Parent of 2 year old type 1 recently diagnosed

[Gemmablower]

My daughter was diagnosed at Christmas type 1, she is 2 years old and is in the remission phase.
She has always had a very healthy balanced diet with any chocolate or crisps being used as treats now and then. I have been watching certain foods usually high GI and how they effect her sugars and have noticed they can spike her so much that it might require a ratio change when she eats them. How do other people deal with this with children? Offending foods are weetabix, watsits and m+s light yogurts. Does anyone know if watsits are high GI? They seem to be showing a pattern of really spiking her. Can any mums give some low carb snack ideas and tell me how many carbs per meal there little one would usually eat?

 

[Spiker]

Wotsits GI is probably off the chart. For anything that seems to spike her BG, I would just withdraw that particular food, more or less permanently. That is what adult T1s do. We watch out for spiky foods and avoid them, or treat them with caution.

Bless you for thinking about these things and caring for her, by the way.

 

[Spiker]

By the way a ratio change for high GI foods or spiky foods is dangerous because the total amount of carbs in the food hasn't changed, just the speed of onset. So an increase in carb ratio could quite likely cause her to have a hypo a couple of hours later.

A better technique with spiky foods, if you don't just eliminate them altogether, is to inject earlier. Maybe half an hour early, if you have first done a blood test to ensure BG is not low.

 

[Gemmablower]

Thank you for your reply, I assumed wotsits would be a slow carb but now I think about it they pretty much melt as soon as they hit your mouth so can imagine they are absorbed very quickly. what snacks would you use that were a slow carb? She's fine with fruit, apples, berries and biscuits like malted milk, rich tea, cheddars and they don't cause any spikes any other ideas for carbs that don't normally spike? What crisps would your be better of with as a treat for her?

 

[Spiker]

Well fruit (fresh, not dried) is much better than anything based on processed flour or potato. I realise that covers most children's snack food these days. I don't want to be all dogmatic and I do know what little kids are like, but you might be doing her a very big favour in the long run if she can grow up not needing or craving any processed snacks. And I also know that processed snacks are usually much cheaper and even giving fresh fruit as snacks can be expensive. So I sympathise.

 

[Spiker]

Check if the M&S light yoghurt are low fat or low sugar. If they are low fat that often means high sugar / high carb. And even low sugar sometimes means high carb, believe it or not - you must check the nutritional labelling every time. Which the government and supermarkets are making much harder than before with their stupid dumbed down Traffic Lights system, which tells a diabetic (or parent of a diabetic child) absolutely nothing useful and could be dangerously misleading. :-(

 

[Gemmablower]

Thank you, I wouldn't change any ratios when it comes to the GI of food without consulting first. It was the weetabix in the morning that made me question the ratio when she eats it as by lunch time she was to high. Also the problem was with having wotsits when needing a 10g snack 2 hours after lunch and the spike would be right before dinner spiking about another 4mmol than what was expected.

 

[Gemmablower]

Check if the M&S light yoghurt are low fat or low sugar. If they are low fat that often means high sugar / high carb. And even low sugar sometimes means high carb, believe it or not - you must check the nutritional labelling every time. Which the government and supermarkets are making much harder than before with their stupid dumbed down Traffic Lights system, which tells a diabetic (or parent of a diabetic child) absolutely nothing useful and could be dangerously misleading. :-(

The carb contents in yogurts is 8g and they have very little fat and sweeteners?

 

[Spiker]

Well if she is consistently too high 4 hours later regardless of what type of food it is, then you would need to raise her carb ratio. Slowly and carefully.

 

[Spiker]

The carb contents in yogurts is 8g and they have very little fat and sweeteners?

Sounds fine then. Though keep an eye out in case she spikes from dairy products, that's not uncommon.

 

[Gemmablower]

That's just it she's not high when she has her normal shreddies and petite filous yogurt for breakfast, it's perfect she wakes at 6mmol and pre lunch she would be back to 6 or 4mmol But if eating weetabix she could be more like 12-14 on the high side so find it very strange.

 

[Spiker]

Problem solved. Ditch Weetabix and M&S [light yoghurt] and stick with shreddies and petit filous. Congratulations on your detective work. Many people would have missed the cause of the spiking.

 

[Gemmablower]

Thank you for your advice it's been helpful and has gone in. it's bloody hard though I do limit how often she has them because I realise they raise her 4 hours later but hard as just diagnosed and you don't want to deprive them to much and before I know it shreddies will become boring! Thanks again

 

[Spiker]

Yeah I would be on the lookout for something else she can have that won't spike her, to provide variety. Maybe shredded wheat? Maybe rice crispies?

 

[Spiker]

If you can get her to like porridge, that will help her out all her life because it's very low GI. I'm lucky that my parents got me to like set porridge as a child. I know some people don't like but diabetics who don't like it are missing a useful food.

 

[Gemmablower]

She loves porridge actually I was ruling that out as she to can be higher than normal after eating this therefore I think ratios might need tweaking slightly as it's the amount of carbs she is eating that is causing the rise 4 hours later not the GI and when she eats porridge it would normally be more carbs than the bowl of shreddies. Sounds obvious now! Will speak with consultant thank you

 

[Robinredbreast]

The carb contents in yogurts is 8g and they have very little fat and sweeteners?

Hi and welcome to the forum, your avatar is lovely. I too eat kids yogurt's, I like them a lot. I recently found a pack of 'children's' 6 X Tesco yogurt's , with added beetroot and added carrot. I carb count and I find these types okay for me.
You seem to be coping well and on the ball too. My granddaughter was diagnosed at 2 1/2 years, but from what I gather her 'diet' is not really the best tbh. She is 6 now and is coming round with her sister after school today for nana time and dinner
Take care and wishing you and your daughter all the best for a happy and a bright future

RRB

 

[Gemmablower]

Hi and welcome to the forum, your avatar is lovely. I too eat kids yogurt's, I like them a lot. I recently found a pack of 'children's' 6 X Tesco yogurt's , with added beetroot and added carrot. I carb count and I find these types okay for me.
You seem to be coping well and on the ball too. My granddaughter was diagnosed at 2 1/2 years, but from what I gather her 'diet' is not really the best tbh. She is 6 now and is coming round with her sister after school today for nana time and dinner
Take care and wishing you and your daughter all the best for a happy and a bright future

RRB

Thank you I will have a look in tescos at the yogurts there as variety without changing to much always seems to help keep things interesting for her.
Enjoy your family dinner time, it's nice for your GD to have someone in the family that she is close to who is also diabetic, normalises things for her I expect x

 

[Dillinger]

Hi Gemma,

Here is a link to a blog set up by an Australian mum who's son is Type 1; there are loads of low carb recipes on there.

She's pretty amazing at helping her boy keep almost perfect blood sugars. He's a teenager now but I think it would still be helpful for you.

http://diabeticalien.blogspot.co.uk/

On porridge I can't eat it at all; it hits me with a huge spike really quickly which then disappears equally quickly so the problems it causes are difficult to detect.

Best

Dillinger

 

[Dillinger]

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