This content originally appeared on The Girl's Guide to Diabetes. Republished with permission.

Young children with type 1 diabetes face a serious conundrum and that is that the available insulin is often too concentrated for their needs.

As a result, endocrinologists wanting to avoid terrible lows (and subsequent lawsuits) in these little ones order parents to feed a certain number of grams of carbohydrate per meal or they convince parents to put their child on an insulin pump, which can dole out smaller increments of insulin to meet their requirements.

However, the high number of carbs many type 1 kids get these days is a dangerous thing for these children because it crowds out essential protein and fat and can lead to weight gain and helps lead to roller-coaster style blood glucose management that I promise you, is worse for the child than the parent–no matter how much work and worry is involved on their part.

In the case of an insulin pump, not everyone wants this technology which comes with concerns about tubing issues and scar tissue development and also, not every family can afford one.

Why isn’t insulin made at different concentrations? I mean, it is, but mostly to meet the needs of the type 2 diabetes population which generally has very high insulin requirements. I’ve talked with many type 2s who use in one day, the amount of insulin I use in a week. This isn’t a judgment on them, it’s me pointing out that adults are getting their needs met in this regard and children are being left behind because why? Is it that they can’t advocate for themselves and their parents are being misled by pediatric endocrinologists who don’t know better? Pretty much, I think. One may argue that they grow up quick and then they don’t need such small insulin quantities but childhood health is essential to the rest of one’s life and so optimizing their care while they’re young is imperative.

There is an optimal solution for those who want to give their child a smaller amount of carbohydrate and who don’t or can’t use an insulin pump. Diluted insulin. Special diluent fluid is provided free upon request from insulin makers and shipped to your nearby pharmacy. You can do it yourself or have a healthcare provider do it (if you can convince them to). The diluted insulin means you can dose to correct and cover for your child without the elevated risk of sending them low or needing so many extra snacks. This also offers the potential to lower their carbohydrate intake, leaving sufficient appetite for what drives growth in a child–protein.

Regarding growth, look up the science, there is nothing indicating your child requires a lot of carbohydrates to grow. I think this is oft repeated mostly due to the above phenomena or lack of time and willingness on the part of physicians to do the proper research as well as their overreliance on what they’re told by other physicians and by governing associations. My daughter, on a very low-carb diet, just shot up 2 inches in 4 months. Before that, she was on a moderately low-carb diet for a long time and her height is over the 90th percentile. Her bones and musculature are impressive. Her hair is thick and long, her nails are strong.

There is something kids need to grow to their full potential and that’s normal or near normal blood sugars, which low-carbohydrate diets help achieve–which diluted insulin in children allows for.

Diluted insulin could be a service pediatric endocrinologists provide to parents of young children with type 1 diabetes if we demanded it. I admit it’s intimidating to do by oneself. First, we have to educate ourselves and then them. Health care professionals feel really bad for us because they know what type 1 diabetes means in the long run for our children and they know the demanding lifestyle we parents lead (because we advocate well for our own suffering–lack of sleep, anyone?) but they’re not being very brave or ethical by ignoring what is going on with kids these days. Too many aren’t thriving!

Not only do most type 1 children have poor blood sugar management, but many are also gaining excess weight. This doesn’t bode well for their future and it’s not fair that adults have appropriate insulin needs marketed to them and children don’t. As parents, we have to fight for our kids. Maybe I’m completely wrong. Fine. Maybe you should find out if any of this is true and if so, I implore you to think and discuss the topic with others. I was one of those kids with high blood sugar and weight gain after diagnosis and it made me extremely depressed and unmotivated, totally slowing down the trajectory of my life which has only got back on the rails by some miracle.

I’ve had enough of this poor treatment of children with diabetes and will not stand for it when it comes to my dear daughter. Children deserve medicine that is dosed for their size. They deserve myths to be expelled by our careful investigation and attention to the matter. And they deserve normal blood sugars.

Read more about carbohydrates, children with diabetes, insulin, insulin pumps, Intensive management, low-carb, low-carb diet, treatment.