Hello Skye, Thanks for your question.  

Lantus is a long acting insulin that is being increasingly used by children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes. The main advantages are that it lasts up to 24 hours and therefore only needs to be injected once a day, and that it has a peakless profile which means may help to improve diabetes control and reduce the risk of hypoglycaemia (hypos). It’s important to keep in mind though that the action of different insulins can vary from person to person.

When you change insulins, it usually takes a lot of fine tuning to get things right.  Most children on Lantus are using it in conjunction with short-acting insulin or a combination of short-acting insulin and Protaphane / NPH. It’s important that the insulin plan suits each individual and that the doses are worked out to complement each other.  Sometimes when blood glucose levels are unstable, the timing and doses of more than one insulin may need to be adjusted to manage BGLs. Timing of the Lantus may also make a difference (morning v evening), talk to your doctor or diabetes educator about this.

When you change types of insulin, doing extra BGLs can help you to see patterns and get more of an idea of which insulin needs to be adjusted and when.  Keeping in close contact with your diabetes educator can help you. It’s also important to allow time to adjust to any new insulin plan.  Many doctors and diabetes educators advise a minimum of 4 weeks settling in period when starting Lantus and some people find it may take even longer.  

Each child is different and there is no one insulin plan that works for everybody. Diabetes management also changes over time, with things such as growth, activity levels, eating patterns and changes in routine.  The insulin plan must be adjusted for these changes and while this can be frustrating it’s necessary for optimal long-term diabetes management.

Remember too that aside from the type and dose of insulin, it’s also important to consider the other factors that can affect BGLs such as activity patterns, diet and injection technique. It may help to have your overall management reviewed by your diabetes educator and dietitian, to see if there are any other changes you can make that might help to improve BGLs.