They say that pressure on a baby makes him aggressive. Well, my baby is aggressive and we force him on meals and insulin. We cannot give this up because, if we do not, there is no other way to get him to take his meals and medication. What should we do? Is there research on diabetic children and their temper?

Dealing with diabetes in very young children is especially difficult because they don’t understand why they have to have blood tests and insulin injections. There’s not much you can do about these other than get them over with quickly and with as little fuss as possible. However, many parents have found that by using fast acting analogue insulins (e.g. NovoRapid, Humalog) after meals, you can take some of the problem away because the child is under no extra pressure to eat. If they only eat half of their meal, then they receive half of their insulin, etc. It would be worth asking your son’s doctor if there is a child psychologist with whom you could discuss this problem.

KJR