A doctor has warned parents to watch out for four crucial symptoms. The expert says these could indicate a chronic condition.

In a clip shared on social media platform TikTok, NHS doctorSuraj Kukadiaoutlined several potential warning signs of diabetes. Dr Kukadia, known online as Dr Sooj, explained that these are more commonly associated with type 1 diabetes in children rather than type 2.

Addressing his more than 300,000 followers, he asked: "Does your child get really sleepy after they've eaten? And are you worried that they have low blood sugars and are you worried that they might have diabetes?

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"This is a really common thing that parents come to me for, but that's not really the traditional sequence of events that would lead me to a diagnosis of diabetes."

Drawing on his professional experience, he noted: "So parents usually come in with this query for their five to 10-year-old kid and they are worried about diabetes.

"However, diabetes happens when we either have insulin resistance or we're not producing enough insulin. It would be very unlikely for a child to develop type 2 diabetes, which means that they are resistant to insulin.

"It's not impossible, but it is very unlikely." Type 2 diabetes is generally linked to lifestyle factors such as excess weight or insufficient exercise, though it can also run in families. However, the precise cause of type 1 remains unclear.

Dr Sooj continued: “What is more likely is type 1 diabetes, which is where the body is just not producing enough insulin, usually because of an autoimmune condition where the pancreas has been attacked and it is not producing enough insulin.

"Now if someone were to have diabetes, typically their blood sugars are high because they don't have enough insulin or the insulin isn't working well enough to be able to bring their blood sugars down.

“So when parents come in with this concern, it's very unlikely that it's going to be diabetes because what they are describing is a post-prandial sleepiness, which is just where if you have a really high-carb meal, you'll probably become a bit sleepy afterwards. So we need to do some education around diet, lifestyle, making sure we're sleeping well enough at night.”

However, he listed four concerning symptoms that could mean your child has type 1 diabetes. Dr Sooj said: “So I think it's really important for us to talk about the ‘four T’s’ of type 1 diabetes, which are the four main symptoms that we look out for if we're worried about type 1 diabetes in a child.”

These symptoms are:

• Tired


• Toilet


• Thirsty


• Thin

He explained: “Tired - they'll be tired all the time. Not just after a meal but they would be tired all the time despite being well rested.

“Toilet - they'll be peeing a lot, they'll be thirsty, they'll be drinking loads. And they'll be losing weight, so they'll be thinner.

“Those are the four T's that guide us to consider type 1 diabetes in a child.” The NHS website also lists these as the four “most common” symptoms of diabetes in both adults and children.

The health body says you should ask for an “urgent” GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if you or your child has any symptoms of diabetes.