Fasting a 6 month old :-(

[SalyCinnamon]

I'm not really sure where to post this..

ds is almost 6 months old, he has (or had) hyperinsulinism, which is basically where the pancreas produces too much insulin causing hyperglycaemia.

He spend 3 weeks in the NICU and, thanks to the amazing doctors, he was made well enough to come home. When he first came home we were testing his blood sugar levels 3 times daily with one of those pens that are usually used for diabetics to draw a very small amount of blood.

He is under a very specialist endocrine team and with regular visits and weekly phone calls we have stopped all of his medicine, mainly his diazoxide which blocked the pancreas from producing the insulin and we only test his blood sugar once a day now.

He is doing great and all of the doctors are 99% certain that his pancreas has stopped over producing and that he is normal now, however they have asked us to take him to hospital for a fast.

The fast will only last 6 hours and he had one before he was allowed to leave the NICU (he was still on the medicine at this point) and he was fine.

I'm really worried, the longest he has gone without a feed is 3 hours, they will also need to put a cannula in his foot to allow them to test his blood hourly (and have easy access should he need emergency dextrose) he was in hourly blood tests in the NICU and he never cried when they put cannulas in.

The trouble is he is now a very strong almost 6 month old and has forgotten all of that, I think it's going to be really distressing for him.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to make it easier? We are going to take all of his favourite toys, but other than that we have no real plan. I'm not sleeping worrying about it, it's going to be on Tuesday and I just want it over with!

I feel for you, having a tiny baby in hospital is horrible.

Now try to think positive. They are experts, so the cannula will be placed quickly and it won't bother him. Six hours without food sounds tough but you'll get through it. Maybe try to help him to sleep for some of the time (would that be possible?) and distract him with loads of noisy, fun toys the rest of the time.

He has been pretty bad with his sleep recently and usually wakes around 4am very awake and thinking its time to get up, so on Tuesday I may just let him get up at 4 and then have a long nap during the fast- hopefully!

Your post has helped though, he is feeding to sleep at the minute but over the next couple of days I might try to replace the feeding with rocking for the time being.

Thank you

Try not to worry, they will stop the fast if the blood sugars drop below 3.5 or maybe 4. Try & remember why they are doing it; which is the for the safety of your LO to make sure they can sleep over night without the blood sugars dropping.

If you are under GOS, then I think I know the team & ward you are under & they really know their stuff.

My son is older & had a 18 hr fast to see how low his blood sugars go & they start it at night so most of it was done.

He lasted to 12hrs, but means we don't have to wake him at night unless he is poorly.

He does not have hyperinsulism but was suspected for a while & is under the same team that care for children with it.

He has another condition & has an overnight stay coming up for 24hr blood sugar profile.

Pm me if you want to, it is horrible when they have been ill & are now better as it feels like you are taking a step backwards.

But it's better to get it all sorted & to take the amazing care from the team (even if it is not the same one I am thinking about).

Ps. Pack a new toy to bring out half way through or a few favourites & try & get them to start it with a nap due -

Theboxtrolls- thankyou so much for your post, it's really nice to hear from someone who has/is going through similar, although I'm sorry you're going through this too.

We are actually under the care of NORCHI, they are fabulous, I cannot say enough about the amazing care both me and DS have got from them, they have said they will judge the sugars more by the size of the drop and not necessarily the actual sugar (although they won't allow it to go below around 3.2)

I think you're right, it feels like a step back, and that's why I'm so upset about it, all of the feelings from the NICU are coming back.

You're also right that I need to keep in mind that it is absolutely worth it to make sure he will be okay if (by some miracle) he ever sleeps through the night.

Thank you so much for posting, it's really helped hearing from someone with more knowledge/experience with this than me.

Not the same but before ds has had general anasthetics he's had to fast. I found that he was much easier at 20 months-where distraction worked and he didn't even seem to notice I hadn't fed him, compared to 3.6yo when he stormed into the hospital and declared that "mummy is trying to starve me to death, she won't feed me"

Can you give him water? If you can you can probably distract him a certain amount with that.

I agree with a new toy or two that will distract, plus any he needs for comfort.

How worrying for you, however can you find out from the hospital what provision they have? I was staggered when I had to take a DC into our local hospital on the childrens ward. There was a dedicated nurse who was a play leader and there were all range of toys, videos, playstations and activities for every age from tiny to 17 and every level of 'illness'.