What are the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in children?

Most patients with type 2 diabetes do not have any symptoms and are often diagnosed by a screening blood sugar test. Others may have one or more of the following symptoms: excessive tiredness, skin or urinary infections, itchy vagina, drinking excessive fluids (polydipsia), excessive urination (polyuria), and urinating through the night (nocturia).

Early signs of type 2 diabetes include:

• Excessive weight gain
• Fatigue due to insulin resistance
• Finding elevated blood sugar levels during routine physical exam

From Good Kids, Bad Habits: The RealAge Guide to Raising Healthy Children by Jennifer Trachtenberg.

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Children often have no symptoms of type 2 diabetes before they are diagnosed, because their blood sugar level has been rising so slowly. As a result, a child may have diabetes for several months or years before being diagnosed.

When children do have symptoms, the most common include:

• Slight increase in the frequency of urination. Your child may have started wetting the bed at night.
• Slight increase in thirst.

Other possible symptoms include:

• Increased tiredness.
• Nausea.
• Blurred vision.
• Frequent infections and slow-healing wounds or sores.
• Weight loss.