With Halloween on the horizo, many parents of children with type 1 diabetes will be worrying about their child celebrating Halloween. Parents of diabetic children often fear holiday celebrations, with particularly ‘sweet’ festivities causing the most concern. Trick or treating gives children the chance to eat large numbers of sweets and potentially disrupt their diabetes management . The American Diabetes Association recently released a set of diabetes tips for safe Halloween celebration for children with diabetes .
The tips included: focusing on the dressing up aspect of Halloween rather than the chocolate and sweets. Parents were advised to have a Halloween party themselves in order to control the snacks and treats on offer to children with diabetes . Toy treats could also be substituted for chocolate and sweets.
The ADA also advised parents to make a food plan with children in advance. Parents could check carbohydrate content of trick-or-treat sweets. Parents were also advised to increase activity levels with their children in the days leading up to Halloween. Regular monitoring of blood sugar was also advised.
