How to Treat Type 1 Diabetes If your child has recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, you’ll need to be very involved in her care. It’s a lot to take in and make into a routine, but you’ll both catch on.

To understand how treatment works, it helps to know a little about what causes type 1. People with this condition don’t make insulin, a hormone that the body needs to turn food into energy. It’s typically made by the pancreas, but in people with type 1, the pancreas doesn’t work properly. Without insulin, sugar (also called glucose) stays in the bloodstream instead of moving into the cells. It can make blood sugar levels become dangerously high.

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High blood sugar is managed by taking insulin. But how much a person needs varies because blood sugar levels change throughout the day. That means you or your child will need to check her levels often to figure out how much insulin is needed. Your child's health care team will teach you how to do this.

Your child may need her blood sugar checked as many as 10 times a day, including before meals, before bedtime, before exercise, and any time symptoms indicate that blood sugar could be shifting too high or too low.

If her blood sugar falls too low, she’ll need to eat a carb-rich food (like juice or candy) or use a product such as a glucose tablet or gel. If it drops dangerously low, she may need a glucagon injection.

Your child may need insulin to correct high blood sugar three or four times a day.

There are different kinds and different ways of giving it to your child.