Diabetic Emergency: What Every Parent Needs to Know

You know this feeling. Your child has been drinking water nonstop. They’re nauseous, their breathing sounds fast and heavy, and something smells off—almost fruity. They’re getting more confused by the minute. You grab your phone, searching “diabetic emergency” because you know this isn’t normal.

Stop. Before you load everyone into the car, you need to know something that could change everything about the next few hours.

Urgent Care vs. ER for a Diabetic Emergency: What’s the Actual Difference?

This isn’t about what sign is on the building. It’s about what’s inside the building—and whether they can actually stabilize your child during a diabetic emergency. A key question many parents ask is whether urgent care can give IV fluids—and for DKA, the answer is that urgent care simply doesn’t have the capabilities needed.

Emergency physicians use something called the Pediatric Assessment Triangle to evaluate children in under 30 seconds. You can use the same approach at home.

A — Appearance: Is your child alert and responsive? Look for eye contact, normal crying with tears, and good muscle tone. Warning signs: limp or floppy body, won’t make eye contact, unusually quiet or inconsolable.

B — Breathing: Is breathing quiet and effortless? Can they speak in full sentences? Warning signs: visible rib movement with each breath, nasal flaring, grunting sounds, can only speak one or two words at a time.

C — Circulation: Is skin color normal? Are hands and feet warm? Warning signs: pale or gray skin, blue lips or fingertips, blotchy appearance, cold extremities.

If all three look normal, your child is likely stable—a call to their endocrinologist or urgent care may be appropriate. If any one of these looks abnormal, seek emergency care immediately.

When Urgent Care is Totally Fine

Not everything is an emergency. Urgent care exists for a reason, and it can handle plenty of common childhood issues without the full power of an ER. Save yourself time and money when the situation calls for it.

The key word is mild. When symptoms are manageable and your child is alert, drinking fluids, and responsive—a call to their doctor or urgent care during daytime hours works fine. But when blood sugar is dangerously high or low, when your child is vomiting, confused, or breathing abnormally, that’s a diabetic emergency—and you need the ER.

When Your Child Needs the ER Right Now

Parents know. There’s a difference between “off” blood sugar and a diabetic emergency. Trust that instinct. Here’s what our pediatric emergency team says warrants immediate ER care:

Emergency

Rapid, Deep Breathing (Kussmaul Breathing)

Fast, labored breathing is a hallmark sign of DKA. The body tries to expel excess acid through breathing. Combined with fruity-smelling breath, this demands immediate ER care.

Emergency

Severe Dehydration with Vomiting

DKA causes extreme fluid loss. Watch for dry mouth, sunken eyes, no tears, excessive thirst paired with vomiting, and decreased urination despite drinking.

Emergency

Seizures or Loss of Consciousness

Severe hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can cause seizures, fainting, or inability to wake up. If your child can’t eat or drink to correct low sugar, call 911 or go to the ER immediately.

Emergency

Confusion or Altered Mental Status

Both high and low blood sugar emergencies can cause confusion, difficulty speaking, unusual behavior, or unresponsiveness. Don’t wait—this signals a critical diabetic emergency.

Other diabetic emergency warning signs that require ER care include seizures with altered mental status, blood sugar over 300 mg/dL with ketones, persistent vomiting that prevents oral intake, severe abdominal pain with high blood sugar, and any signs that your child is getting worse despite treatment at home.

The Difference When It Matters

A diabetic emergency needs a real emergency room.
IV fluids, labs, and answers—without the hospital chaos.

What to Expect When You Arrive

Knowing what happens next can help both you and your child feel calmer. Here’s how a Priority ER visit typically unfolds:

Compare that to a typical hospital ER: wait for triage, wait for a room, wait for a doctor, wait for lab results… You could spend 4-6 hours while your child’s diabetic emergency worsens. At Priority ER, the same care takes under an hour.²

Priority ER Locations

All locations are equipped with pediatric emergency capabilities and staffed by board-certified emergency physicians.

The Bottom Line for Parents

When you’re searching “diabetic emergency” because your child’s blood sugar is out of control, you need help fast—not a clinic that can only check vitals and tell you to go to the ER anyway. A diabetic emergency requires IV fluids, labs, and continuous monitoring that only an emergency room can provide. Priority ER offers point-of-care glucose and electrolyte testing for rapid results, along with comprehensive metabolic panels to fully assess your child’s condition.

Know the difference: urgent care handles minor stuff. Emergency rooms handle the serious stuff. And Priority ER gives you full emergency room capabilities—pediatric expertise, advanced imaging, IV fluid treatment for dehydration—without the chaos and wait times of a hospital ER.

When your instincts say your child’s diabetes has become a diabetic emergency, trust them. And come to a place that can actually stabilize and treat them.