Low Blood Sugar in Children

Having a child with low blood sugar issues can be a tough thing to deal with as a parent. It takes vigilance and an ever-ready eye for symptoms to help your child through a frustrating and demoralizing condition. Learning how to treat your child's condition, and passing that knowledge onto the child so that they can deal with it into adulthood, is every good parent's responsibility.

Hypoglycemia

• Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is a common issue for children who have type one diabetes. Hypoglycemia occurs when blood glucose levels in the blood drops below what is normal for a child's weight and age.

Causes

• Glucose levels usually drop after a meal, especially after meals rich in carbohydrates. The carbohydrates in these meals go into the bloodstream, where insulin, a naturally occurring hormone in the body, helps use the glucose as a source of energy. When glucose levels in the body fall, glucagon, another hormone, tells the liver to break down glycogen to produce more glucose, so that the body does not become weak.

Who's at Risk

• When diabetes is treated with insulin, as it is with type one diabetes, the body becomes confused. Insulin shots can inhibit glucose levels in the body from returning to a normal state, causing low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia usually does not occur in children under 10 naturally, but when medicines are used to treat diabetes, it can become a reality.

Symptoms

• Symptoms of low blood sugar in your child are varied, and can be quite terrifying when they first occur. The first warning signals seem quite ordinary; the child will complain that they feel hungry, or have a headache. The child will likely become very irritable as well. If these symptoms are unchecked, further, more serious symptoms, can be quite scary. The child may begin to get a bit shaky on their feet. The child may become nervous and unpredictable. The skin may become cold, or clammy to the touch, sometimes taking on a grey color. The child may complain of blurred vision, lack of energy or weakness, and a pounding heart.

  Your child will probably develop his own set of symptoms, probably combining one or two or the previously mentioned complications. These symptoms can be pretty scary for the untrained parent, but knowing how to deal with hypoglycemia in your child will calm you in these extreme situations.

Low Blood Sugar Reading

• Before doing anything else, if the tools are available, check your child's blood sugar. A reading lower than 4 mmol/l or 72 mg/dl, in children around from the age of 9 into their teens, or below 6 mmol/l or 110 mg/dl in children younger than 9, along with low blood sugar symptoms, confirms hypoglycemia.

Raising Blood Sugar

• To raise your child's blood sugar, give her something with a quick release, or simple, sugar. Milk, unsweetened juice and soft drinks are a good way to raise blood sugar. You should only give your child between 10 and 15 grams of carbohydrates to help alleviate hypoglycemia. Any more and you may risk spiking glucose levels again.

Waiting

• It will take a short while for the sugar to take effect, so relax. Do not allow your child to eat anything even though he may feel hungry. Once 10 to 15 minutes have passed, test your child's blood sugar once more. If the blood sugar has not raised, feed the child another 10-15 grams of carbohydrates.