Blood sugar levels in childrem

[ktmummy1]

My dd1 is 3. I have had some concerns about her recently which include; sudden behaviour change-become really difficult to handle, hitting me, pulling my hair, etc etc-good as gold at nursery though. Also she's had some eye crossing/unfocused look in her eyes. She's a thin child but eats an average amount I would say . She drinks loads.

Anyway, tonight I decided to test her blood sugar after going to the doctor last week who was v dismissive.

I had a blood sugar testing kit after having gestational diabetes in my pregnancy with her.

So I Did the test and the reading was 4.9 at bedtime. This was about an hour after eating two fish fingers, a smiley face(potato thing) a petit filous and a cup of milk. I know this is low and therefore not indicative of diabetes but is this too low? I took her a banana and she are a quarter of it.

Between 4 & 7 is normal for children after meals - but some children can be symptomatic of low blood sugar above 4.

These children may just have a fast metabolism, sometimes referred to as accelerated starvation - where the body acts hypoglycaemic but on testing the BM's are not actually below 4. These children/adults need to eat regularly & often need a snack before bed & can be very irritable/difficult when hungry.

However there is also a medical condition that mean children's blood sugars drop below 4 & they need food/special drink to get them back up - although quite rare it can be picked up at birth/newborn stage or there is a type that can appear later in childhood if it is the transient type. The main difference is the hypoglycaemia symptoms are usually matched with a BM reading of below 4 or for some 3.5.

However - The most interesting time to test is when displaying symptoms as sometimes high blood sugar can make similar symptoms as low & if they are normal then you can think about other triggers/causes for this behaviour. Also I would test on waking - before eating/drinking anything as that will see if she is low after a long time of not eating.

Your monitor may not be accurate after a long time of no use & it is not nice for a child to have it done so maybe only take the fasting one on waking tomorrow & use it if you are worried/she is showing symptoms you are worried about. Then see your GP -

Final wisdom - trust your instinct & if you feel your LO does react to food/hunger/sugar etc just keep a bit of a diary & then see the GP.

PM if you would like more information -

Thank you so much for all this useful information. I am reluctant to test dd again as she was pretty upset after and didn't really understand why Is hurt her foot (I did a heel prick rather than finger). As her behaviour is so difficult, I don't want to repeat the test and cause her to be even more difficult with me than she already is. I did it as a one off to rule out diabetes and she was exhibiting symptoms eg v difficult saying she's hungry despite eating, crying etc etc.

I am pleased to hear that 4.9 is within the average range for a child after eating.

I am already keeping a diary of her behaviour and adding in sleep problems, hunger etc. hoping I'll find some sort of pattern to it soon.

Thanks again for your help.

If you do test again do it on the side of the finger tip/pad -

Will hurt less - just make sure she has clean dry hands & you do as well, as can get fake highs if you have substance on your hands.