Managing Diabetes When Your Child is Sick

When children are sick, their blood sugar levels may go up, or if the illness causes vomiting, sugar levels may drop. It's important to check blood sugar and ketone levels often on sick days.

When your child is sick, please follow these instructions:

• Check blood sugar levels and ketones every two to three hours. Keep checking ketones until they are negative twice in a row.
• Continue giving insulin. Children may need less insulin during illness, but they still need it – even if they can't eat.
• If your child is vomiting, offer small amounts of fluids frequently. Try giving 1 teaspoon of fluid every 10 minutes. If your child tolerates it, gradually increase the amount each hour, switching between beverages with sugar and without. If your child isn't vomiting, try giving 1 cup of fluid every hour. Options include water, tea, broth, Gatorade, juice, frozen ice pops and soda.
• Call your child's diabetes care provider, if needed. If your child can't take in fluids, is vomiting, or has moderate or high ketone levels, call us at one of the clinics below, depending on where your child receives care.

Contact the diabetes care team

If your child is a patient of our Oakland clinic, please call us at 510-428-3654 if it's during regular clinic hours. On holidays, evenings and weekends, please call 510-428-3000 and ask to speak with the on-call endocrinologist.

If your child is a patient of our San Francisco clinic, please call us at 415-514-6234 and say that you have an urgent need to speak with the on-call care provider or diabetes educator. If the clinic is closed, your call will be routed to the hospital operator; ask the operator to page the on-call diabetes care provider.