Kids with diabetes are the ones getting blood tests and insulin
injections, but they can be a challenge for parents, too.
Your child's diabetes health
care team will help you both learn to manage the disease and minimize the pain
and anxiety surrounding injections and blood tests. The team also may tell you about
testing technologies and medicines that offer the most convenience and least discomfort.
Together, you and the diabetes health care team can find the most comfortable solutions
available.
Dealing With Feelings
When kids are very young, blood tests and injections can be especially difficult.
A parent needs to enforce diabetes management, which can include regular testing and
giving shots to a child who cries, resists, and gets angry.
Learning how to manage diabetes is a process. Even if your child has been cooperating
with blood tests and injections for a while, a new fear or emotional issue may crop
up that could make a test or shot difficult.
To help manage feelings about diabetes, including anger, frustration, and fear
about testing and injections, let your child know that it's OK to be worried about
or dislike the shot or test. Talk openly about these fears. Kids need to be able to
express their frustration and know that it's OK to be upset.
It also can help to describe the need for injections and blood testing in kid terms.
For example, you might explain that the shots and blood tests help keep your child feeling
good throughout the day — and that not getting them could mean having to stay
home from school or miss fun activities because of diabetes problems.
Treating tests and shots in the same matter-of-fact way that you would treat any
other part of the daily routine also might help. And many kids like to have a sense
of ownership and control of diabetes. Instead of feeling like victims of the tests
and injections, they'll feel more in charge of their own health.
Young kids might select a needle, read the glucose
meter test result aloud, choose the spot or finger for testing, or press the plunger
on the syringe. Encourage your child to take more control gradually as age allows
— eventually, kids are ready to handle testing and injections on their own (although
parents should continue to supervise).
If your child argues or cries, you might be tempted to skip an injection or test
just this once. But you shouldn't negotiate blood tests or shots. They're necessary
and not optional. The first time you're talked out of one, you'll set a precedent
that your child won't forget.
Sometimes, you'll need to just do the injection or test, even if your child is
upset and uncooperative. Afterward, you might reward yourselves with something fun
like playing a game or reading, and then talk to your child about why he or she was
so upset.
If your child is especially fearful of injections and every test or shot is a battle,
your doctor or a counselor or mental health professional can help you address this.
Having both parents (or one parent plus another caregiver) involved in the diabetes
management process will help keep treatment consistent and also provide support
as you deal with struggles over shots and blood tests.