Parents of kids with low Hba1c

[Allaboutbg]

Heard on Radio5 live recently a parent of a child with a consistently low Hba1C. My daughter on a pump for 2 years, age 12, and even though we try and try we only manage hba1C of 8.5-8.9. Could some parents give tips on how they account for good levels. I feel its the basal that isn't right and its very hard to do basal testing as my daughter often eats away from the home or is so starving that I can't make her do a no carb meal. She does always put in for anything she eats and we weigh her meals at home etc. Any thoughts/tips welcome.

 

[samko]

Hello there, my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last summer and have been pumping since january 2015. She is 11 yrs old and our latest Hba1c is 5.6. It was 5.8 three months ago. We limit my daughters carb intake to 50 carbs a day. Our dietitian is supportive of our approach and we found easier to manage my daughter diabetes with low carbing. As a family we all changed our eating habits and low carbing now. First few weeks took some getting used to but now it is all good.
You can do your basal testing on 4 hour periods and there are plenty advice on the forum. I have to point out though as my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 only 8 months ago she could still be on a remission phase.

 

[Allaboutbg]

That is incredibly interesting. I have never heard of low carbing for children, therefore I assume perhaps you are not in the UK? I'm pleased that it is all working so well for you. Your method I'm afraid would not work for my daughter (who is also 11). She is going through puberty and does a lot of strenuous exercise so I cannot imagine being able to limit her to 50 carbs a day. However, I would love to hear about the food and meals that she is eating as it would be very useful to have ideas on that. Good luck with it all.

 

[samko]

Hello again, we live in UK. We simply replaced brown/white flour with almond flour and sugar with stevia. Forexample I make bread/buns with almond flour each containing 2-4 gr carb. It took few weeks to create a bread which felt like a bread and tasted like a bread. There are many recipes online, I simply changed some of the ingredients. All our carb intake is from lentils, beans, chickpeas, veg, and fruit. Since october 2014 we have been using freestyle libre as well. Libre made life a lot easier. It gave us an insight how carbs were effecting my daughter, and how to tweak her basal rates. Our dietitian recently recommended the following website for recipes: http://elanaspantry.com/. It is an excellent resource for people passionate about nutrient density and keeping carb loads low – lovely recipes. I guess keeping my daughter Hba1c low will get harder as she grows. I think there many families low carbing, however you must get support from your diabetic team. I hope it all goes well for you.

 

[Allaboutbg]

What great information. I'm so pleased that you have written. It is so helpful. I have a friend who is a baker so I am going to ask her about the almond bread. I have always thought it strange that our health care professionals have rather shied away from anything to do with diet. Obviously they promote a healthy diet, but they are very focused on the idea that a diabetic child should not be felt to be made to be different, including eating the same as everyone else at school/with friends etc. I've always thought that a bit more focus on diet would be better. Very interesting that your experience is so different. I also would like to know if your Libre came on the NHS, do you know anything about costs Libre vs test strips. Our hospital has only made the move onto pumps in the last 18 months.

 

[samko]

We had to self fund libre, there is online petition for libre to be funded by NHS - https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/freestyle-libre-on-the-nhs Currently it is only licensed/available for adults but Abbott are leaping through the regulatory hoops for a pediatric license as fast as they can. It still works for children and if you search online you will find 100s people under 18 using it. The initial pack (two sensors and a reader) costs approx £130. Each sensor cost approx £50 and last for 14 days. Abbott customer service is very good replacing faulty sensors.
I am really surprised about different approaches to diabetes. We are very new to diabetes, so it is really nice to talk to people like you. We can learn from each other and share our experiences.
Good luck with the almond bread, I am happy to share our recipes if you get stuck( I am working on low carb ice cream at the moment)

 

[Allaboutbg]

Hi Samko, the more I look into low carb diet the more it makes sense to me so I am very grateful for your post that is sending me down another route. However, another question. What supplier do you use for almond flour? Our local health food shop only has very small quantities and I'd like to order larger quantities online.

 

[jack412]

I use ground almonds/almond meal, the difference is that the meals still has the oil in it.

 

[samko]

Hello again, apologies for a late reply. We buy the almond meal/.flour from Lidl's. It is reasonably priced and it contains 6.9 gr carbs for 100 gr flour. Second choice is Aldi 9gr carbs for 100gr flour.
Each pack is 180gr, and we usually buy 15-20 bags which lasts about 3 weeks. We use it for bread,cakes, pancakes etc. I researched it to buy almond flour online, but more expensive.

 

[Allaboutbg]

Hi Samko. Is it labelled as ground almonds?

 

[samko]

Hi Samko. Is it labelled as ground almonds?

Yes it is

 

[Blondie153]

Heard on Radio5 live recently a parent of a child with a consistently low Hba1C. My daughter on a pump for 2 years, age 12, and even though we try and try we only manage hba1C of 8.5-8.9. Could some parents give tips on how they account for good levels. I feel its the basal that isn't right and its very hard to do basal testing as my daughter often eats away from the home or is so starving that I can't make her do a no carb meal. She does always put in for anything she eats and we weigh her meals at home etc. Any thoughts/tips welcome.

Hi, we are in exactly the same position as you. 11 yr old daughter loves her carbs, Hba1c of 8.2. Pumping for 2 yrs. we weigh absolutely everything and still can't get levels down. Really glad to read this thread. Makes me feel we are not on our own

 

[David147]

A hemoglobin A1C of 5.7% is normal. If you're hemoglobin A1C came back high, then there would be a good chance that you have diabetes. Unfortunately, a normal test doesn't prove that you don't have diabetes.

 

[Indy51]

You might find this video by the mum of a Type 1 of interest. She also has a blog that includes a lot of recipes of her child's favourite meals that she has adapted for low carb:

http://diabeticalien.blogspot.com.au/

 

[Stansfieldsara]

This is really interesting. I haven't asked about low carbs for my 8year old. She loved her carbs and has about 150 a day ish. Her last hba1c was 54. That was up from 50 the time before. She's a type 1 and diagnosed in sept 2014