When can i stop checking my kid overnight, we all need sleep

Parents
21

I guess I am just reacting to an endo with the “dead in bed” speech…not cool. sure puts a good scare on you as a parent, right? … In my opinion, based on several years experience, some combo of tech, careful observations of activity, and observations of trends are all part of this - with really no completely “right” answer.

Please please please don’t take this the wrong way. you know what’s best for your child and, as a Dad myself, I know in my heart what you’d be willing to do to protect your kid.

When I was diagnosed, we didn’t have CGM. We didn’t have home blood glucose meters. we had a test tube you peed in, and used a chemical reaction to tell you if your blood sugar was unknown, high or crazy high 2 hours ago. @Dennis used to get his blood sugar checked, at the doctor’s office, every 6 months.

During these dark ages and renaissance of diabetes care, we ate peanut butter and crackers at night - the reason? the fat allowed the carbs to slowly absorb for practically the whole night. It’s a poor man’s “glucerna”, many years before it existed.

Most of us have a hypoglycemic awareness, that is, when my blood sugar gets low, my body releases adrenaline and I wake up. Yes, I would in fact be dead today if that were not true. This is practically the same as when you sleep on your arm funny, and you wake up with a numb arm, the body protects itself, in this case, when blood flow is interrupted, to wake you up. I am not saying you should fly by the seat of your pants the way I did 40 years ago, by all means you have got to be comfortable with whatever you are doing. I am just saying that it is possible to sleep, and also when you are less dependent on tech, you develop a awareness and your own set of senses. I am also an engineer and a controls expert… I can say with great confidence that all tech have failure points, so complete dependence, and in some cases overconfidence in a CGM saying “yer all good!” may also be a mistake.

I still think it was the endo thing that made me react. sorry for the ramble.

22

Hi. We will be at our 1st diaversary on Saturday. My daughter is now 10. She is against technology. Our Endo only has us doing the middle of the night checks when there has been a change to her sliding scale for her injections. We do it for 3 days. Now, people do not yell at me, I am scared too, I cry EVERY day, I read these stories and I swear a little piece of me dies each story I read. My daughter is really good about the lows, she can “feel” them coming on. Knock on wood, she is not a brittle diabetic and the lowest her sugar has gone is into the 40’s once and that was the middle of the day. All that being said, yes, I am scared and it is better to check than “dead in bed”… I have tried to check her myself without her knowing and she wakes up… she is awful in the morning and that is with her sleep… so we let her sleep like I said except for when there has been a change in her prescription. I think bottom line, we have to do what works for your child and your family. I wish this were a black and white disease, if it does this, you do this, if it does that, you do that… but what she eats today does one thing and she can eat the exact same thing the next day with different numbers…it makes no sense. I have a Dexcom G6, just waiting and praying she will let me put it on her. I have already told her, when it comes time to drive, she has to have one and probably a pump at that point too. It is just constant battle. Good luck to you.

23

Hi Kathleen @Katsumcat , to me it sounds as if you are doing something right, well many things right in raising your daughter and helping her live life fully with diabetes.

It appears to me as if you have helped her, with her doctor’s guidance and advice, find that delicate balance of food, activity and insulin.
Your sensitivity and concern for her well-being is evident in your words but your daughter may be stronger than you think. My parents and siblings, I was fourth of eight, and were told “the dire prognosis” when I was diagnosed with diabetes in the mid 1950’s [I was never expected to live to adulthood - hence “juvenile diabetes” designation] but no one ever told that to me so I just carried on like everyone else - except for my insulin injections. Much later in life, my mother and siblings shared the “grief” they held back from me. What I suggest, worry much but try not to let your daughter know - it might add to what she is feeling on her own.

As far as night-time BG Checks - during my first 30 years there wasn’t any reliable home ‘blood sugar’ testing methods - and I’ve only begun checking my BGL during the night in the last 5 years. Certainly I went very low during some nights, I could feel that in the morning, but I lived and I’v had a very good, active and productive life.
Her Dexcom monitor will be a blessing - and also, until you become accustomed, another “keep you awake” worry. I really like my G5 and appreciate it awakening me as I am heading down at 2 mg/dl or if I get down to 80 [my settings]. Make the settings on her G6 fitting for her body and your tolerance.

24

I was diagnosed when I was 13. This was before CGMs were available. My mom woke me up almost every night at 3AM for about a year. I finally had to tell her to stop. I have always just naturally woken up when my blood sugar gets low. Going on 25 years now, and I’ve always woken up, and have never needed glucagon or been to the ER for a low blood sugar. I’ve argued with doctors about this, but I believe this is a skill anyone can learn (even kids). It isn’t as important as it was in the days before CGM’s, but it’s still a good thing to teach kids to recognize when their blood sugars are low.

25

Consider a CGM. That’ll help. I’m a single T1D x45yr, live alone and very active. I got a CGM which my 23yr old son asked to be put on the alerts messaging. It works well to alert and even with his busy life it’s helped him feel more secure from afar.

26

I live alone, so there is nobody waking me up in the middle of the night to check my bg. Now that I have my G6, I have a “low” set at 80, giving me enough time to respond to an alarm (I try NEVER to turn off a LOW alarm). I ignore HIGH alarms at night. I’ll get to it later, but I’ll sleep through the night without a major crisis. (I raised the HIGH alarm to 220. Screw it!) I’ve been able to sleep through the last two weeks without the alarms going off. Yay! Do I worry? Yep. That’s the nature of those of us with T1D. But the CGM has made it more tolerable.