My son was born weighing 10 pounds 14 ounces. He was huge. Now that he is 4 he is the tiniest thing(34 pounds). His doctor is ok with his growth. Needless to say I did have gestational type 2 diabetes.
My point of concern with him is that every Sunday ( and only on Sunday because he doesn't get to snack like at home or day care) we have a huge battle with him after church. It is like he is hungry but so irritable and mean we can't get him to eat. When he was 2 it started. However, for the last 2 years I have been able to coerce him into getting a sip of tea or soda, or even water, and you can visually see him "level off". From the worst fit from a child you don't recognize, to being reasonable and rational, and it is almost a complete transformation. If I can get him to start drinking something he will progress to eating something, and usually when we get that far, he will pack it in.
It has gotten to the point now, that he is so mean and irrational I have to hold his head and drop something in his mouth for him to even get a drink.
Should I consider taking him to the endocrinologist for a diagnosis? I really think it is moderate hypoglycemia. Or What should we do?
Any advice is beneficial! - Thanks, M.
Thank you for all the responses. I will send him a bag to church with snacks. I was concerned they may not give him snacks because of the other kids. I know he can't sit in the pew with us. My husband is a musician and I sing in the choir. I think if i have a talk with the director of the nursery she would help. Its a new issue for us as our daughter and oldest son didn't have these problems.
Anyway, thank you.
Try blue green algae as a supplement. It works wonders for hypoglycemia. I have a 3 year old and have been using it with her from the beginning. From the breast milk even. There is lots of study on the subject if you look it up. I buy it from Simplexity.com which used to be Celltech.com. I trust the processing they use for the algae. I open a capsule and mix it with a bit of honey.
I was diagnosed with hypogycemia during college and something that helps me is to carry around peanut butter crackers or cheese crakers or even just a bag of peanuts (the .99 ones from the gas stations). Also, at any pharmacy they do have glucose tablets that I would carry around when I was first diagnosed. Doctors told me that sugar was a 'quick' fix to get the symptoms to go away but that I needed to have protein. You could also maybe carry some small boxes of raisins to church too. And giving him a good breakfast before church like eggs or oatmeal might help too. I only suggest eggs or oatmeal because they are more filling and might help him to last longer. I notice that if I can find something to satisfy my hunger right away...the symptoms don't get bad. But I'm older and have learned the signs (shakiness, suddenly feeling hot even though you know you shouldn't be). Maybe talk to him about these signs and let him know that as soon as he feels hungry...to let you know. That way he won't get to that aggitated state. I know for me...if I let myself get to the aggitated state, then I start to feel queezy as well and therefore lose my appetite. So, he might be feeling queasy and that's why you're having trouble getting him to eat. So, I guess to sum it up...just ALWAYS keep little snacks around. He doesn't need to eat a complete meal six times a day...just needs to snack pretty often. But healthy snacks are definitely a good thing to start from the beginning. Ziploc bags of baby carrots, apple slices, etc. Also, I try to make sure that my kids (so they don't have my problem), don't have an excess of sugary foods. Like on days when I know they are going to have lots of sweets (holidays), I make sure they get a good breakfast and make sure they eat enough protein...even if it's just a peanut butter sandwhich. A nice balance is pretty much what you're looking for. Hope that helps.
It sounds like he is experiencing a blood sugar drop. I am not sure if he is hypoglycemic - does he seem to get "shakes" or "sweats" also ( I am hypoglecimic and these are things that happen to me). My best suggestion is that 4 is still young enough to have a snack at church and to bring something small for him to snack on to avoid the crash later
maybe you could try giving him a snack during church. You could give him bite size things like dry cereal or teddy grahams so there won't be such a mess. You can give it to him one at a time that way it is less noticable. Hope this helps.
J.
Bring a snack to church with you. if he sits in the pew with you, you can gve it to him there. I really don't think God will mind.
If he goes to the nursery or a Sunday school class, give the snack to his teacher, tell him/her that he has a blood sugar problem and to please give it to him. We're talking about a medical issue here, not a question of favoritism.
I would definitely take him to the doctor to get his blood sugar levels checked out. They can probably offer help with nutritional counseling, advice on what's best for him to eat, etc. It's best to get him checked when he's young so you can have the best help from early on.
I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia when I was a teenager, and saw a very big improvement in my health after my diagnosis because I got some great tips to follow, knew what to avoid eating, knew what would help me, etc.
