Chrissy Teigen reflects on son Miles’ type 1 diabetes

Chrissy Teigen is opening up about her eldest son’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis.

The model, who mothers children Luna, 9, and siblings Miles, 6, Esti, 2, and Wren, 22 months with singer John Legend, tells PEOPLE the difficulties around the condition.

“It really took Miles down harder than a lot of the other kids,” she recalls. “His pain was incredible, and he’s a pretty tough little boy.”

“We were thrown into this world of chaos and having to learn so much all at once,” says

“Everything was put on pause. We were finding ourselves going in and out of hospitals, sitting down with our notebooks taking copious notes and taking videos of everything someone was doing with the insulin jar,” says Teigen.

Chrissy then quoted her son, adding: “Why me? How come not Luna?” she recalls. “He was really worried that it would affect if he could play sports. Can I have candy still? Can I have ice cream? All those things that only a kid would worry about.”

“You try everything: tokens, bribery, iPad time. You do everything you can to see what makes him comfortable,” she says, growing emotional. “The first three months were really, really tough for us as a family because your child is experiencing pain,” recalls the model.