• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Normal Blood Sugar Levels In a 17 month old

meeper

Member
Messages
8
Hi everyone,

I am 33 and have had type 1 diabetes for 12 years. My daughter is almost 17 months old and is showing symptoms of diabetes, mostly the fact that she cannot seem to get enough to drink. Can anyone please tell me what the range should be for a child of her age if she's NOT diabetic? I'm going to test her blood myself, using my blood testing kit.
Thank you for reading.

Claire
 
Hi!

Sadly I don't know the answer BUT I'm bumping this post up to keep it in sight so someone who can help may spot it and be able to advise you! :wink:

Best wishes

Paul
 
Thanks Paul I appreciate you doing that for me. I'm brand new to this forum and don't really know what I'm doing Lol. I didn't even know things could be bumped up to the top.

Many, many thanks.

Claire
 
meeper said:
Hi everyone,

I am 33 and have had type 1 diabetes for 12 years. My daughter is almost 17 months old and is showing symptoms of diabetes, mostly the fact that she cannot seem to get enough to drink. Can anyone please tell me what the range should be for a child of her age if she's NOT diabetic? I'm going to test her blood myself, using my blood testing kit.
Thank you for reading.

Claire

Hello Claire It must be so worrying for you at the moment. I am unsure of the range in such a young child, but in an adult, between 4 and 7 is usually a normal reading. Also young children can become extremly ill very, very quickly. I tested my daughter in the past, but she was 7 at the time, it wasn't diabetes but boderline Thyroid.

As you have a glucose monitor it would give you a proper reading as to whether you daughter shows signs of diabetes. Does she have any other symptoms like tiredness or bad nappy rash?
Could you test on a teddy bear first to show her that teddy is having it done as well and she probably sees you doing it on a regular basis.

Please let us know how you get on and I wish you all the best and I hope its not diabetes. Best wishes RRB
 
Thank you for your reply RRB.

Actually Isla does sleep very well and she does have nappy rash but I didn't realise that is a symptom of diabetes in babies and put it down to teething.

I will test her tomorrow first thing in the morning and again 2 hours after her breakfast and see what turns up. She's a tough cookie and won't mind me testing her. She was 9 week premature and has been through allot in her short life. I so hope she doesn't have diabetes but it doesn't look good does it? I also have an underactive Thyroid and wonder if that's a possibility for her?

Thanks for your kind words and I will post on here to let you all know what happens.

Claire
Xx
 
meeper said:
Thank you for your reply RRB.

Actually Isla does sleep very well and she does have nappy rash but I didn't realise that is a symptom of diabetes in babies and put it down to teething.

I will test her tomorrow first thing in the morning and again 2 hours after her breakfast and see what turns up. She's a tough cookie and won't mind me testing her. She was 9 week premature and has been through allot in her short life. I so hope she doesn't have diabetes but it doesn't look good does it? I also have an underactive Thyroid and wonder if that's a possibility for her?

Thanks for your kind words and I will post on here to let you all know what happens.

Claire
Xx

Hi Claire I will be thinking of you both tomorrow morning and keeping my fingers crossed. I will try and get online at some point during the day before I go to work.
ps my daughter was 7 weeks premature and has grown up relatively healthy and strong ( but does have IBS) and is nearly as tall as me now! Good luck and try to get a good night sleep. Best wishes RRB X ps Isla, what a pretty name .
 
Robinredbreast said:
meeper said:
Thank you for your reply RRB.

Actually Isla does sleep very well and she does have nappy rash but I didn't realise that is a symptom of diabetes in babies and put it down to teething.

I will test her tomorrow first thing in the morning and again 2 hours after her breakfast and see what turns up. She's a tough cookie and won't mind me testing her. She was 9 week premature and has been through allot in her short life. I so hope she doesn't have diabetes but it doesn't look good does it? I also have an underactive Thyroid and wonder if that's a possibility for her?

Thanks for your kind words and I will post on here to let you all know what happens.

Claire
Xx

Hi Claire I will be thinking of you both tomorrow morning and keeping my fingers crossed. I will try and get online at some point during the day before I go to work. The nappy rash is probably teething, but if she has high glucose levels, then the urine will be on her skin all the time, which can lead to an infection, but in an adult it would pass through but cause infections on the inside and also terrible itchiness.
ps my daughter was 7 weeks premature and has grown up relatively healthy and strong ( but does have IBS) and is nearly as tall as me now! Good luck and try to get a good nights sleep. Best wishes RRB X ps Isla, what a pretty name .
 
Hi Claire,

I'm Type 1 with 2 small boys; I'm constantly looking out for problems and have actually spoken to a pediatric specialist on this (in an informal way). He said; stop worrying and don't keep testing your children as infant blood sugars can vary widely. The thing to do is to get urine glucose test strips. This is because if there is glucose in the urine that is a strong indicator that there is a problem.

