My daughter was diagnosed about nine months ago and has been under the care of her pediatrician. I am comfortable with the doctor and have a very good relationship with him (asking questions, getting in to see him, especially on the one occasion that she passed out at school, etc.), and her A1c has dropped from 8.5 at diagnosis to 8.2%. Should I be seeking out a pediatric endocrinologist or are we safe at this point with care from her pediatrician?

Your child is probably still in her honeymoon. A hemoglobin A1c of 8.2% is pretty decent, so at this point, I don’t think that you require a visit to a specialist, as long as you are comfortable with the care that your daughter receives, her pediatrician is keeping you updated as to what current recommendations are, and is addressing all your concerns.

I don’t think meeting with your pediatrician (or a pediatric endocrinologist for that matter) takes the place of meeting periodically with a diabetes educator and/or diabetes dietitian. That may be the biggest advantage of all of seeing a sub-specialty diabetes team; namely seeing the other health care professionals to continue to guide you and give you “tricks” for management, social support, demonstrate new insulin dosing/delivery systems, etc., and to anticipate with you developmental changes (physical and mental) when your child with diabetes progresses to middle school, high school and beyond.

DS