Son newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetis.

Hi Tracey and welcome, I'll 'bump' your post up the forum in the hope that other parents will see it and assist.

Hi Tracey

My daughter was diagnosed 3 years ago aged 9.
Our hospital won't provide carb counting training or info for children or parents or carers!
I taught myself usi8ng an online course called bdec which i found really helpful.

My son was diognosed 3 months ago, he's 11. We haven't started carb counting yet, but his levels are really quite good. Although I am dreading Christmas . Not to sure about diabetic chocolate for his stocking.

Gobby avenger said:

My son was diognosed 3 months ago, he's 11. We haven't started carb counting yet, but his levels are really quite good. Although I am dreading Christmas . Not to sure about diabetic chocolate for his stocking.

Click to expand...

I was the same, dreaded the 1st christmas!!
I've never bought diabetic chocolate for my daughter: 1 - it still contains carbs and it is the total carbs that count not just the sugar content and 2 - eating a lot of sweetners will cause an upset tummy.
I let my daughter have whatever she wants at christmas, but i try to encourage her to have chocolate and sweets straight after a meal to slow the glucose spike and just add on the carbs to her meals and give extra insulin to cover them.

My daughters levels are up and down as well, **** hormones i reckon!!

I dread Christmas every year now, it is stressful enough without adding this into the mix.
I end up making her test and correct every 2 hours to handle the effects of chocolate and the higher amount of carbs.

Good luck at the hospital this morning

hi tracey, i've a neice who was diagnosed 2 weeks ago, she's 4, counting carbs and doing the corrections are the main worries also for my sister. I'm a type 1 myself, have been for 4 yrs but it's only after taking the Dafne course 2 yrs ago that i've been counting carbs. This was a week long 9 to 5 course and it was brilliant but obviously there's alot to take in. Ruby's levels are quite high at the moment but they're coming down gradually as her dosage increases, sugar free jelly and sticks of cheese have taken over from her custard creams but with two sisters and 3 cousins( mum looks after all 6, 4days a week) we're expecting big problems when the selection boxes and quality streets come out. The carb counting does work though once you get the hang off it, for me i keep things simple by having the same breakfast and lunch 6 days a week, boring but means only have to weigh and calculate my evening meal, understand that's not going to happen with a child though lol. Hope you're son's levels stabilise quickly and carb counting goes like clockwork!

Tracey, i don't have family around either, i'm a single mum and friends are reluctant to look after her so know how you feel!

Do the bdec online course that i did, i found it really useful, it was devised by Bournemouth hospital and is free.
http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

We are trying chocolate after dinner tonight to try and work out how to handle it on the pump in preparation for Christmas!!
I have found with her that it takes a while to digest and impact on her levels so when she was on injections i used to delay giving the insulin for chocolate, on xmas day i had a massive list of what she'd eaten when, how many units i'd given when and how many i needed to give later, i had a headache by the end of the day :lol:

I find sweets a lot easier to deal with than chocolate!
My youngest can't have dairy so tends to be more sweets than chocolate here anyway.
She has a chocolate advent calendar which has been ok, really small amounts aren't too bad.

I find things like cakes also cause problems for her but i found that she can get away with a mini muffin in her lunch which are only 5-7g carbs depending on flavour.