Low Carb diet for children

[KK123]

Thank you all for your replies. Yes she is pretty much off insulin for the past week or so. We didnt do it by choice, she was going hypo every night when she was on insulin.

When she eats around 30g of good carbs per meal she needs no insulin. She spikes to around 200 and then back down to 100 within 4 hours all by herself no basal no bolus in time for the next meal. There have been no nightly hypos since she went off insulin either.

If she eats more than that or eats bad carbs like juice or pancakes or similar she spikes higher stays there longer. It only happened once. We gave her insulin and she came back down albeit she was already on her way down.

So she eats 90g of good carbs a day and needs no insulin. This is less than what we were advised around 150 which led to me posing this thread. Thinking back, if i remove all the junk she used to eat prior to diagnosis she was still eating similar to what she eats now. All we have essentially done is replace white rice with brown and bread with whole wheat and taken out juices and replaced chocolate milk with goats milk.

We also have a cgm so we watch her glucose like a hawk.


Hope this helps clarify

You are clearly doing a great job. I had a honeymoon period where I used next to no insulin on some days, none on others and more on another day. It's all about managing it of course but it's good that you HAVE the insulin to use when it's needed. x

 

[KK123]

I brought up two ordinary children of a fairly low carb diet and they were/are absolutely fine, both have become tall slender adults - neither had acne as teenagers. Even as tots, though, they would far rather have minced beef than chips, and once they could open the fridge my boiled eggs were gone, the roast chicken lost its legs and the cooked meat had teeth marks.

Hi there, did they have diabetes at all?

 

[Jaylee]

I know a lot of T1s maintain excellent sugar control by simply eating less carbs <30g a day. This is contrary to the advice we were given when leaving the hospital. We were told my 6 yr old T1 daughter needs 45-60 g carbs PER MEAL. Works out to around 130-180g carbs a day.

We try to stick to around 100g carbs a day. She is in honeymoon now so we have done this without any insulin for 3 days. I do see it spike to around 200-250 but it always comes back down within 2-3 hours. I wonder if I further reduce the carbs, would it harm her? Is there research on low carb diets for diabetic kids - long term growth issues? Once she is an adult she can certainly do keto - but she's just 6 now.

Hi,

At this moment in time, if your kid needed to be pulled off her recommended dose? I believe from other posts the basal dosage was too high problems with hypos.& you had no access to a pen that administered 0.5 units?
If you can find the pattern regarding what is causing the spike in BG, (if it is in the diet?) either lower the portion or omit completely. For the time being?

However, keep a very close eye on the BGs. From memory She wears a Dexcom,.This could help you & your child immensely..

You're doing a great job. Caveat; this is coming from a 52 year old guy who's been at this for just over 44 years..

Individual requirements change during life's journey. Keep moving positively forward.

 

[LooperCat]

When she eats around 30g of good carbs per meal she needs no insulin. She spikes to around 200 and then back down to 100 within 4 hours all by herself no basal no bolus in time for the next meal. There have been no nightly hypos since she went off insulin either.

If she eats more than that or eats bad carbs like juice or pancakes or similar she spikes higher stays there longer. It only happened once. We gave her insulin and she came back down albeit she was already on her way down.

There’s a lot to unpack in this thread, as a low carb T1 myself, there’s a lot I could say but just don’t have time right now.

But can I respectfully suggest that you modify the way you refer to carbs around your daughter - words like “good” and “bad” in relation to food can be incredibly psychologically damaging. Perhaps consider words like “fast” or “rapid” in relation to carbs like juice/pancakes and “slow” or “slower” in relation to the kind you’d think of as “good”. Talk about them in relation to the speed at which they impact her blood sugar, not as a moral judgment. Sometimes she’ll *need* fast carbs to get her out of a hypo - how do you think she’ll feel about that if she’s being conditioned to believe they’re “bad”?

