Parent of 2 year old type 1 recently diagnosed

[Gemmablower]

Just thinking; would your daughter eat nuts instead of crisps? That may be a much lower carb option?

Yes she loves them, she likes pistachios and pea nuts and are excellent (fillers) if she is hungry and don't want to over do the snacks. She will eat cucumber and bits of chicken to but sometimes I need a 5g snack to keep her levels steady when she is in her target range.
I will look at that link now sounds interesting thank you x

 

[Gemmablower]

That link is very interesting the woman is amazing. It brings a totally different out look to managing diabetes for me and would take some serious changes to get there for me. See my daughter is a lover of traditional foods that we love here in the uk... lasagne, pasta, roast dinners, egg soldiers, crackers and cheese. She has a great varied diet for a 2 year old, not your typical nuggets and chips kind of girl lol. I don't believe in depriving of what she loves best but instead learning well how to control diabetes with what she eats. That link amazed me to be honest it's incredible and I will be taking some of it on board. Even if it's to lower the carbs slightly but not so dramatically. Was an eye opener for me thank you x

 

[Teeny75]

Gemma,
We found that all processed carbs spiked our daughter, she was on a proper rollercoaster! We went low carb, low GI didnt cut it with us. The 10g free snack would shoot her up high, think a bag of wotsits, cheddars, cold cuts etc (excess protein turns to glucose!)
Now i know to bolus for protein foods and that there is no such thing as a free snack!
If you are on Pinterest look up Typeonegrit - a wealth of knowledge, tried and tested recipes and sorted into meals

 

[Gemmablower]

Gemma,
We found that all processed carbs spiked our daughter, she was on a proper rollercoaster! We went low carb, low GI didnt cut it with us. The 10g free snack would shoot her up high, think a bag of wotsits, cheddars, cold cuts etc (excess protein turns to glucose!)
Now i know to bolus for protein foods and that there is no such thing as a free snack!
If you are on Pinterest look up Typeonegrit - a wealth of knowledge, tried and tested recipes and sorted into meals [/QUOT
You even bolus for protein? All her other snacks I quoted don't seem to spike her and to be honest it's mainly fruit rarely processed carbs but when it is processed carbs I def notice a spike.
What would a typical few days food and snacks etc look like for you?

 

[Teeny75]

Breakfast is usually scrambled eggs, hotdog and a couple of baby plum tomatoes or cream cheese pancakes.
Lunch, cold cut meats, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and celery. Homemade almond flour cake/treat or a square of dark chocolate.
Dinner, cooked meat or fish with broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, cabbage or carrots. I have a recipe for a veg bolognaise type sauce, she would live of that and mince given half the chance! If numbers are good she will have whipped cream and either strawberries or raspberries.

 

[Gemmablower]

Wow that's great how old is your daughter? Yes please would you write me the recipe for Bol sauce? X

 

[Gemmablower]

Also if there is hardly any carbs then how do you inject for this? Right now my daughter is in remission so it's normally 1-0.5 units as it is but if she's eating barely no carbs then how do you decide your insulin dose? Is your daughter on a pump?

 

[Spiker]

It's at these low carb levels that you need to start bolusing for the protein. Carefully.

 

[Teeny75]

Wow that's great how old is your daughter? Yes please would you write me the recipe for Bol sauce? X

She is 6 1/2 Gemma, still honeymooning which adds to the challenge she has only recently moved onto a pump, we had just over a year mdi.
Ratios are 1:10, this happens going low carb... As for bolusing from protein, its trial and error. For breakfast of egg, hotdog 1 baby plum tom we bolus for 8-10g carbs, crazy eh! We also have to bolus for ALL carbs, no freebies here! So lunch and dinner are usually 12g.
Dr Bernstein recommeds being consistent with the amount of protein you give with each meal, you soon see a pattern and see which meats act slower etc

Sauce recipe, easier to upload screenshot, basically if you have a slow cooker chop up veg and bung everything it and cook for 4-5 hours, can also be cooked in a normal pot, just cook till veggies are soft then blitz in a blender, good for tiny tastebuds, May require more seasoning for adults.

