Type 1 Diabetes and the Art of Parenting...

Hi all,

After reading this article called Tiger Mother Approach for a Child with Type 1 Diabetes, has got me curious again about the possibility of being a mother... and so a discussion!

Shall start with some questions:

~How were you treated as a diabetic child?
~How have you found it being a diabetic parent?
~Are you a situation where you are a diabetic parent with a diabetic child?

I have only been a Type 1 Diabetic child with non-diabetic parents (for most of my time as a diabetic - Dad was diagnosed with Type 2 last year).

My parents were (understandably) over protective of their child and fearful of the condition I had. Once I was diagnosed at the age of 5 in 1989, they found it difficult to understand at first (they thought it was a passing phase... the honeymooning period was not helpful with moving on with this misunderstanding) and so when I attended birthday parties and the like, they would advise me to not eat anything out of fear that I would respond badly.

This naturally lead me on to become a fearful child (according to my parents, I became very very very withdrawn - an extreme contrast to what I was like pre-diabetes) and with no other diabetics nearby to really relate to, it never really changed. It took until DAFNE about 21 years later before I pursued dreams such as (simply) riding a motorbike or driving a car - all because of my lack of confidence and, I guess to an extent, "fear of living".

Despite this, I have never ever been resentful to my parents because of how I was bought up. They did the best they could.

So to come back to the topic of parenting...

I have been put off for many years (as part of the fear condition), but I know that if say, my partner and I decided to have children, I would put aside my fears. Now I have DAFNE, if I was ever to become a Type 1 Diabetic's parent, I would encourage them to try foods and don't let the condition take away their dreams.

I would love to hear your memories and thoughts on this subject - and inspiration for others!
I know we have some expecting Mums on the forum!

Hi

I am T1 and my daughter (who is 14) is T1 also. We have both been diagnosed in the last seven years (me first then my daughter four years later) so do not know how diabetes was treated prior to this. We are both on multi injections and my daughter is starting on a pump next month.

We have always counted our carbs and injected accordingly so we've not had the guilt trips described in the article. My daughter was diagnosed with a peanut allergy when she was three so we have always had to check packets etc anyway.

If there's anything you want to know please ask.

Caroline

For me, there was not much parenting going on........I was 15 when I was diagnosed and had moved in with my girlfriend shortly after, so from then on it was purely down to me.........looking back, now split from said partner, I probably regret leaving home so early as my parent(s) would have done a better job at motivating me with my condition, more so as they had experience with my younger brother who was diagnosed at 2 years old, bless him.........

I now have a son and I know its very possible he may one day be struck down with Type 1, but I m prepared for it as i know I can give him the best start and teach him all he needs to know, basically all thanks to DAFNE, just simple education....

To you JWo, I would say, have children whenever you want, the risks are there, for both you and the baby, but there are risks with every pregnancy, so when the time is right, go for it..........

Thanks for your posts, I think this is a great subject to talk about... even though it can be a touch sensitive.

It can be quite sad how life works out when it comes to having the condition. I've never really had any one to relate to so I'm glad your daughter has you caroline15. Your post does remind me of all the times when I wasn't feeling very well my Mom would say to me "I'd give anything to take it away from you." ... even now, I don't think I'd be prepared to give it to either of my parents.

Fascinating video interviewing 4 families that have a Type 1 Diabetic child

One of the questions: What sort of memories do you have of your first day of diagnosis?

All I remember is my Mom getting me into the car and driving me to the hospital. For some reason me looking out the window at the sky particularly stands out in my memories.
Not long after my diagnosis, my Mom bought me a regular can of coke and at the time, I became very sick. For years I thought it was because of the coke - turned out I had a stomach bug!

It's funny you say about the "I'd give anything to take it away from you". I thought I'd done that - when Amy was four I was diagnosed with MS and when she was seven I was diagnosed with T1 - I was grateful that it was me that got something wrong and not Amy (she is my only child). Unfortunately it didn't stay that way and she was diagnosed with T1 at age 11. At least we both know what a hypo feels like, so we can empathise with each other and she helps with finding fast acting carbs

On the memories of first day of diagnosis, I took Amy to the hospital after school for a blood test (having already got the form from my GP as she'd started having wetting problems) and to reward her for being brave about the big needle I bought her a big bar of galaxy on the way home (what an idiot!). We were eating our tea when we got a phone call telling us to go straight to the children's ward. I can't believe that I didn't realise she was diabetic.