Parenting a Child with Type 1 Diabetes: The Reality, the Routines, and a Little Light That Changed Everything

Let’s be honest: parenting a child with Type 1 diabetes is like having a second full-time job... only it comes with no lunch break and very little sleep.

You become a living, breathing CGM alert system, armed with juice boxes, needles, spreadsheets, Glucogel, etc and the constant fear of night-time hypos. Congratulations – you’re now part parent, part paramedic, part data analyst.

I’m Paul McCaw, founder of Lewcose, but more importantly, I’m a dad to a brilliant wee boy Lewis, who just happens to have Type 1 diabetes. This isn’t a technical guide, it’s a real one. Because let’s face it, no instruction manual prepares you for being woken up at 2:47 AM by an alarm, only to find your child’s blood sugar is low…again…and your brain is trying to calculate carbs while your eyes are still glued shut.

😵 The Early Days: More Maths Than a GCSE Exam

When we first got our diagnosis, I genuinely thought I’d need a whiteboard and a maths degree to survive. Managing blood sugar in kids is no joke, everything affects it. Food, stress, sleep, the moon phase. Your child wants a snack? Welcome to the glucose guessing game....and don't even start me when it comes to Pizza bolusing!

And explaining hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia to a seven-year-old? Good luck with that.

🌙 The Night-time Panic Cycle

Now, let’s talk about monitoring blood sugar at night. It’s a special kind of stress. You want to sleep, but your brain’s on high alert, one eye on your phone, one ear listening for alarms that your tired brain now conveniently filters out. Genius. It's a bit scary to be honest, how you desentise yourself hearing alarms. My son has managed to do this so trying to get him to take action on an alarm isn't the easiest thing given he has the noise zoned out.

We use a Dexcom G7, which was a game-changer in many ways. But the constant beeping? Not ideal when your son shares a room with his twin brother, who is not amused by the 3 AM alarms. Bless him but he is so understanding of Lewis' condition.

💡 Enter: The Glowcose Light

This is where the Glowcose Light came into our lives and trust me, I didn’t know how much we needed it until we plugged it in.

Suddenly, we weren’t just staring at graphs and numbers. We were looking at colour. My son saw green and knew he was okay. He saw red and knew he needed help. That’s it. No confusion. No fear. Just clarity with a quick glance. Kids understand colours easier than what 4.9 or 11.2 means.

It gave him a bit more independence and gave us something even rarer: sleep.

The Glowcose Light works with Dexcom G6, G7, and Libre 2 for kids, connecting via Dexcom Share or Libre Link-Up. It updates every 60 seconds and displays blood sugar trends through gentle colour changes. No noise. No drama. Just real-time, visual peace of mind. We have enough alarms to deal with already, without additional noise.

😌 Parenting with a Little Less Panic

Is it still hard? Of course it is. Parenting a child with Type 1 diabetes will always be a journey. But with tools like the Glowcose Light, it’s one that feels a little less scary.

Now, instead of running in with jelly babies and panic, I can open one eye, glance at the soft green glow from across the room, and roll back over. Winter nights at 3am and not having to get out of my warm cosy bed to check what his levels are, that my friend, is priceless!

💬 Final Thoughts from One T1D Parent to Another

We don’t talk enough about how mentally exhausting it is to be the parent of a child with diabetes. You’re their tech support, their emotional coach, their dietician, and their alarm clock.

But you’re not alone. There are tools out there now, like Glowcose light, built not by massive corporations, but by families who’ve walked the same path.

So, whether you’re dealing with Type 1 diabetes in children, trying to explain CGM graphs to a grandparent, or just desperately searching for anything that will help you sleep better through the night, I see you.

And I built Lewcose for you.

Paul McCaw
Founder, Lewcose
Parent. Sleepless warrior. Occasional jelly baby hoarder.