 

[Gemmablower]

That's unbelievable the carbs in what you have given and the ratios. My daughter is on 1:25 for breakfast and 1:35 lunch and 1:40 for dinner. I feel like sometimes I have to feed her enough just to get half a unit in. So the pump must be the key to this low carb. How long ago was your little girl diagnosed and how has she handled, the change in diet and school? I really worry about school next year as she turns 4 next summer.

 

[Teeny75]

I wouldnt feel comfortable feeding carbs just for the hell of it!
We were MDI for over a year, i wouldnt say the pump is key, it helps with the smaller doses and corrections...
My daughter was diagnosed last Jan, took a while for her to get used to it and we went low carb after six months, school dinners were an issue so she is packed lunch. A few tears now and then because she see's her friends having sweets but i think she understands.

 

[Gemmablower]

No I don't feel comfortable doing but I feel I have no choice if she is a 4 pre lunch then I need to give her the correct amount of carbs to steady her and keep her level or give her a slight rise of a couple of mmol if she is at soft play etc and normally this equates to 20-25g carb dealing with honey moon and half units it's very low doeses I pretty much have it nailed but errors occur when I am giving the wrong snacks which I'm learning how they effect her. Better off with fruit 5g I'm now realising.

 

[Gemmablower]

Ps thanks for the recipes

 

[cmkkmk]

Our daughter was also diagnosed at two. We were told at the time with modern MDI insulin regimes she should be able to eat as normally as any other child. We have found this to be true, even more so now on the pump. It's not easy though. Frequent checking is a must. Accurate carb counting is required and trial and error with timing of bolus's. Sometimes giving two bolus's with meals, a bit like a dual bolus that pump users can do. And small bolus's for snacks, treats.

Breakfast was particularly troublesome. A combination of insulin resistance in the morning and fast acting cereal would produce large spikes. Toast with butter worked better and biscuits (no, not those "healthy" cereal bars, high in sugars!) Our daughter enjoyed a bowl of cereal in the evening which was easier to control, crispies, flakes, frosties or even coco pops!!

I would think long and hard before opting for a low carb diet for a child, especially one whose still a toddler. And do speak to a dietician. Children need more energy than adults. It is recommended their diet should be 45%-65% carbs.

A balanced diet with a few treats and sweets is fine, same as any child. Over time you'll realise which foods, when, work for both of you.

 

[Spiker]

I would think long and hard before opting for a low carb diet for a child, especially one whose still a toddler. And do speak to a dietician. Children need more energy than adults. It is recommended their diet should be 45%-65% carbs.

I agree that caution is required with a child's diet. However I am very sceptical of the advice given by dieticians, particularly in relation to diabetes. I don't think there is any evidence base whatsoever for a claim that children need, or should have, 45%-65% of their diet as carbs, whether that's by weight or by calories. Do you have a link to the evidence base for this by any chance?

Generally all of these recommendations are just derived from observing what happens now, in our culture at our point in history, and making the dangerous assumption that whatever is normal, is healthy, or the even more tenuous assumption that whatever is normal, is necessary.

 

[Gemmablower]

Our daughter was also diagnosed at two. We were told at the time with modern MDI insulin regimes she should be able to eat as normally as any other child. We have found this to be true, even more so now on the pump. It's not easy though. Frequent checking is a must. Accurate carb counting is required and trial and error with timing of bolus's. Sometimes giving two bolus's with meals, a bit like a dual bolus that pump users can do. And small bolus's for snacks, treats.

Breakfast was particularly troublesome. A combination of insulin resistance in the morning and fast acting cereal would produce large spikes. Toast with butter worked better and biscuits (no, not those "healthy" cereal bars, high in sugars!) Our daughter enjoyed a bowl of cereal in the evening which was easier to control, crispies, flakes, frosties or even coco pops!!

I would think long and hard before opting for a low carb diet for a child, especially one whose still a toddler. And do speak to a dietician. Children need more energy than adults. It is recommended their diet should be 45%-65% carbs.

A balanced diet with a few treats and sweets is fine, same as any child. Over time you'll realise which foods, when, work for both of you.

