Type 1 Diabetes (Insulin Dependent)

To check your T1 child or not to check, in the middle of the night? That is the question…..

Here is a debate among parents that always gets into heated arguments.

Although parents as well as endocrinologist seem split on this controversial issue, it seems that whether you do or you don't; everyone will have their own reasons.

I myself do not judge other T 1 parents.

I started a thread on one of the DOC (Diabetes online community) that I am with, it started such a heated argument and it started to get ugly among people. The question and all answers were pulled and even some people left the group for being bullied as we say from other parents. Because of their choice either to check or not to check in the middle of the early morning hours.

So; I took a poll on my face book page and these are some of the responses that I received. I also went to another DOC site and asked in a different way. That one was much calmer as well as professional among parents.

We Check:

Jamie: Because the lack of sleep is far less of a sacrifice than my daughter’s life. Unexpected lows can happen anytime and it only takes ONE.

Missy:  For the safety and health of my child I will always check him through the night. You can never be too careful with the safety of your child!

Randy: After having to deal with Amanda being diagnosed at 3 through DKA and spending 5 days in the ICU and then another 5 days in the hospital, I will do everything I can to keep her safe. Amanda is now 7 and we are very proud of her she's been checking her own blood since about 3 ½. Paula and I have told her doctor that we will never stop checking her at night

Lori: Every two hours since the night we came home from the hospital!!! Two and a half years later!! We have caught many highs and some scary lows!!! These bags under my eyes are worth keeping my boy safe!!! I joke that I will be knocking in his bedroom door when he is married and still be checking him!!

Dina: I check my son because my doctor has always told me to. I remember when my son was first dx'd I didn't know why we didn't, they didn't explain it, they just told us to do it. A couple weeks after DX I asked why do we test test at 2am ? His responds was because you have to, he was real with me he said their sugar can drop dangerously low because lantis is peaking (his long acting insulin) or it could not be working and he can go dangerously high. He must be checked and since he was the one with a Harvard degree and the head endo at University of Michigan I knew he knew what he was talking about. If this is what he wanted me to do that's what we're gonna do to protect our son.

Dawn:  We check our son at night to ensure his sugar levels aren't doing something unexpected. Hypoglycemia scares me, and even moreso at night. The thought "he will wake up if he is low" is a pipe dream. 4 years into his diagnosis, he has only woken up a handful of times when he was low. We check his sugar at midnight and 3am almost always, and sometimes 5am, depending on how we feel about what he had for snack, and how we feel his pump settings are working (as well as any activity he had, illnesses, etc)

Jesica:  I check at night because my daughter has never been able to wake up on her own at night when a low hits (not once in over two years). So we check, and we have caught many lows that were hard to arouse her to correct it. I figure doing my job as her mother and keeping her safe and healthy to the best of my ability outweighs my sleep or being tired. I can tell you that I will never regret checking her at night. I can't say that I will never have regrets if I do not check her at night and never want to find out the hard way. That being said, it is a very personal, individualized opinion/need; and those who check are passionate about it and those who do not are passionate about their stance.

We don’t:

Mary: Sherry, I don't check Mason every night anymore. He was dx at age 5 and started pumping at age 6. We used to check every night but stopped. He reached a certain age where he did not want me coming into his room at night. I finally agreed because I never caught a serious nighttime low. He wakes up when he is low and tests/treats himself. He is 17 and a senior in high school now. I only do night checks if his numbers have been really weird or if he is sick. I've received some harsh words from other DOC members for not doing it but my kid has been dealing with D for years and at some point we decided to respect his decision

Kelly: We don't always check but she is on a CGM with the My Sentry that I do wake up and look at every night and go from there.

Jennifer: We don't check if Leah is above 180. After checking every night for a year and a half she only had midnight lows if she didnt't have a snack with long lasting carbs. But call it diabetic moms intuition, there are still nights I will check her on a whim. Hope this helps you.

Katrina: I do not test my daughter on a good day because I feel that her numbers are steady enough and she is not active during that time nor eating carbohydrates and as long as her basal rate is correct then she wakes up around the same number that she went to bed. I personally feel comfortable not checking her most nights. We have been having lows lately though so I have been checking at night but for that reason only because we are adjusting rates, once that is situated I will go back to getting a full night sleep again

Cami: Sherry, I think some people got pretty upset when the question became a debate and some people got ugly or judgmental. Might be good to mention for people to be kind with their responses and only mention what works best for themselves. That being said, we are the same as Katrina. Our endo advised that we only test overnight if he is having trouble or if he is sick. We also had to test overnight when we started the pump or if we make some drastic overnight setting changes and need to see if they work. :)

Becky: I don't test Morgan at night unless SHE asks(80% of the checks are her asking) or unless I see that she has completed a ton of intense sports a few hours before bedtime and I am worried(gut feeling?).

Paula: We don't ck at night for many reasons. One is because her trusted endo said not to. Another is because I think it's important to not stress my daughter out with checking 24/7. She is 14 and I think it's more important for her to feel safe in her bed at night and to get a good nights sleep so she can function her best the next day. We are lucky that she feels her lows even in her sleep. She keeps a juice by her bed always just in case. If she were younger or never felt lows then I probably would check. Each D parent has to make their on tough decisions about this. This is what works for us. And a lot of prayers. I do however ck if their is a change in her settings or if she is sick or if she has had crazy highs/lows that day.

The loss of a child to Type 1 diabetes:

Jen: I don’t think I will post on this thread. Hard to not think "If I had checked him last night; he might still be here.

Here is a post by Diabetesdad Tom Karlya the V.P. of the Diabetes Research Institute. Go to   www.diabetesdad.org. And then scroll down until you see…My Child, When Low….Will Wake up…..Right? Um…..Not Necessarily. And then two above that is the second half to it.. I Would Not Tell You What To Do….no…No…NO!

This is a subject that will constantly get the T1 moms/families going. To say one is wrong for not checking in the middle of the night or one is right for checking is not for me to decide. Everyone knows what diabetes does to their child and for me or anyone else to say someone is doing something wrong is just not right. We have been at this for almost three years. Deven suffers from Hypoglycemia unawareness and yes, that is why we check. Would we check if he didn’t? Yes, we have and we would. But that is our decision and no one else’s, doesn’t mean we are wrong but doesn’t mean that we are right either. It’s just our CHOICE; AND THAT IS IT.

I want to thank everyone from the T1 community on line and my friends who have helped me with this ongoing question. I appreciate all of your honesty. And I will leave you all with this:

Children with type 1 diabetes are often as unique as the individuals themselves. Even though Diabetes care is the same, the child with Diabetes is not.

So we ask that you do not judge us, just try to understand the life that our children and we now live.