Preventing night time hypos

[LornaO]

We're managing my daughter's type 1 well but she has some nights where her bg drops really quickly overnight and we try to 'head off' the impending hypo. The trouble is she is only 5 so getting her to wake up to eat a biscuit is really difficult and I'm looking for alternatives that would suit her better. Does anyone use something like the energy gels for sports as I have them for running and they are 22g of carbs of which 0.6g sugars. She'd only need half with being small but do they act like a longer acting carb or are they short term? We change the basal insulin dose and carb ratios too but as you'll all understand, sometimes it just isn't right. She's on injections of Levemir and Novorapid and we now use Freestyle Libre. Thanks.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @LornaO ,

This one is realy old school from back when I was a kid. Still works for me now 41 years later!
(A classic HCP recommendation.)

Does your daughter drink milk?

 

[Diabeticliberty]

Belvita biscuits release carbohydrate very slowly. Perhaps get her to have some before bed? You suggest she is small so you may have to try her with one or maybe two and monitor the effect. Make adjustments before finding what works best for her. If indeed they are any good. I hope you find something that works for her.

 

[LornaO]

Hi @LornaO ,

This one is realy old school from back when I was a kid. Still works for me now 41 years later!
(A classic HCP recommendation.)

Does your daughter drink milk?

She does-that's a really good idea as she might just cooperate if we give her 150mls. She can be reluctant some nights to help (understandable I guess, she's normally fast asleep) but loves dextrogel. I'll give it go with milk next time and thank you for that suggestion, I don't know why I didn't think of it!

 

[LornaO]

Belvita biscuits release carbohydrate very slowly. Perhaps get her to have some before bed? You suggest she is small so you may have to try her with one or maybe two and monitor the effect. Make adjustments before finding what works best for her. If indeed they are any good. I hope you find something that works for her.

Thank you!

 

[Jaylee]

She does-that's a really good idea as she might just cooperate if we give her 150mls. She can be reluctant some nights to help (understandable I guess, she's normally fast asleep) but loves dextrogel. I'll give it go with milk next time and thank you for that suggestion, I don't know why I didn't think of it!

Hi,

Getting a healthy cooperation on a low would reduce the stress all round...
Hopefully, You may even find your daughter will wake herself & feel the need to treat her low?

Wishing your family all the best!

 

[Scott-C]

she has some nights where her bg drops really quickly overnight and we try to 'head off' the impending hypo.

Have you been able to identify any pattern as to why there are those large drops? If she's not having them all nights, just some, it suggests her basal is ok, so might be worthwhile looking at what has happened in the 6 or 12 or 18 hours before going to bed to get some indicators as to the cause.

For example, in the day before those drop-nights, if she regularly goes to PE class, or some after school activity involving exercise, or even just plain old running around a lot with her mates in the time before going to bed, exercise can often lead to a delayed "after drop" quite a few hours later, so, if you can see any sort of correlation there between what she's done activity-wise and what then happens drop-wise, maybe consider tailing off the last evening bolus a bit and/or a piece of unbolused toast/milk for supper.