My five year old daughter has had type 1 diabetes since she was 10 months old. My eight month old son has recently had some blood sugar readings of 8 and 9 mmol/L [144 and 162 mg/dl]. Are there any other tests I should be doing? I also have type 1.

It is obvious that you have a strong family history and, therefore, your son is at increased risk of diabetes compared to someone without this family history. However, the blood sugars you quote are, by definition, not abnormal (a random sugar over 11 mmol/L [198 mg/dl] would be considered abnormal). Some clinicians might recommend doing antibody tests, but Diabetes UK considers this unethical unless it is part of a prevention trial and I agree. The absence of antibodies doesn’t mean that your son will never get diabetes and presence simply makes you worry more while being unable to do anything about it. Clearly, it is difficult to assess thirst and excessive wetting in an eight month old child but, personally, I would discourage doing any more testing unless your son exhibits some symptoms. If you feel compelled to do something, then ask your general practitioner for urine testing sticks so that you can test his nappies for sugar on an occasional basis. At least then, you won’t have to do fingerstick testing.

KJR