• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

school pack lunches

C

chamki

Member
Hi can any parents help with advise about what they give to there children in pack lunches for school? My son is newly diagnosed and I feel any snacks i give him shoots his sugar up. even with lunches its confusing as to what to give him as literally everything has carbs in it. also my son wants to try school dinners!!! how do i work out the carbs in his school meals? what low carb snacks can i give him to eat in between meals as he gets very hungry. any advise will be greatly appreciated.
 
Crackers are about 5 carbs and there's some called tuk's which are 2 carbs these are good snacks also half a apple small pack of raisans . I put in my child's lunch half a sandwich a orange a pack of chedders or dairy lee Dunkers and a yoghurt ,she eats diner around 12.30 and her bloods at 3.00 is around 7-8 . Carrots are also a good snack and my daughter lives off sugar free jelly .hope this helps


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I wouldn't give a diabetic child food that comes mainly in packets I'd give cheese, cold meat slices, berries, raw salad veggies. Home made quiche without pastry, sausages, home made burger wrapped in a lettuce leaf. If your child likes it, home made coleslaw is good. I've been making it with red cabbage and it's lovely. Then if your child needs carbs at all, I might put in a SMALL packet of crisps. The fat makes them digest more slowly. I think "Quavers" work well. If yogurt then whole milk natural yogurt with your own fruit added. Sugar free jelly is ok as long as you don't overdose on polyols.
Hana
 
Bad advice for children full stop. Always give growing children carbs. They really do need them. Unlike alot of the population children are very active, much more unpredictably so. They need to put in carbs to prevent hypos. Having what you suggest and add in activity would = hypo. Obviously nothing very high in sugar, but high gi carbs where possible.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Not sure what insulin regime your son is on, weather fixed amounts at meal times or if you adjust insulin according to carb content. Might be a bit boring I know but, for a few days would try giving a set amount of carbs in a lunchbox. 2 slices Wholegrain bread with filing of choice. Carbs are listed on bread packaging as each slice so would be easy to work that out. Many filings carb free. A packet of crisps, again carbs stated on back of pack and with the bonus of different flavourings. An apple or bananna, and a cheese stick and a sugar free drink. roughly worked out as different brands vary as
2 x bread 17 carbs each total 34 carbs
1 x pack of crisps 14 carbs
apple or bananna 15~20 carbs depending on weight.
Total meal 63~68 carbs.
If your current insulin dose causes a low or high adjust the next day accordingly if okayed by your dsn as there may be other circumstances I'm unaware of.
Tricky one would be school dinners. My son (not diabetic) has a set menu for school dinners having the same meal each day of the week. I'm sure it would be possible for you to contact the school and have help in having a menu and carb content worked out. However that would only be of help if you are able to adjust the dose for each meal. As one meal may be alot higher/lower in carbs,gi content so having a fixed dose would not be suitable. Something which you need to discuss and arrange with your dsn.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I wasn't aware i needed to put my daughter on low carb ? Was told she can eat carbs as long as I give insulin to match also was told she needs adequate carbs as not to hypo? She has about 55-60 for lunch we try use GI index so always good bread but I only give one slice,halved ham and coleslaw counting the carbs in coleslaw a normal kids yoghurt like a frube so she feels like the other children or sugar free jelly she can add her fruit too . frubes 6.9 carbs and rough same in sugar but as I add a cheese chunk I think this slows down the sugar being absorbed so fast we also add a handful of seeds as well.as low GI stops her lunch being absorb too quick giving her a high then a hypo


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Best way, small steps. Trying to do everything all in one go such as getting basal rates,bolus rates learning to adjust for different activities etc = impossible. One thing at a time, and you'll soon be there:) you probably already know but remember when you adjust basal it will effect bolus ratios, so get the basal rates down first.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
No I didn't no I have so many questions but feels I get on the nurses nerves . Can I totally go off subject,sorry, but how much can bloods machine be off? When made Chloe's tea shouted her she was as fine as anything been playing all happy but bg said 3.3 we treated but I posted about her losing awareness but not sure if meter wrong sometimes as she was better than fine


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi,
Carb counting isn't too difficult to learn. This sample booklet tells you how to do it.http://www.ndr-uk.org/Diabetes/Introduc ... ook-1.html It's probably meant to be used alongside a dietitian but it sets out how to do it.


( chamki ,
I don't know what sort of insulin your child is on .If they are on twice daily mixed insulin they will need to have similar amounts of carbs for each lunch.
Even if they are using a rapid insulin for meals you may not want to create problems by having varying carb content so for just learning to carb count skip to p4 and then ignore the second part from p22 about how to adjust bolus insulin . )

Many people also find the carbs and cals book or application very useful.

I found a couple of examples of packed lunches for children with T1 online. Unfortunately, both from the US so some of the things may not be available (and I think both have a few things that are a bit overprocessed) but they give some ideas.
Oh and I've reread them , Personally, as an adult, I would be wary about including neat orange juice myself as in the second example. They tend to be very fast acting.
http://spoonful.com/type1/a-week-of-per ... unch-boxes
http://www.battlediabetes.com/articles/ ... betic-kids
 
I have a diabetic girl in my school where I work. I look after her at school and i must say it was a bit tricky at the beggining. Kids are very active and needs carbs more than adults. I would advise you to contact school and meet the person who is taking care of your daughter. You need to work out some kind of routine, check the snack and lunch time, PE lessons or break time when children are allowed to play at the playground (which means extra carbs). It takes time but you should be able to work out how much insulin your daugther needs at school. I wouldnt go low carb for a child but I think you should avoid sugary yogurts, white bread or any kind of 'bad food'. School lunches are planned in advanced so I dont think there should be problem with carb counting for it.
 
Meters have, I think a 20% tolerance higher/lower. with a reading of 3.3 it would only be a .66 difference. Obviously, this is more of a concern if reading high as eg if the meter read a 10, could be an 8 or 12 effecting the correction dose. also would depend on quality/qauntity of blood sample.
always treat a under 4 reading even if feeling ok. Old saying four is the floor. This is because if reading four, 9 times out of 10 the levels will continue to drop.
May not be a loss of hypo awareness as non diabetics can read 3 plus and be perfectly fine as their body will fix it. but using insulin, causes the body to produce ALOT slower its own sugar to sort out, which is why dometimes you treat a hypo but end up alot higher as the body has a delayed reaction in trying to short out the low. If dropping very quickly can make it harder to recognise lows.
Often, I usually feel when I'm around four and have a snack, only when im below 3 will I start getting bad hypo symptoms. I would imagine it would be difficult to express how they would recognise being around four as I can't even really, just feel a funny feeling lol. Also activity can produce a quick drop making it harder to recognise which is why out is advised to test before during and after activity, record readings and learn from them.
apologies for the essay.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Thank you so much guys for all your advise. It has been really helpful. I think I will stick to pack lunches for a little while and tackle school lunches at a later stage!!!!!.
 
Chamki sorry to hijack ur post! Most school are fantastic at helping you keep kids safe at school we have a book I send in everyday with the carb amount she needs to inject for and they also records activity times and if they effected her sugars at break all the kids have milk and bagels but this is too much carbs for Chloe unless she injected so I send her with a snack to eat with kids but that's under 10 carbs

Brett thanks for your advise I always treat hypos quickly she mainly only has them if we late for food if she eats every 4 hours she's always great with bloods levels and if food running late ill give her a cracker or fruit but today shed been over doing trampoline and dinner half hour late.i can't wait for the pump so we can adjust when I no she will be very active as she does gymnastics as well .


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Back
Top