Your message had made me feel not so isolated thank you. I would not be going low carb anyway, I'm lowering the carbs but not to the point of eliminating everything she enjoys which to be honest is a roast dinner with a bit of sweetcorn! She's fully understanding on treats and that they are limited. Yes biscuits do seem to be a no no, can get away with one malted milk b4 bed as long as it's with 100ml of milk and seems to contoll the spike any more and she rockets. Dietician said it was ok as she needs to be 12 before bed right now recommended by consultant as only on 0.5 unit lantus and that has a pull on her and can understand the reasons of wanting to keep some basal. Snacks are only 5g of low gi fruit and that's working well. She's ranging from 4-8 last few days since cutting out the wotsits when she was at my mums in a sat afternoon. You know I appreciate your message.

 

[Gemmablower]

Our daughter was also diagnosed at two. We were told at the time with modern MDI insulin regimes she should be able to eat as normally as any other child. We have found this to be true, even more so now on the pump. It's not easy though. Frequent checking is a must. Accurate carb counting is required and trial and error with timing of bolus's. Sometimes giving two bolus's with meals, a bit like a dual bolus that pump users can do. And small bolus's for snacks, treats.

Breakfast was particularly troublesome. A combination of insulin resistance in the morning and fast acting cereal would produce large spikes. Toast with butter worked better and biscuits (no, not those "healthy" cereal bars, high in sugars!) Our daughter enjoyed a bowl of cereal in the evening which was easier to control, crispies, flakes, frosties or even coco pops!!

I would think long and hard before opting for a low carb diet for a child, especially one whose still a toddler. And do speak to a dietician. Children need more energy than adults. It is recommended their diet should be 45%-65% carbs.

A balanced diet with a few treats and sweets is fine, same as any child. Over time you'll realise which foods, when, work for both of you.

Also can you talk more about timing of injections?

 

[Gemmablower]

Our daughter was also diagnosed at two. We were told at the time with modern MDI insulin regimes she should be able to eat as normally as any other child. We have found this to be true, even more so now on the pump. It's not easy though. Frequent checking is a must. Accurate carb counting is required and trial and error with timing of bolus's. Sometimes giving two bolus's with meals, a bit like a dual bolus that pump users can do. And small bolus's for snacks, treats.

Breakfast was particularly troublesome. A combination of insulin resistance in the morning and fast acting cereal would produce large spikes. Toast with butter worked better and biscuits (no, not those "healthy" cereal bars, high in sugars!) Our daughter enjoyed a bowl of cereal in the evening which was easier to control, crispies, flakes, frosties or even coco pops!!

I would think long and hard before opting for a low carb diet for a child, especially one whose still a toddler. And do speak to a dietician. Children need more energy than adults. It is recommended their diet should be 45%-65% carbs.

A balanced diet with a few treats and sweets is fine, same as any child. Over time you'll realise which foods, when, work for both of you.

Hi so I wondered when you were using pens how would you handle having treats for snacks eg. I have had a 2 occasions that my daughter wanted a mr whippy Ice cream, firstly I have no idea of carb content but at a guess if you don't know shall we say 25g for the sake of this thread, we were away at the weekend and it felt horrible to deprive her but I did and another occasion her friend had one and I just felt so mean, to be fair my daughter handled it better than I did, she excepted my no sweetie we are having dinner soon but couldn't stop thinking (I need to know how to handle this sort of situation) and I don't know how you deal with extra doses of nuvo rapid with regards to timing after the last dose. Anything to watch out for etc. I will speak to my diabetes team about this but I wanted to hear yours and others opinions?

 

[Spiker]

You can give her Novorapid at any time for food (carbs), there is no limitation. The limitation is only on correction doses of Novorapid. But you are right to be cautious if you are out and don't know the carb content. One option would be to get her a packet ice cream that has nutrition information on the packet.

You can get the Carbs n Cals app for your smartphone to help figure out carbs when you are on the move.

Ice cream is tricky because the high fat will delay the carbs. Sometimes it will have reactively few carbs, sometimes lots. I would guess less than 25g in a Mr Whippy type of ice cream. Maybe yes including the cone. For plain ice cream it might be best to give no Novorapid if you don't have definite information on the carb content.

 

[Gemmablower]

Thank you spiker that is good advice, I think you are right about the carbs in whippy as I googled it and it was only 15g with the cone so possibly no need to bolus particularly while she is honeymooning but most likely going to cause a rise. I guess I can only learn from trying. I wish I would of thought of packet ice creams, I think I just thought to myself instantly oh dear there is a ice cream van and panicked! Next time I will think, let's rinse this situation out of information!