10 Things You Need to Know about Type 1 Diabetes

First published November 2018
Updated November 2025

Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common chronic conditions in childhood. Having a child diagnosed with this life-long condition can be difficult and overwhelming at first, but being informed can help you and your child manage this disease.

1. Type 1 diabetes happens when the body stops making insulin. When we eat carbohydrates, the body breaks them down into glucose (sugar), which is the main source of energy for cells. Insulin is made by the beta cells in the pancreas and is the hormone that moves glucose from the blood into the body’s cells for energy. Without enough insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream and causes the symptoms that are associated with diabetes.
2. Symptoms can be easy to miss at first. As glucose levels increase, the body compensates by flushing glucose out through the kidneys. The result is increased urination and sometimes bedwetting, increased thirst, increased hunger, and unexplained weight loss. If blood sugars stay too high for too long, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) can develop, a serious condition associated with vomiting, dehydration and lethargy. This is a medical emergency and requires immediate attention.
3. Type 1 diabetes is not anything you or your child caused to happen. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, meaning that the body’s immune system makes autoantibodies that attack its own beta cells in the pancreas. Both environmental and genetic factors can contribute to the development of type 1 diabetes, but it can occur even in those without any family history.
4. Type 1 diabetes affects children of all ages, backgrounds, races and ethnicities. There are two peaks of diagnosis, at 4 – 6 years old and at 10 – 14 years old, but type 1 diabetes can also appear much earlier or later in life. 
5. Diagnosis requires urgent lab testing. If you suspect that your child has type 1 diabetes, call your pediatrician right away. Doctors can check blood and urine glucose levels, measure average blood glucose over the past 3 months with a hemoglobin A1C test, and even screen for autoantibodies.
6. Treatment means paying attention to blood glucoses and giving insulin every day, multiple times a day. Type 1 diabetes is treated by giving back the insulin that the body no longer makes, using subcutaneous injections or a wearable insulin pump. Blood glucoses must be checked with finger pokes or a wearable continuous glucose monitoring system (CGM). Your healthcare team will teach you how to keep blood glucoses in range and how to manage both high and low glucoses.
7. Technology can help and is rapidly advancing. Closed hybrid-loop systems, or automated insulin delivery (AID) systems, have changed diabetes care in the last several years. In an AID system, the CGM “talks” to the insulin pump and can automatically adjust the amount of insulin being delivered to keep blood glucoses in range.
8. There is no such thing as a “diabetic diet.” Children with type 1 diabetes should eat well-balanced meals just like any growing child – and they can still have cake on their birthdays and candy on Halloween! However, children with type 1 diabetes typically need to count carbohydrates in each meal and snack to properly dose insulin.
9. Diabetes is a team sport. Type 1 diabetes care is complex and requires a large support system including family, friends, caregivers, and school personnel. Your diabetes team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital includes your endocrinologist, advance practice providers, diabetes nurses, diabetes educators, dietitians, social workers, and psychologists. We are always here to help!
10. Diabetes can fit into your life rather than define it. Children, adolescents and young adults with diabetes lead full, healthy lives, excel in school, participate in competitive sports, travel the world, and achieve their goals. Many accomplished people live and thrive with type 1 diabetes, including singer Nick Jonas, Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr., Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler, and model Lila Moss. There is even now a popular brand fashion doll with type 1 diabetes!