My 21 month old son is newly diagnosed with T1. Our planned daycare option has backed out on us now. Does anyone have any suggestions of either questions to ask potential caretakers or hints on ways to educate caretakers?
I would contact your local JDRF and see if they have any listings for daycare providers that are up to date on dealing with diabetes. we live in a very small town and I was able to go in and train everyone myself. the advantage that I had though was that I had already been a T1 for about 28 years at the time of Courtneys diagnosis. It was a real struggle the first month or so but I made sure the daycare providers called me with any issues or questions. And If they made a mistake like not checking her blood sugar or checking after she ate, I didn't get upset I just kindly "reminded" them of what needed to be done. i do beleive that any daycare that gets federal funding CANNOT refuse your son. That is against federal laws and they can be sued!! Might want to check that out.
For me I found that nicely typed up notes with pointers for meals and blood checks and keeping myself and my husband cell phone available at all times really helped with daycare. It has been over a year now and they still call on the rare occasion that they aren't sure about the carbs. i did also give them a Calorie King book to keep there to count her carbs. Oh, and another big thing we faced was just getting people to realize that diabetes care is not like it used to be in the 80's when i was diagnosed. Once I got the providers to understand that Courntey can eat what everyone else is that they just need to count her carbs and program it into her pump all was well. I did have to keep reminding myself though that this is all new to them. Although it wasn't knew to me when Courtney was diagnosed it was new to my husband. I try to think of how overwheling it must be when you know nothing about it and knowing you are caring for someone else's kid. I try to be as laid back about it as possible and try not to get the daycare workers all overwhelmed by it. Good luck!
My 2 year old was in preschool when diagnosed and after he went back to school I went for the first 2 weeks and thought his teachers everything they need to know. They have been wonderful. He is the only one in the preschool with T1. the preschools around here are actually going to be training teachers on how to care for children with diabetes. Contact the local chapter and ask if they have any suggestions. Best of luck to you and your family.
Aaron,
Have you had any luck finding a daycare provider for your child? My daughter is 19 months old and we just diagnosed as well. We want to think of all options for daycare, but I don't even know where to begin to look.
Tracy
I guess I was really lucky. My daughter was 9 when she was dx (8/22/08). I called her daycare that same day to see if she could come up for training, but she was on her way to a funeral. However, she said that she would do anything she had to, in order to keep Hannah still. Hannah has been going to her since she was 20 months old. I feel truely blessed that Ginny would do what it takes. She went out as soon as she got home and got stuff for Hannah in case she has lows while in daycare that is only for Hannah, none of the other kids, so that she always has it on hand. She also got the Calorie King book to keep there for to use, so that we don't have to drag it back and forth (even though it is always in Hannah's "kit" she carries with her). She has already said when we go on the pump, that she will go to the training class, and when I offered to pay for her time at the class, she told me I was being "crazy". She treats all of her kids like they were her own, and said that having Hannah as long as she has, she is going to do what it takes to take proper care of her, she dosen't want to lose her as one of her "kids" yet!
Anyways, one of the recommendations I would ask, is ask your endo if she has any patients in the area that are in daycare, or if they know of anyone that does daycare for T1 kids. I wish you were in this area! I would recommend my daycare in a hearbeat! My 17 year old niece also babysits, and I have all the people in our support group asking for her to babysit.