The Normal and Acceptable Childrens Blood Sugar Level

While talking about blood sugar level for children, I understand that you might be anxious to know what figures you and your child have to achieve.

I believe the following guidelines and tips can help you on this.

First, what you have to do is to check at least four times per day your child blood sugar level.

You can check especially before meals and bedtime or anytime you may suspect your child may have a low blood sugar level.

It's also recommended to check children blood sugar level especially before and after exercise and when they're ill. All these conditions can influence on insulin function and diabetes too.

In this case you can check your child's blood sugar level even during night to have a good diabetes monitoring.

You may consider to check your child's blood sugar level two hours after the meal and Hb A1C test to get to know how well you've been managing your child's diabetes the last three months.

What is a normal blood sugar range for children?

The normal blood sugar range for children under 6 years old can vary slightly from the general adult range.

Here are the typical blood sugar ranges for young children, including those under 6 years old:

• Fasting blood sugar (before meals or after a period of fasting): 80-180 mg/dL (4.4-10.0 mmol/L)
• Postprandial blood sugar (1-2 hours after a meal): Less than 180 mg/dL (10.0 mmol/L)
• HbA1C level: less than 8.5 %

With regards to the children aged 6-12 years old, the normal blood sugar range is generally similar to that of adults.

Blood sugar levels can fluctuate throughout the day based on factors such as meals, physical activity, and overall health, as following:

• Fasting blood sugar (before meals or after a period of fasting): 80-100 mg/dL (4.4-5.6 mmol/L)
• Postprandial blood sugar (1-2 hours after a meal): Less than 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L)

Get Printable diabetic blood sugar chart(PDF File)

Get Printable diabetic blood sugar chart(excel sheet)

Get blood sugar chart with excel chart

Day in the Life of diabetic children

According to ADA ( american diabetes association) in 2005, the blood sugar levels in children should be higher than those in the chart above for all the children who have frequent episodes of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar levels without experiencing any signs or symptoms.

Remember: your main aim to achieve possible normal blood sugar levels without causing frequent low blood sugar.

If you have a child under the age of 6 and is with diabetes, try to achieve higher ranges of blood sugar.

The children of this age group do have frequent episodes of severe low blood sugar levels which can cause problems related to intellectual ability.

In case your diabetic child is adolescent, you aim to achieve blood sugar levels similar to adults.

But you must understand that children of this age have high levels of growth hormones, which counteract with the effects of insulin.

What you can do is to watch out if your children blood sugar level is as listed in the chart above at list 50 per cent of the time, than you may be relaxed.

You're having a reasonable diabetes control.

But in case you're not reaching the target above, you may need to change your diabetes plan for a better diabetes control.

References: 

• Childrens glucose chart
• Children sugar Target
• International consensus on glucose monitoring
• What is normal glucose?
• Understanding Diabetes Mellitus in Children
• Challenges in management of diabetes in toddlers

Last medically reviewed 01/02/2019