Health Tip: If Your Diabetic Child Gets Sick

What to do when another illness strikes

July 31, 2009 RSS Feed Print

(HealthDay News) -- Managing your child's diabetes is challenging enough, but it's compounded when the youngster becomes sick from something else.

The American Diabetes Association offers these suggestions:

Don't stop giving your child insulin, even if the youngster doesn't have much of an appetite. Call the child's doctor if you're not sure about how to administer insulin during a sick day.
Try not to make major changes to your child's diet. For a child with an upset tummy, offer liquids with carbohydrates, including broth, gelatin, sports drinks, fruit juice and frozen fruit bars.
Make sure your child drinks plenty of water. Avoid any beverage with caffeine.
Check with the doctor before giving any over-the-counter medication. Many drugs have sugar and/or alcohol that can affect your child's blood glucose levels.
It's critical to carefully monitor your child's blood glucose and ketone levels during an illness, so make sure you check the blood every few hours and urine several times daily.