My son was just diagnosed last month at 2 1/2. He’s doing much better but misses his friends at daycare. I wish there was a local type 1 group near us. I also don’t know where to find daycare for him. Calling around, people don’t seem to know much about it.
I how things are back to normal for him soon. Check with his doctor’s (endo’s) office - other parents might have day care they can recommend, and you may be able to watch each other’s children from time to time.
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I was diagnosed at age 3 and parents are no longer around to ask but I’m sure it was terrifying for them. That was back in 1963 and we didn’t have bg meters much less CGMs so we relied on our senses, and I do recall telling them “I feel funny” and their rushing to give me a snack.
Home BG meters came on the market some 20 or so years later - around the time I graduated from college - and CGMs some years later. I’m sure it’s scary for you as a parent, especially since your child is so young. But hopefully tracking his numbers with a CGM will give you some peace of mind knowing you can take action if needed. And don’t be surprised when your little one starts communicating on his own - he may not know exactly what those sensations mean or how to describe them (even for me as an adult now,some sensations defy words and only “I feel funny” will do) - but he’ll be able to let you know.
Since he’s so young you can get a great start on teaching him good health habits. We can eat pretty much what we like so long as we know how to cover it with insulin - but that doesn’t mean we (or anyone else) should binge on junk. I have a big sweet tooth and sometimes I wish my parents had encouraged me to enjoy more healthful choices when I was younger.
You can do this. The forum is full of stories from parents like you who joined when their child was newly diagnosed and they had no clue what to do - and some months later they had found confidence.
I highly recommend you check out the book Think Like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner. He has Type1 diabetes and works in the field so has a unique personal perspective that is particularly helpful.
Wishing you all the best.
Hi Alicia and welcome to the forum. I’m going to tag some members who are parents with young kids and have posted in the last year so they get an email saying you are looking for help talking to daycare providers about care for your newly diagnosed 2 1/2 year old or finding play groups.
@Kalpesh.gupta @cuteemoshannon @Ayat @sunshine_651 @Lyrael
Breakthrough T1D does have local groups, here’s the link to see what is close to you:
If there is nothing in your area give the Boston chapter a call and ask if you can join their monthly zoom call for parents of young children with T1D.
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Hi @AliCasta ,
Replying in 2 parts, please forgive me if I type too much and it’s overwhelming!! Write back with more Qs if you’d like to. 
1 - Daycare – it looks like your 2.5 yr old guy was in daycare, and you pulled him out at the time of the T1D diagnosis. Now, you’re wondering how to find a center that can accommodate his blood glucose management needs. Is that right?
Briefly – all childcare centers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to meet his medical needs. Reasonable accommodations include finger sticks to check blood glucose levels, administering insulin for meals/snacks/high BGs, administering sugar or glucagon for low BGs. They cannot turn him away.
Here is a link to a recorded session: Know your rights - managing T1D in the Preschool & Daycare Setting
There is also the question of medical needs and insulin administration training for the center’s staff. They should be able to find insulin administration and BG management medical training as a continuing education course, and they should pay for their staff to take the course… but you may need to push and negotiate on this. It’s a significant miss in most states. 
OK - now we’ve established that they need to accommodate the child’s needs. HOWEVER, when my son was diagnosed, I had very real & reasonable fear along the lines of “just because they are not allowed to say no, does not mean it will be a good situation…” There is a balance here.
In terms of finding the right center for your child, I actually think you should first try to work with your son’s previous center. Try to go in with a spirit of collaboration, know your son’s rights, and see if you can make it work.
If that doesn’t work, try to find something like “the department of children and families” resource in your county or state. In my state, every county has this office, and their job is to connect families to resources in the community. The person in this office also supervises/certifies the medication administration training for all private daycare & preschool centers. This person was able to direct me to the 5ish centers in my county that she personally felt were the most likely to be a good fit.
The interesting thing was, when I started touring and interviewing, the “is this a good center” things that I knew from my general parenting experiences were most important… and I saved the “oh by the way, my kid is high medical needs” until I liked the center. Those that I liked all took the T1D in stride and the directors were very willing to work with me. It’s possible. 
2 – meeting other families with T1D kids, to get you some in-person support as you walk this path. aha! We are everywhere!!! Here are where I’ve met other parents/kids walking this path: the playground in my neighborhood; Nextdoor (someone was asking for a ped endo reco); JDRF/Breakthrough T1D summit – the chapter in my area has a session every year for parents of T1D kids under 5… but frankly, it’s super frustrating, bc they don’t provide child care until the kid is age 5+; Friends For Life regional conference… they DO provide wonderful & trained child care for infants on up; I haven’t been to Friends for Life big Florida conference but hear it’s great; in the previous state I lived in, the JDRF chapter had regular meetups for both parents and families… worth a try; and when you son gets to be age 6+, there are T1D camps all over the country, and this is a great way to meet other families. OH - and I heard that parents are on Facebook and there are many local T1D groups… I’m just not on FB!
Thanks @spdif for tagging me, I haven’t been online here in a little while and would have missed this.
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Hello @AliCasta ,
Sorry for replying late. I am not sure whay area you live in, Please message me privately and if you live near by i will be more than happy to meet and help.
As others mention, Please attend the meeting in your local JDRF chapter. I met 3 families who were near my daughter age and that help her a lot.
As for daycare, as other mentioned, no one can deny you the access, you just want to look for a one which have some experience in medical field. Also you can ask you endo doctor to get your son on CGM, that will help you a lot as it become a little easy to monitor.
@AliCasta
Alicia,
There is a uniques section of US Federal Law. It is Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA-law). The law requires public accommodations, includes daycare centers except faith based ones, to accommodate lads like your son. The American Diabetes Association (ADA-org) and fka JDRF (it is shorter to keyboard) have share resources on this topic. Here is a link to your position under the ADA-Law.
The Kinder-Care chain of daycare centers has entered an “consent decree type” agreement with the US DOJ to assure all of the Kinder-Care locations are up to speed on children with T1D.
Additonally, there is a Facebook group of parents and subject matter experts. The name of the group is 504-Diabetes. It is a closed group with membership questions. I suggest the 2000+ member 504 group because it will help you assure your child’s plan meets Federal standards as well as addresses your concerns as a mamacrinologist (grin). The link to Facebook group is:
Please share your progress. It is how we all remain strong and united.