Raising Healthy Kids: Diabetes in Children

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- There's been a lot written about the diabetes epidemic in America. It's not just limited to adults.

2-year-old kids are learning new things every day.

For Sean Travers, that includes learning to live with type 1 diabetes.

He was diagnosed last fall, after his family noticed a tell-tale sign - he was drinking a lot.

Karen McClafferty, Sean's mom says, "It was surprising, especially with him being so young, and us not having a family history."

A recent report says both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are rising among American kids.

Dr. Steven Willi of Children's Hospital says the 30% rise in type 2 cases follows the boom in obesity in the United States.

"20 years ago, it was unusual for us to even recognize type 2 diabetes in children," said Dr. Willi.

Doctors are puzzled by the rise in Type 1, which is an auto-immune disorder.

Dr. Willi added, "The immune system, instead of reacting to germs and foreign substances, actually starts attacking a portion of the body."

In this case, it's the pancreas, where the insulin which regulates blood sugar is made.

Sean didn't like the insulin shots he initially received to control his blood sugar.

"Running away from me whenever I needed to give him his correction," Sean's mom told us.

And timing them was hard, because of the way toddlers tend to graze, eating frequently during the day.

"If he was just eating like a few pretzels, we couldn't quite correct him. But for the most part, he was getting corrected for his bigger meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner, then possibly an afternoon snack," she says.

After switching to an insulin pump, things are going much more smoothly.

Karen says, "It's one injection every few days, versus 4 to 5 to 6 injections a day. The kid always has a smile on his face, still as active as ever"

Dr. Willi says compliance can be tough with kids.

"They can't manage the condition wholly independently, because they really depend on the support of the family structure and medical care system, " says Dr. Willi.

However, getting control of diabetes early means much better health down the line.

"There's been a dramatic reduction in the complications from type 1 diabetes in the past 30 years," says Dr. Willi.

"If we effectively manage the condition, we can reduce complications by 80 to 90 per cent," he says.

Sean's mother says dealing with a diabetic child can seem overwhelming - but she's gotten a lot of help from many, many resources - including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund, and the American Diabetes Association.