My 23 month old son has had a few episodes of high blood sugar. He has a sister who is eight and has had diabetes for five years. His blood sugar was 193 mg/dl (10.7 mmol/L) when he has lab work done. His sugar was read earlier in the day at 273 mg/dl (15.2 mmol/L) by his meter. It stayed high for over an hour. His sugar didn’t return to normal for three hours. What is the highest that your sugar can go after eating and still be considered normal? Can being sick with a virus affect your sugar readings?

To diagnose diabetes for certain in a two year old is somewhat complicated by the fact that blood glucose levels can be briefly raised by the stress of strange faces in a doctor’s office and the glimpses of needles, etc. The American Diabetes Association and the WHO have both established norms for the diagnosis on fasting levels (over 125 mg/dl) and for 2 hours after a standard glucose load of (over 140 mg/dl); but again this is not really applicable in infancy. The blood sugars that you do report are nonetheless very suggestive of diabetes, especially if they have been accompanied by consistent glucosuria, and I would suggest that you ask your son’s doctor to arrange an antibody test (telephone 1-800-425-8363 for information). In a Caucasian family a positive test would confirm a diagnosis of Type 1A (autoimmune) diabetes, which is by far the commonest form. in the circumstances I suggest that you do this as soon as possible because it may be harmful to delay treatment with insulin.

DOB