Diabetic child help

[michellemoran]

I have an 11yr old boy that was dx type 1 ... [More] diabetic at the age of 2. I need help... I just don't know what to do about him sneaking what he knows he can't have. I know this is a very common issue with children. My problem started this year after Easter when I started to find candy rappers all over his room. I sat with him and talked about why he was doing it and his only answer is "I don't know." We have always allowed him to have some sweets so to find him sneaking more was shocking. I removed all sweets from our home to help. I also took him to the store and we walked every inch and looked at every item that he wanted to try. We worked these things into his normal food and it seemed to stop for a month or so, I am not really sure it ever stopped. I took him into his Doctor thinking someone else could help explain to him what he was doing. After the Doctor we went to his Nurse who is a diabetic and let her try and help him with this. Now this child don't lie to me about doing it, but he don't say anything until he is caught. We have been working on teaching him how to calculate his insulin to keep his bs level when he has something extra. In doing that I have created a whole new problem. This morning he went to school like normal. And in my day of cleaning up after breakfast I find hunny bun papers hiding along with donuts crumbs. I called the school right away to check on his sugar that was normal when he woke this morning, the school Nurse in fact said his bs was very low today, before lunch it was 44. So I told the Nurse what I had found and I believed that he had giving himself extra insulin so his bs would not be 400 like it has in the past. The 11yr does not get home until 445 pm from school so when his younger brother the 8yr came in at 245pm I asked him about this morning. I can thank God that neither of these children will lie and I was told that in fact the 11yr had cereal and milk for breakfast but had a hunny bun and two donuts prior.... OMG my heart dropped. Every emotion in the world fell on me. I asked the diabetic how was his day at school and how was his bs today, this is something I do every single day he is out of my sight. So he began with "It was really low at school today and I don't know why?" I then asked about breakfast to give him the chance to tell me what had happen. He did not say a word about the sweets. I then asked him if he knew why it was so low. He said the famous "IDK" Then I asked if he had a hunny bun this morning before his breakfast. He seemed shocked that I knew but didn't lie about it. So I then asked if he changed his shot this morning. He said yes I gave myself an extra until of the cloudy so my sugar did not get high at school. I then asked about the donuts that he had, and again he said yes.
I just don't know what in the world to do to stop him from these actions. I tried taking away, putting things in place of, letting him have input and making choices, not letting any one eat things in front of him.... I don't know what else to? Someone please help me. My next step is to seek a professional for him to talk to and see if something is going on that he just don't want to talk with any of us with. I am open to all options.... I have tried everything I know and things I read and I am still at the same place. My greatest fear is his health. My Grandmother died of diabetes and maybe it puts me more on edge with this so I am seeking help everywhere.

[itgirl87]

Hello!

I agree with the doctor, hope this works, but as a diabetic person myself I can add that fighting a child is pretty useless.

I had diabetes since I was 9. I am 25 now and thanks G-d, healthy.
I went through the very same things as your boy as a child and teenager. I wanted to be like everyone else. And the truth is that you can be like everyone else. Just he shouldn't forget about diabetes, that's all.

He will eat sweets, you can't stop him. He'll eat them at school, he'll go somewhere with friends and buy them. That's what kids do. All kids.

You shouldn't encourage it just like you shouldn't encourage it in any healthy kid, you should teach him to calculate carbs correctly.
I think it's the best you can do.

Hope this helps!

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

I understand your concerns. Children of his age are often difficult to handle and it is also difficult to make them understand what cant they be like the rest of kids and have what they feel like. The best way deal with the situation is to talk to them logically without showing any signs of irritation, panic or anger. If logic fails striking a bargain would be the second option; like if they stick to their diets for the week they can have a treat for the weekend. In the event of both failing, I would suggest seeing a child psychologist after consultation with his treating doctor.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!