Good BG for a 6 year old

[littlebuddy]

I'm a kindy teacher in Taiwan and I have a diabetic boy in my class. I was speaking with his mother last week about his diabetes and she is having a tough time controling it. He's rarely in what I call the target range of 70-130 mg/dl. In addition he has about 4 hypo's a week along with just a many hyper's. This morning she brought him in and she spoke to his doctor over the weekend. His doctor said that anything within 100-200 mg/dl is acceptable for a 6 year old because he is still growing.

Correct me if I am wrong but I always thought that 70-130mg/dl is the target range for everyone regardless of age. A little insight into this would be much appreciated.

littlebuddy

[Funnygrl]

I know some doctors let their kids run higher because lows can be hard to ssense and recover from for some kids, so it is safer to run higher. I still wouldn't want to run up to 200. Maybe 150 or 160. Honestly, not to be a pessimist, but 70-130 is very hard to stay in.

[nantomsuethom]

Thomas' bgs are very similar to the 6 yr. old in your class. He had several hypers a week and has a few hypos. He rarely has 3 perfect days.

Most of the crazy bgs are on the weekend or at night if he has a snack after dinner.

His endo told me that he will rollercoaster for the next few years due to growing and hormone changes, so I don't stress anymore.

[Erin]

Ditto what everybody else said. When I was diagnosed when i was 8 years old doc wanted me between 100 and 180, I think with an even YOUNGER child 200 would be acceptable. It's hard for kids to feel when they're going hypo, and even harder for them to express what's going on, so it's much safer for them to run a bit high. Not to mention the fact that kids are often finicky eaters and sometimes become very active without much warning. Both of those things could cause some nasty hypo's if the child was trying to stay in your target range of 70-130. In fact, when I was a kid I had some very nasty hypos even having had a blood sugar of 180 just hours before... imagine if I had been 100 instead of 180!

And let me say this, each individual person's target range is going to be different. yes 70-130 is the ideal bsl, but that may not necessarily be a person's target, for various reasons. For a long time my "golden range" was 100-180 cause I was a kid, then it was anything below 250 cause i was a rebellious teen, then it was 120-200 cause i was in college and couldn't deal with hypos. NOW I'm trying to get my target to around 80-140, but i don't think I'd EVER be comfortable having 70 as my target. That said, I don't think I'll ever bolus for a blood sugar below 200. But that's me, and my doctor, and my lifestyle coming into play. (before you tell me about how I'm damaging my health, my doc's happy, my a1c is fine, 16 years and no sign of complications yet... knock on wood)

There's no one "golden range" that's gonna work for everybody. Your student, his parents, and his doctor have decided it is appropriate for him to be at a level between 100 and 200, and it's not your place to question that.