my two year old is type 1 and wont eat

[char nd jay]

hi everyone,

my two year old was diagnosed with type 1 about 6 weeks after been miss diagnosed twice! when we finaly got her to hospital and diagnosed she had bms of 33.5 and was very poorly and almost in a coma poor thing she was constantly going to the loo and losing weight she lost about 5kg in 2 weeks she was sick everything she eat and sometimes drank and hardley ever stayd awake and was very floopy! after 4 days in hospital we came home with levermir and nova rapid junior pen her doses went up then down again now after being back in hospital on thursday night and friday after having a fit and her sugers been 2.5 and the paramedics struggled to get her bms up and a night in a&e n hospital's children ward ,

but since then she has almost point blank refussed to eat apart from the odd rasien and the odd rich tea biccy , she licks her food then says its hot (even when its cold) and says finishd before having one or two mouthfulls. she wil ask for foods give them to her and she wont eat them ?

her sugers have been btween 5 and 12.5 over the last few days with just 1 unit of levermir 1st thing and one unit of nova-rapid yesterday and 1 unit of levermir 1st thing today, over the past few days she has been very aggravated and moody ,grumpy and lashing out is this normal?

has anyone any tips?advice about how to get her to eat again ? and to keep her sugers up enuff to giv her nova rapid ?

many thanks

char n jay

 

[donnellysdogs]

Pre diabetic- and I was a kid, my parents had an awful time with me eating. I was largely brought up on complan, full cream milk and a touch of flavour as complan was plain in those days....

The thing that made me eat was my Mum and Dad going on holidays with my 2 brothers and leaving me at home with my Nan to look after me.....telling me quite clearly the reasons why...I was too much bother with my eating, and that unless I ate properly I would not be going with them for any holiday!!!!! Nowadays, Ithink my parents would be locked away for treating me like it-but it did the trick....mind you I must have been somewhere between 6 and 8 before they did this trick on me!!!!

Has your child got a favourite food? I cannot help parent wise aspect for helping a child with insulin...I so dearly wish I could...I do not envy you or any other parent with your concerns and worries.

There are some fantastic parents here, I am sure they will be along to answer soon.......

 

[ebony321]

Just bumping you up so someone can help better than i

 

[SophiaW]

Oh your poor baby, sounds like she's had a dreadful time.

Was your daughter eating before her most recent episode of going back into hospital as a result of the hypo/fit? Is it possible and has it been checked that she hasn't bitten her tongue or cause some pain to her mouth during the fit which might be hindering her eating?

Usually when blood sugars start to come down after starting insulin the child becomes incredibly hungry. It seems that she may be wanting to eat as she asks for food but something stops her from eating it. If this continues I would definitely get back in touch with your doctors to see if they can help. When she's on insulin it's important that she eats otherwise you may get repeated hypo episodes which you want to avoid.

My suggestion in the meantime is to try easy to eat foods like yoghurts, ice creams, jelly (you can get a sugar free jelly). Maybe leave some snack items on a plate for her to take and munch on whenever she feels like it rather than being faced with a meal and expected to eat it all in one go. You want to get something down her to stimulate her appetite again. Make sure if she's not eating then at least she's getting lots of fluids. But definitely seek professional help if her appetite does not return.

The moods swings are to be expected. She only very little still and all that she's been through must be very traumatic for her. Try to give her lots of cuddles and be as understanding as you can be. She has a huge adjustment to make in her life with all these injections and changes going on around her, it must be very unsettling for her. The mood swings can also be the result of fluctuations in blood sugars and hunger. It will get better as things begind to stabalise and you and your daughter get to grips with diabetes, but there will be a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the short term.

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

Hello there and welcome!

I suppose I have to ask what your daughter was like with her eating before she started feeling unwell? I am a believer that children will eat when they get hungry enough and with my son I am often happy to just let him eat what he will easily than force something that ends up causing problems for many meals to come. I'm not saying he eats junk food but if he can only manage fruit puree or the like well that is what he will have. He has been a bit unwell lately and had a bad dose of vomiting that must have hurt his throat and it was making him gag any time he swallowed lumpy food. He's getting back to being his normal good eating self now.

As for general things to eat I have found Pikelets, Yoghurt, Milk and Fruit Puree all good for snacks. Khaleb has weetbix or rolled oats for breakfast and meat and veg for lunch and dinner with a custard or similar after. We do have some things with bread and Khaleb quite likes getting some hot chips when we are out shopping (not too many of these though).

Has your daughter worked out the link between food and injections and is that the reason why she doesn't want to eat? There are so many things that could be going on in her mind and it will be a task to try and find a way for her to express how she is feeling at her age.

Very sorry to hear about the seizure. What a terrible experience for your family. I've heard other people notice behaviour/mood changes but I can't say I've seen that in Khaleb but he's had diabetes for so much of his life he didn't really have a chance to show me any other personality than the one he has now.

All the best getting her eating. I hope she is not losing weight still.

 

[Jude1]

I wonder if she has made a connection between food and being sick when she was poorly in hospital with initial diagnosis. Who wants to eat food if they think they will be sick? My son was an extremely fussy eater. I used to serve a plate of food (what we would normally eat - nothing special) and if he didn't eat it inside 25 mins then it would be taken away (this was after discussion with the dietician). Another thing I would do would be to say he was allowed to leave half of what was on his plate (so he would eat the other half). It is very worrying for any parent, but when your child is diabetic and prone to hypo's it is terrifying. We would give his insulin after the meal so we could adjust it for what he ate. The final thing that got him to eat was one night when he hadn't eaten he had a severe hypo which caused convulsions. When we got his sugars up he said he'd seen a monster with green eyes. We identified that as the "hungry monster". From that point on, whenever he didn't eat, he would be reminded that the hungry monster would come. That was even adopted by his peers at nursery school - they would all tell him too! I have never given him anything special to eat that would normally be considered a treat just to get him to eat, because I never wanted him to use his blood sugars to manipulate us into giving him junk food. My son - after a good few years of worry can now eat as much if not more than me! My daughter - not diabetic - turned out to be an even fussier eater! She refused her meals all the time, so I stopped giving her a plate! Instead I would give myself more food and found that she would then eat from my plate, because she could not bear for me to have something she didn't have herself! I do think however the hospital situation may be where it stemmed from for your daughter and you should seek advice from her dietician.