 

[ert]

Do you bolus at meals? Are you in a honeymoon phase? My daughter started with 6 units of basal. Kept going hypo everynight until we eliminated basal altogether. Humalog is on an as needed basis.

I'm not in the honeymoon based on my c-peptide being lower than a trace, I'm just really sensitive to insulin. If your daughter was hypoing on 6 units, you need to ask your consultant for dosing advice. I also use short-acting for meals. I stayed off insulin for two years (I'm older so had a longer honeymoon period than the average of 3 months.) I wish I'd just started with long-acting injections like suggested in a post above by @tim2000s, to preserve beta cells and possibly extend the honeymoon period, and in the end, it was more difficult to have to start with two types of insulin, when I had to start MDI.

 

[hyponilla]

I had not, thank you for sharing - I did read a lot about type1grid and Dr Bernstien, so this is right up that alley and pretty much similar to what I read elsewhere.

It is still fascinating to me that we are not able to conclusively, decisively, and authoritatively answer this simple question:

"How many carbs a day does a 6-year-old child MUST have for normal growth and development"

I don't envy your place, it's difficult enough to make decisions for yourself when it comes to radical diets.

Dr. Bernstein does monthly teleseminars that you can submit questions to. It could be a good place to ask questions about long-term effects on children who follow low carb diets. He's been doing this for a long time, so my guess would be he's had some younger patients over the years.

 

[Resurgam]

Hi there, did they have diabetes at all?

No - just ordinary - though they are special to me. I have been told that children on low carb diets are stunted in growth - but that does seem to be untrue - my son is about 6ft 3 and my daughter about 5ft 9 or 10. The problem is then switched to intelligence - both offspring have high IQs and university degrees. I think that a diet lacking in high carb foods ought to be considered the normal one, not the one usually given to children - the parents need to follow suite in order to keep up with them and the multitude of grandchildren - my son has 5 offspring so far.

 

[KK123]

No - just ordinary - though they are special to me. I have been told that children on low carb diets are stunted in growth - but that does seem to be untrue - my son is about 6ft 3 and my daughter about 5ft 9 or 10. The problem is then switched to intelligence - both offspring have high IQs and university degrees. I think that a diet lacking in high carb foods ought to be considered the normal one, not the one usually given to children - the parents need to follow suite in order to keep up with them and the multitude of grandchildren - my son has 5 offspring so far.

Thanks for replying. I guess there is no way of telling what attributes are down to low carbing and what are down to DNA and so on but your children are clearly healthy. My own children are over 6ft and intelligent too but I would be lying if I said they were brought up on a low carb diet. I also don't think low carbing in children leads to stunted growth, I wonder if there is any evidence of this? x

 

[smc4761]

There’s a lot to unpack in this thread, as a low carb T1 myself, there’s a lot I could say but just don’t have time right now.

But can I respectfully suggest that you modify the way you refer to carbs around your daughter - words like “good” and “bad” in relation to food can be incredibly psychologically damaging. Perhaps consider words like “fast” or “rapid” in relation to carbs like juice/pancakes and “slow” or “slower” in relation to the kind you’d think of as “good”. Talk about them in relation to the speed at which they impact her blood sugar, not as a moral judgment. Sometimes she’ll *need* fast carbs to get her out of a hypo - how do you think she’ll feel about that if she’s being conditioned to believe they’re “bad”?

We have a winner, excellent post @LooperCat very concise and informative as always

We have to remember that this a 6 year old the parents are dealing with. I am sure your average 6 year old old may be frightened/confused as to what this "diabetes thing" is. To try to add in another layer of restrictions may make them more confused.

By all means limit the amount of carbs, per meal, if your child and you are happy with his. As with all things in life, everything in moderation and a good healthy and balanced diet is what we should all be aiming for.

Be wary of forums however, in some forums you can tend to get people who are at one end of the extreme, or the other. They can be passionate about their views and may try to influence others to their point of view. Do you own research and take the parts that you think are good information. Most importantly please discuss with your child, after all its is their life