What are the blood glucose targets to aim for?
The general target ranges are 4–8 mmol/l before a meal and under 10mmol/l by two hours afterwards, but your paediatric diabetes team may suggest individual targets for your child. Don’t expect to achieve these targets all the time – it’s difficult to mimic the actions of a healthy pancreas exactly. But aiming for them will help your child to keep good diabetes control.
Why is it important to keep a results record?
This is really important, as it will help you see how their diabetes control is going. It will also help you and your child make decisions and adjustments between clinic visits. Plus, when you go to the clinic, the paediatric diabetes team will use your records to discuss your child’s diabetes control. There are different ways of recording your child’s blood glucose levels. Many people write the results in a blood glucose diary while others use a computer programme. Your blood glucose meter manufacturer may provide this – talk to your child’s paediatric diabetes team. It doesn’t matter which method you use; what is important is that you have a record of your child’s blood glucose levels that both you and your paediatric diabetes team can use.
Can’t I use the memory facility on the meter?
Many meters have a built-in ‘memory’ that can store recent test results. This can be more tempting (and quicker) to use than a diary. However, with a diary, you can write down – alongside the test result – what your child was doing at the time, what they ate and how they were feeling. This will give you a useful picture of what affects their blood glucose levels and will help you understand how your child’s insulin dose, food and activity levels might affect their diabetes. Also it’s really difficult to keep a lot of numbers in your head and you tend to remember only the high/low ones. This can give you a false idea of how your child’s diabetes is managed.
Sometimes my child gets a puzzling test result despite doing everything to keep good control. Why is this?
Sometimes you will get a high or low result and you won’t know why. It’s impossible to achieve perfect control and you and your child should not feel guilty about some high or low readings. Talk to your child’s healthcare team if this keeps happening.