How do I make a sprite spawn a single sprite once it meets the requirements?

How do I make a sprite spawn a single sprite and edit the newly spawned sprite after it meets requirements? Every time I try it ends up spawning a sprite every tick that the requirements are met.

Use an instance variable - once the sprite is spawned, set a value in the variable. Check that this value is not set before spawning.

Another option is to add the child sprite to a hierarchy. Check that the parent sprite has no children before spawning.