Parents of children with diabetes share a common fear–our children not waking up when their blood sugar is low. For some of us, our children are able to sleep through low blood sugars that mom and dad are alerted for. In my case, my son was even able to sleep through me feeding him glucose to bring him back into a safe range.
When my son goes to visit his father over 500 miles away, the fear of him not waking up when his blood sugar drops at night and no one noticing becomes even greater. After one trip, that fear was somewhat relieved.
My son got off of the plane, stumbled towards me and yawned. He had had to be up at 6 am and for a teen who likes to sleep until noon, this was just way too early!
After our initial chatter he turned to me and said “You will be happy to know that I now wake up from my lows.”
“You mean you woke up more than once?”
“Yeah, I wake up feeling starved. I hate it. It messes with my sleep.”
“Waking up when you are low is a good thing. The alternative is not waking up!”
“I know but it wrecks my sleep. I would rather have uninterrupted sleep.”
“That is not an option. Waking up is a great thing. I hope you continue it!”
“Sleep is a good thing. I would really rather just keep sleeping. That would be great.”
I shook my head and attempted to explain that eternal sleep was not an ideal. My son grumbled some more. He is not nearly as enthused as his mother is. He understands my relief but it is yet another glitch in his life thanks to Diabetes. That is not at all welcome.
You can read more about waking from a low blood sugar and treating in the post Will My Child Wake-up for a Low Blood Sugar.
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Ah, the teenage brain.