Best wishes to you (and him) ... I hope you can get some clinical help with this. It can be managed, but I think the help from clinicians and specialists would be great for your son! Good luck!
Will he eat any healthy snacks before or during church? Does this mood and voracious eating only happen when he gets too hungry?
My sister, as a teen, was hypoglycemic, and was taken off all refined grains, could have very little whole grains. There were also several vegetables that were too high in carbohydrate to be on the okay list. She was put on a diet with lots of protein and told to eat something every few hours. Some good snacks were cheese or boiled eggs. I believe raw almonds would also qualify.
You need to have someone at church give him a snack. It sounds like his blood sugar gets too out of wack by the time you are able to give him something to eat. Or if that is not an option he needs to have a very high protein, filling breakfast before he goes to church. Such as eggs or beans and whole wheat toast. I have very sensitive blood sugar and the best thing for me is to have a very good breakfast. Cereal is NOT a good option for someone with sensitive blood sugar.
they tell us in nursing school that 4 oz of juice is the best thing to bring up low blood sugar so that's the first thing, then hard candies and pure sugar. Have you tried taking along some of those juice boxes? Does he like those? And if you're really worried about how low it is maybe you could just give him some of those candies until you guys get home to tide him by.
Is Sunday the only day he doesn't eat? I've seen my 2 1/2 year old literally go 2 full days only eating maybe 3 bites of a couple of different things total. She did drink a little fluid. My pediatrician said it was normal, as long as she didn't start losing a lot of weight. If they are hungry, they'll eat. Same as with drinks...if they get thirsty. It wouldn't hurt to address it w/the pediatrician, but if it's a sunday thing, I think it's more of an environment or schedule thing. If he eats/drinks fine @ daycare during the week, it might just be that he has an issue with the Sunday routine. Probably the more u fight w/him the more he'll resist. I've done reverse psychology w/mine and said things like " oh, this is so good" and eat a bite or take a drink out of her sippy cup. sometimes she gets jealous & says " that's mine!!!" and then she'll try some. sometimes not,though. He won't starve himself. & he'll outgrow it. Don't worry too much.
My son is the same way. Kids love to play and dont' want to stop long enough to eat. Where most adults eat when they feel the first sign of hunger--there are some kids who will put it off til they shut down in most cases. LOL! My son will go from being completely sane to being just crazy crying tired emotional. After literally a few bites he's jsut fine again.
I wouldn't worry about it. I think it's pretty normal :)
What you are describing doesn't sound like hypoglycemia to me. Even though there are mood swings involved, what you usually see with that is being tired, depressed,headache, confusing,blurred vision, nervousness, dizzy, sometimes they won't sleep alot, and they usually crave sweets.
A big baby is usually characteristic of someone with diabetes. If he is hypoglycemic, give him orange juice, that usually gets into the blood stream faster than anything. But I would think he would be more on the "sicker" non fighting side if he had hypoglycemia.
Why can he not snack during the day at daycare? That is not good especially if you think he has hypoglycemia. He should be eating more than any other kid in there. He should be eating at least every 2 hours if not sooner. If not,you are going to throw him into a diabetic coma. Just make sure that he is eating good stuff and not junk or processed foods. You should be able to carry things like veggies (you may have to steam then barely and send them in a container but can eat them without heating them), fruits (although you will probably want to go easy on them but he will probably still need some),beans are really good source because he really needs protein. Put them in a little container and have the day care heat them up about 25 seconds and let him eat them. They make cookies for diatbetics that you can buy now and that will be good too. AND DO NOT FORGET TO GIVE HIM VITAMINS!!!!!!!
That is probably the reason he fights eating is because he doesn't get to eat often: he gets out of the habit. I think it is hard to get kids to eat anyway.
But also, if you suspect that is what he has, then you need to see a dr because he may need medication to control his insulin level (especially if he isn't eating) and that could be dangerous if it isn't controlled properly. Get on the computer and look up sample meal plans or sample snacks and see what other ideas you can find for him but DO NOT LET HIM GO WITHOUT EATING. If it was my kid.... and I do this anyway.... I would feed him or at least offer it to him every hour. I do that to mine now and she isn't even diabetic.
I would definitely get my pediatricians referral to see a specialist.
And during church... I alway carry cheerios and crackers and things like that for mine to eat during church. Everybody else does too if they have little ones.
