My 15 month old granddaughter has just been diagnosed with diabetes. I have never heard of a child this young having diabetes. Is this very unusual? Is it a reason to worry that it came on at such an early age?

Even though it is not common for children as young as your granddaughter to get diabetes, it does happen and can happen even earlier than 15 months. The challenges this brings to a family are many. My best advice to you is to never lose sight of the fact that she is a child first, then a child with diabetes. A wonderful book for your family to read now is Sweet Kids: How to Balance Diabetes Control & Good Nutrition with Family Peace, written by two good friends of mine, Richard Rubin and Betty Brackenridge. It will be a good guide and resource for you as she grows up with diabetes.

Tools for diabetes management today have improved, but continue to be imperfect. I hope your family is working with a diabetes team who is able to support your learning all you can to help your granddaughter live with as much freedom of lifestyle as possible. This will help all of you live life “with diabetes” not trying to be perfect.

KS