would receive. Khaleb seems to have settled a little and I'm back to having good days all in single figures (above 4) but his nights are still a bit unpredictable. Another parent mentioned the fact that there isn't enough time between dinner and bed time to get the right amount of supper and this seems to be a very true fact. His bolus from dinner is still working but it is hard to tell for how much longer.

Have you had your first Hba1c yet? I did find that even with fairly average control when Khaleb was little the overall effect wasn't too bad. I got better at knowing which direction his blood sugar was going with time, because it is never stable in children, and is always going either up or down. This made it easier to have a life and do normal jobs and activities. Are you going out much? I didn't for a while after diagnosis but got better at managing and carrying all the right stuff. One day I did forget my meter and went into a chemist and bought another while I was out.

Hope things settle a bit for you but it is still early days for you. How do you feel your son is coping with the change? I did find that Khaleb adapted quickly and still just hands over his finger and has really started to associate his diabetes treatment with food.

All the best, Jen.

I know what you mean about the overactivity of an evening. For some reason Khaleb is really switched on after dinner and does a good part of his learning in those few hours before bed. If I ever want to teach him something new I always try to do it in the evening when he is far more receptive. I also have my sister coming around and playing loud games most evenings. Khaleb only learnt to walk late last year (just before he turned 2) so I can't say I had too many exercise bs drops before then. He still isn't able to run so I suppose that will be next.

The only 2 real diet changes I made was getting him from formula to cows milk and never giving him over-ripe bananas. Cows milk made life so much easier as he was having the formula between meals and it was pushing his bs up into the 20's everytime. In those days I quite often had the meter reading 'HI" but I actually can't remember the last time this has happened so it must of been quite some time ago. Even with this poor management Khaleb's Hba1C was 8.7 but it is always around the 7 mark these days. Khaleb tends to sleep through me testing him in the night and even if I have to give him a bottle in the night. I have disolved castor sugar in his bottle if he has been low in the night. I'm reluctant to wean him because of this convenience. Using a syringe with some diluted glucose syrup (from the cooking aisle of the supermarket) mixed with a bit of fruit juice is also a good way to treat a hypo just like giving a dose of medicine. I only need to dilute about a quarter of a teaspoon for a fast bs rise.

I can understand your concern about going back to work and leaving the responsibility of Henry's bs with another. I can nearly always tell when Khaleb is going low but I would advise someone else to test more often and be safe rather than sorry. I would just be happy for someone to try even if it didn't work out. It is very restrictive to not have care. If it was ever really needed it would be nice to know it was there. My sister tries to help out but she has a full time job. I also try and get her to do some finger pricks and needles from time to time. I sometimes get my 14 year old son to do a few also. I only do this so Khaleb doesn't think that I am the only person allowed to do these things. I hope you have good communication with your Mother-in-law and she has learnt all she needs to know so you feel even a little bit comfortable being away.

If you end up having the opportunity to move to Australia where would you be likely to settle?

Anyway, all the best and hope your first day back at work doesn't give you a panic attack. Take some deep breaths and try to live a normal life. Jen Xx