Diabetes in children

Nutrition and good nutrition of the little ones is a topic that occupies parents since we started to include complementary feeding, the need to provide them with the best nutrients and the healthiest options becomes a daily matter and sometimes when we receive a diagnosis such as childhood diabetes we enter in check to question how to deal with this news.

The first thing to know is that there are two types of diabetes, Type 1 or insulin-dependent or type 2. Formerly type 2 diabetes was reserved mostly for adults and young people, being children excluded from this group, but as the statistics and global figures of obesity begin to fall in age range are even more children who may suffer from both types of obesity.

How do I know if my child may be diabetic?

The first signs of childhood diabetes usually appear between 5 and 7 years old, ages in which children already have a diet close to what they will eat as adults and will have a more varied diet.

Pay attention to the following indicators:

● A lot of thirst
● Frequent bathroom urges, loss of even sphincter control in a child who is already toilet trained. Count how many times he wets the bed at night.
● Extreme hunger
● Unintentional weight loss
● Fatigue
● Irritability or behavioral changes, becomes aggressive, violent, irascible.
● Fruity-smelling breath
● Cramps
● Blurred vision or very abrupt changes in their lens formula if a child who wears glasses.
● Yeast infection
● Nausea and vomiting.

Upon evidencing any of these symptoms, you should go to the doctor who will indicate certain tests to identify the type of diabetes and with this proceed with medication and changes in their nutrition and life routine.

Together you will go through this process in which you will have to learn to count portions, quantities of carbohydrates and to recognize when there is low insulin or vice versa. This way they will know when to administer the doses of injected insulin or activate the insulin pump if your child is insulin-dependent, otherwise, it can be controlled with diet and exercise.

It is essential to have psychological help because it is a very hard change in their life process, they will have food limitations that may make them feel like an outcast in their group of friends who may consume certain sweets and foods that are forbidden for your child. Remember to be patient and make him see that this condition is not defining and does not make him less special than the rest, it is simply something he has to learn to live with and that in the end every nutritional decision you make is to make him feel much better, healthier and active.

If at any time you feel or perceive that your child is being bullied and that is why he is socializing through forbidden foods, you will have the option to consult the psychologist and school counselor to protect him and help him understand that what he has is not 'bad'.

At the same time, you should inform his teachers and the school that your child lives with diabetes, so that they know what to do in case of an emergency, avoiding malpractices that can complicate either a hyperglycemia or a hypoglycemia episode. The school can also provide support with physical education or sports classes to encourage movement and avoid sedentary lifestyles.

Finally, the support he receives at home, from his parents and siblings, is an integral part of his diet, so that everyone is part of the routine and leads by example so that your child feels comfortable and not excluded. Parents with healthy nutrition raise children with better eating habits.