Raising 6 Kids With Diabetes
Maggie and Steve Krueger have eight children – six live with type 1 diabetes. The parents share advice, stories, and challenges about caregiving for multiple kids with diabetes.
When seven-year-old Ben Krueger was first diagnosed with diabetes in 2001, he was embarrassed to check his blood sugar at the dinner table one night. So, the rest of the family agreed that if he had to check his blood sugar, they all would.
“The rest of the kids in our family decided to join him and make it normal,” said Steve Krueger, Ben’s father. But they didn’t expect what happened next.
Two of their other kids, Maddie, then age 4, and Nick, then age 3, both had blood glucose readings in the 250-300 mg/dL range. Following the readings, both were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes – a condition three of their older siblings already had.
Confused? The Kruegers aren’t, as keeping their eight children and their medical conditions straight is something they’ve worked hard at for around three decades. Out of eight kids ranging in age from 14 to 32 years old, six live with type 1 diabetes.
Though it hasn’t been an easy battle, the Wisconsin-based family of 10 is constantly showing up for each other along the way.
A day in their lives
Phones are constantly dinging with alerts from physicians, nurses letting them know who forgot their insulin, or a kid who needs help talking to the pharmacist.
Steve and his wife Maggie, high school sweethearts, alternate night shifts watching for kids who might wake up with low blood sugar. Opening their refrigerator, there are compartments filled with insulin and medical supplies, plus entire drawers of juice boxes and low blood sugar snacks. Everything in their cabinets is “carb counted.”
“It’s stressful to make sure everyone has what they need constantly, whether it’s when we’re leaving the house or in general,” Steve said. “We’re always needing to stay calm because if one child senses our worry, the rest are quick to follow.”
On some of their toughest days, they’ve had to lower their expectations and lower them again – especially when it comes to sleep.
“There came a point in our lives, maybe after the fourth or fifth diagnosis, we accepted that we might not get a full night of sleep again,” Maggie said.
At the time it took a serious toll on their household, but now – thanks to continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) – the parents have slept the best they’ve had since having kids.
“We never thought the life we are living today would be possible,” Maggie said.
The family motto
If you could peek into Maggie and Steve’s texts with their kids, you might see a curious phrase: “Feed your llama.” The Kruegers might have a lot going on, but they don’t own a llama. At least not exactly.
“Once our girls hit the ages of around 12 to probably 18, sending them texts or saying things like “Fix your sugar,’ ‘Your sugar is high,’ or ‘What’s your blood sugar,’ tended to irritate them or essentially do anything but help lower their sugars,” Steve said.
“In addition to this, Ana was a bit more shy in the early days of her diagnosis, so if we would shout out ‘What’s your sugar?’ across the dinner party with friends – it wasn’t ideal,” he said.
So, the code word “llama” was born.
“Whether their sugar is high or low, if they hear ‘llama’ it’s our secret way of signaling to each other to check in on our diabetes. Not only did this create a good way for us as parents to support our kids without nagging, frustrating, or embarrassing them, it also never failed to bring a smile to their faces,” Steve said.
Navigating the unique needs of each child
One of Steve and Maggie’s biggest goals is simple, yet complicated: normalize diabetes for everyone, not just their kids.
“We’re teaching our children the importance of our beliefs and accepting everyone with the normalization of type 1 diabetes,” Steve said.
However, the Krueger parents know (as most parents do) that each kid is different, which can make managing their children’s diabetes challenging.
“Even if you think you’ve learned something from parenting one child, chances are it won’t work with the other. It’s the same with diabetes,” Steve said. “Each of our children had to be supported differently with their diabetes management – and they still do.”
For example, when their fifth child Belle was diagnosed at age 15, they knew it would be a bigger challenge and a different path from the others. That’s because Bella has trypanophobia – an intense fear of needles. For years, flu shots and blood draws were the source of fretting for weeks, Steve remembers.
“As hard as it was to watch our kids who got diagnosed at such a young age, it was heart-wrenching in a completely different way to watch Belle receive a diagnosis after we were so sure she was ‘in the clear.’”
They think her phobia was from seeing so many of her siblings regularly deal with needles.
“When she got diagnosed with diabetes, we really had no idea what we were going to do,” Steve said. “As soon as she got home with her diagnosis, Belle was adamant about letting everyone know she would never be getting an insulin pump. She insisted she would not have a tube hooked to her, no matter what. Even if this meant she had to face her fear of getting a shot every day.”
But, Belle couldn’t give herself the shots. Steve had to drive to her high school multiple times a day for lunch, snacks, and every blood sugar spike until one day he read an article about the Omnipod, a tubeless insulin pump.
Using the device has helped her manage her diabetes with much less anxiety. Now Belle is getting a marketing degree and currently works as a content manager for Risely Health, a type 1 diabetes coaching company.
“Both Maggie and I never would’ve thought she would come this far with her diabetes, let alone try to make a career out of it,” Steve said.
Belle said it has been a chaotic experience growing up in a family with many medical needs, but a beautiful type of chaos.
“It has taught us to love everyone the same no matter their differences,” Belle said. “We don’t have control over what life throws at us, but we do have control over how we react.”
The Krueger family started sharing their story on Instagram during COVID-19 and uses the platform to help educate others about diabetes.
“I instantly fell in love with the type 1 diabetes community on social media,” Belle said. “For the first time, it felt like there was actually a reason for six out of eight kids in our family to have diabetes.”
“We’ve had to educate the people around us – even our extended family – that our kids can still have sugar, go trick or treating, swimming, and do whatever they please – as long as they check their sugar,” Steve added.
Advice from the trenches
While many parents couldn’t imagine taking on the tall task of the Krueger’s daily life, others know the struggle well.
Dr. Sid Khurana, a psychiatrist who works with children, adults, and families, said one helpful strategy is connecting kids to other children who have similar conditions. Engaging in hobbies, sports, and other interests unrelated to diabetes is also important. Along with the children they’re caring for, it’s crucial that parents have the mental health support they need.
“Parents’ own personality style becomes a factor,” Khurana said. “The more anxious and obsessive parents tend to micromanage and very closely supervise – understandably so, from their perspective – while others might be more hands-off, especially when the children are demonstrating the ability to monitor themselves well.”
Steve and Maggie have learned a thing or two throughout their journey, which they hope will help others struggling with caregiving for children with diabetes. No matter how hard it might be, the first thing is not getting hung up on the diagnosis.
“There is nothing you can do to change that,” Steve said. “What you control moving forward is how to support your child with learning their new lifestyle.”
It’s important to balance listening to your kids' needs and trusting your gut as parents. Try not to force choices on a child; help them learn what decisions are best for them so they can start making them on their own. This is one reason why diabetes education for both caregivers and children is essential to managing the condition.
“This is why we never restricted carbs, sugar, or sweets for our kids. Instead, we made sure they knew they were going to need more insulin, and together we figured out how to tackle bolusing for it,” Steve explained.
“We never wanted to make them feel like type 1 diabetes was a sickness or punishment. Only once they understood that did they start to order diet sodas at dinner,” he said.
Caring for multiple kids with diabetes is hard and sometimes taking it day by day can help lighten the load. Steve added that one important thing parents can do is give yourself and each other some grace.
And of course, don’t forget to feed your llama.
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