Recently a child of a friend of mine was diagnosed with diabetes. She is just six years old and very healthy looking child. Her parents were very surprised. I decided to do some research online about this disease.
I found out that there are 23.6 million people in the United States, or 8% of the population with diabetes. Approximately one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents has type 1 diabetes. I was shocked that the total prevalence of diabetes increased 13.5% from 2005-2007.
No one knows what causes diabetes, but scientists are working hard to find out. There are three major types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational. Type 1 diabetes usually develops in children, teenagers or young adults. Scientists believe this is a genetically caused condition and is not related to lifestyle habits.
However, recent studies in Queen’s University Belfast stated that babies delivered by Caesarean section have a 20% higher risk than normal deliveries of developing the most common type of diabetes in childhood. The increase could not be explained by factors such as birth weight, the age of the mother, order of birth, gestational diabetes and whether the baby was breast-fed or not.
It is possible that children born by Caesarean section differ from other children with respect to some unknown characteristic, which consequently increases their risk of diabetes, but it is also possible that Caesarean section itself is responsible.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, and one theory suggests that being born by Caesarean section may affect the development of the immune system because babies are first exposed to bacteria originating from the hospital environment rather than to maternal bacteria.
Diabetes Symptoms
• Urinating a lot (polyuria)
• Drinking a lot (polydipsia)
• Losing weight
Diabetes sometimes goes unrecognized early on because parents think their children are urinating more simply because they are drinking more. Get your child evaluated by your pediatrician before you start restricting her fluid intake though, because if she does have diabetes and you don’t let her drink, she will keep urinating and quickly get dehydrated.
I am diabetic and was afraid my baby would be diabetic, too! Fortunately he was not, but I have a cousin who was diagnosed when he was seven - I hope my baby will continue to be okay. Thanks for describing the symptoms to watch for so clearly!