Your child needs to know when his or her blood sugar level is outside the target range. Fortunately, your child's blood sugar level can be checked anywhere and anytime by using a home blood sugar (glucose) meter. Blood sugar meters give results quickly.
Knowing your child's blood sugar level helps you treat low or high blood sugar before it becomes an emergency. It also helps you know how exercise and food affect your child's blood sugar and how much short-acting insulin to give (if your child takes insulin).
Here is a simple way to get started monitoring your child's blood sugar at home. Use these same steps to help your child learn this task.
Before you start testing your child's blood sugar:
When you test your child's blood sugar, you will know more about how well his or her treatment is keeping blood sugar within a target range.
Follow these steps when you test your child's blood sugar:
Recording your child's blood sugar results is very important. The doctor will use your child's record to see how often blood sugar levels have been in a target range and to determine if your child's insulin dose or other diabetes medicine needs to be adjusted. This information lets you and your doctor know how your child's medicine, food, and activity are affecting your child's blood sugar. Be sure to take your child's record with you on each visit to the doctor or diabetes educator.
To record your child's results, you can:
The more often your child's blood sugar is tested, the more likely it is your child will have sore fingertips. Here are some suggestions to help reduce this pain.
Current as of: July 28, 2021
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:John Pope MD - Pediatrics & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine & Stephen LaFranchi MD - Pediatrics, Pediatric Endocrinology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content.
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