Managing a child’s type 1 diabetes can be stressful. Following a child’s diabetes diagnosis, both they and their caregivers can struggle with injecting insulin, managing blood sugar checks, monitoring carbohydrate intake, and maximizing diabetes control.

Fortunately, there are some coping strategies to make these tasks easier — especially those involving needles — and improve your child’s diabetes care.

Making Insulin Injections Easier

Insulin shots are critical to diabetes treatment and management. However, insulin injections can also be intimidating, painful, and scary — for kids and adults alike. But they’re necessary, as insulin cannot be taken orally because your body cannot absorb it that way.

These tips can help you reduce the stress around giving insulin injections to your child and make the process much more bearable, whether you use disposable needles and syringes or an insulin pen.

Accept That a Fear of Needles Is Normal

Most people — adults and children alike — have some degree of fear of needles. Researchers have found this fear affects 28 percent of adults who receive insulin injections. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of children have a fear of needles.

Accepting that your child may be afraid of needles and using techniques to help them face and overcome that fear can make it easier for you both to get through daily injections. Here are some ways to help your child cope with their fear:

• Model calming breaths — Encourage your child to “smell a cookie” to inhale and “blow out the candle” to exhale. Repeat five to 10 times in a row for the best effect.
• Remain supportive and positive — Children have a lot of feelings when getting diagnosed with a chronic illness, just like anyone. Provide room for their feelings while giving support. It may sound like “Yeah, this is a raw deal and not fair, I hear you. I wish this never happened either. What can we do to help our feelings now? Want to listen to music or go play outside?
• Encouraging your child to express how they feel — Find how your child likes to express themselves and run with it, perhaps through drawing, painting, making up a dance, creating and acting out a story, or using a teddy bear to show their feelings. Letting them release their feelings and feel heard can be very helpful.

Take It One Day at a Time

Looking ahead to years of diabetes management can be overwhelming, especially in the early days. For the sake of your child’s mental and emotional well-being, it’s important to take each day as it comes, rather than fixating on the long term. Daily insulin injections will eventually become a predictable, long-term habit. Pacing yourself and taking on each task or day one at a time will make it easier for everyone.

Turn It Into a Game

Develop ways to make injections fun for you and your child. For older children, you might come up with a dance routine or a song when it’s time for an injection. Having a doll or stuffed animal that also gets to take their insulin can make it more relatable.

For younger children, using distractions like singing a happy song while tapping their injection sites with the closed syringe lid can distract them enough that they may not notice the injection.

Ultimately, look for ways that work for you and your child to make the experience as enjoyable as possible, instead of serious and scary.

Have a Reward System

Implementing a reward system works best for older children, but it can be adapted for young children as well. A reward system can make completing a task feel like an achievement while adding some fun to the mix.

One approach is to give your child a special ticket or sticker each time they get an injection that they can redeem in exchange for, say, a meal at their favorite restaurant or a toy. Alternatively, you can give your child a special reward each time a sharps container is filled.

Use an Insulin Pump

Insulin pumps provide a great way to take insulin without the need for continual injections. These are insulin delivery systems that administer insulin doses directly under the skin without introducing another injection. They can be left in for several days. These pumps can help you ensure your child gets the right amount of insulin relative to the amount of carbohydrates they eat. Often, insurance will partially or fully pay for these pumps.

Try Numbing Medicines or a Buzzer

Since taking a medicine is causing worry, let another medicine help. There are numbing creams and sprays you can use to keep the pain as minimal as possible. As an alternative to using medication, you can purchase a buzzer that vibrates the skin and numbs the pain receptors.

Making Blood Sugar Testing Easier

Like insulin injections, frequent routine tests are a necessary part of ongoing diabetes management. Measuring your child’s blood sugar regularly is essential — but it can be difficult to accomplish if they’re afraid of needles. These tests can be another source of frustration for children and caregivers alike.

Some of the aforementioned tips for helping children with insulin injections apply to blood sugar testing. Here are some additional suggestions.

Talk With Your Child Often About Diabetes

Talking to your child about their diabetes and explaining the necessity of blood sugar testing and insulin injections can help them understand the need for all the needles. This can reduce their confusion and fear, leading to fewer struggles around blood sugar testing and insulin injections. Be sure to also listen to their thoughts and feelings about having diabetes and having to use needles.

Talking about diabetes with your child also opens the door to questions they may have about their condition, which can help them better manage their health. Having frequent conversations about diabetes also can reduce any embarrassment and confusion they may have about living with diabetes.

Develop Predictable Routines

Children work best with structure and routines, and type 1 diabetes management is no exception. Make blood sugar testing and insulin injections a daily routine at specific times so your child knows what to expect and feels they have some control in their daily life. Some children may need advance warning so they have time to prepare, such as “We’re going to test your glucose in five minutes.”

Allow Independence

If you think your child is ready, you might encourage them to test their glucose levels themselves. They also may ask to do so independently. If you’re confident that they’re ready, let them perform their own tests. Monitor them at first to ensure they’re doing it correctly.

Entrusting them to carry out the task themselves can help them feel empowered and independent. Provide lots of encouragement to boost their confidence in taking on more responsibility. For older children and teens, this is critical to their sense of control over their diabetes as they grow into young adults.

Use a Continuous Glucose Monitor

Using a continuous glucose monitor is one of the easiest ways to manage blood sugar testing without the need for finger sticks. These systems generally use a sensor implanted under your skin that measures glucose levels continuously. Using a mobile device or provided scanner, you can quickly get a glucose-level reading. Like insulin pumps, these can often be paid for partially or fully by health insurance.

Where To Go Next

As a caregiver of a child living with type 1 diabetes, you may benefit from finding others who can answer your questions and provide emotional support and tips for self-care. This is particularly important if you feel that the mental load of tracking carbs or worrying about blood sugar levels is taking a toll on your mental health. There are many places you might turn to for accurate medical and social advice. These may include:

• Your health care provider
• Your child’s endocrinologist (or pediatric endocrinologist)
• A mental health counselor familiar with children and a fear of needles
• A diabetes educator (or diabetes nurse)
• Support groups for parents of children living with type 1 diabetes

Remember that type 1 diabetes is a treatable and manageable condition. The more you learn and seek help, the easier the road will be to the best management routine for you and your child. Better management can minimize your child’s risk of long-term side effects and health problems associated with diabetes.

Talk With Others Who Understand

At myT1Dteam, the site for people with type 1 diabetes and their loved ones, people come together to learn more about type 1 diabetes and share their stories with others who understand life with the condition.

Are you a parent of a child with diabetes? How do you manage fear of needles? Share your experience in the comments below.