I know testing urine is harder to do than testing blood for a 17 month old but that was the advice I got (I had got a 13 mmol/mil on a blood test). Luckily everything was fine though.

You can buy urine glucose test strips from larger chemists.

But more than anything trust your instincts and if there really is something wrong get medical help quickly

The other thing is assuming everything is ok get your daughter daily vitamin d3 supplements.

Best

Dillinger
 
Thank you so much for your reply Dillinger.

The trurh is I don't know what to do anymore. I have tried urine collection but its proven to be extrremely difficult. Isla was meant to be having a finger prick test tomorrow at the Dr's but they phoned me today to say they can't do it there as she is so young and said I had to phone a place in Maidstone! I guess I'll do trhe blood test romorrow and Phone the specialist with the results and see what they say.

I just want her to be ok.

Claire
 
Dillinger said:
Hi Claire,

I'm Type 1 with 2 small boys; I'm constantly looking out for problems and have actually spoken to a pediatric specialist on this (in an informal way). He said; stop worrying and don't keep testing your children as infant blood sugars can vary widely. The thing to do is to get urine glucose test strips. This is because if there is glucose in the urine that is a strong indicator that there is a problem.

I know testing urine is harder to do than testing blood for a 17 month old but that was the advice I got (I had got a 13 mmol/mil on a blood test).

You can buy urine glucose test strips from larger chemists.

But more than anything trust your instincts and if there really is something wrong get medical help quickly

Best


Dillinger


Hi when I had my daughter I was told that because I have Type 1 the likelyhood of my child getting diabetes would be far greater if I had Type 2! On the forum I have noticed that Type 2 runs quite high in families. I know of non diabetic parents who :thumbdown: now have 2 children with Type 1. It seems If its gonna happen, then it will, but it may skip a generation :( I hope the little Isla doesn't have it. RRB
 
Hi Claire,

If you have glucose test strips for urine, then it may be worth letting your daughter wander about without a nappy until she pees and then test that. Not such great advice if you have carpets everywhere though, but possibly worth it for peace of mind - if her urine is negative then the chances of her being diabetic are much reduced. If positive then you need immediate medical help. It is quite black and white.

As Type 1 diabetics we have a higher chance of our children having Type 1 diabetes- this is a discussion on just that (discussing rates in the US, but I would assume the risks are pretty similar here). Note that it says "if the mother has type 1 diabetes and is age 25 or younger when the child is born, the risk is reduced to 1 in 25 (4 percent) and if the mother is over age 25, the risk drops to 1 in 100 — virtually the same as the average American."

http://www.joslin.org/info/genetics_and_diabetes.html

As to the vitamin d thing I'm a firm believer in this; you can redress the odds by giving vitamin d3; here is a link to a study discussing this.

http://housemajority.org/seaton/pdfs/27/5448201.pdf

Note that it says 'In children who received vitamin D supplementation regularly, the risk [of developing Type 1 diabetes] was reduced by about 80% ] if the child had received at least the recommended dose compared with those receiving less.'

My underlining and bold.

The amount of vitamin d the children (from birth onwards) were given in the study was 2000 IU daily. The RDA in the UK is 400 IU for adults and 200 IU for children. I give my 3 1/2 year old 2000 IU a day and my 1 year old 1000 IU a day - he'll go up to full dose when he's 2 - there's no real reason other than parental caution as to why he isn't on the full 2000 IU's now though.

The vitamin d you want, by the way, is vitamin d3 in drop form - I buy mine from the US as bizarrely it's cheaper to do that than buy here. Drop me a line if you want more info.

Some people feel that vitamin supplementation is all a con and a way to extract more money from us, but I figure if there is evidence like that and the known toxicity levels for vitamin d are about 20,000 - 50,000 IU for several days then why on earth not? I discussed this with a GP friend of mine and he responded by putting all his children on vitamin d supplements!

In any event the NHS says that the under 5's are meant to be on vitamin d supplementation anyway; but I've never ever heard that from anyone at the NHS...

I hope however that this is all a false alarm and your daughter is fine.

All the best

Dillinger
 
I have been Type 1 since 1974/75 and had my daughters in 1988 and 1989. I used to test them now and again and their ranges were always between 4 - 7. They are now 24 and 22 and neither of them are diabetic. Try not to worry too much and test them yourself, a little prick in their big toe is soon forgotten. Good Luck


Lorna
 
Oh Claire I feel so sorry for your situation and other like it, just as others have said I really really hope everything is fine with your daughter. best wishes
 
Back
Top