hello everyone we’re new here ! my 12 yo daughter (type 1) had a low (70 – but we know she needs to be around 100 when she goes to bed) at bedtime this evening and we had a discussion about what seems best to eat in that case & how much of it – to keep you from another low until morning but avoid a very high during the night. i was wondering if any of you has one or several suggestions ? thank you !
Peanut butter crackers, milk, 1/2 a glucerna shake or bar.
thank you MsShelly. my daughter loves PB ! may I ask what a glucerna shake is ? (i’m not in the US and it sounds mysterious to me !)
Glucerna is a nutritional shake specifically for people with diabetes, they also have bars kind of like a granola or a meal replacement type bar. There are other brands as well such as boost, I am sure most any type of meal replacement or nutritional shake or bar would be about the same. Just look for something with longer acting protein to keep her blood glucose steady longer.
Normally, a slow acting carb and a protein is recommended. Like Ms. Shelly said, pb is good, crackers, bread, MILK is great, cheese, fruit, yogurt. As mentioned, a carb and a protein will help keep sugars stable but you should treat the low first and then give extra carbs. I know 70 is not technically a low (at least not here in Montreal, Canada), here a low is 66 but regardless I would maybe treat the low sugar and give a snack. I also recommend maybe checking her sugar at least once in the night to make sure all is well.
Good luck.
When DS was diagnosed, nine years ago now, his Dr. recommended ice cream. It works great for him. i know some people see spikes after it, but my son does not at all and he wakes up right in range. Also chocolate keeps him nice and flat. We only give about 15g of whatever he is eating for his nighttime snack and it serve as his dessert as well as keeping him even.
thanks so much for the info ! i’ll have to check if we have something similar here. i would bet i will have more luck with nutrional bars, because France is not the best place to be diabetic and i have doubts there is a specific line of food, other than maybe in large places like Paris… i’m gluten-free and the French are really bad about that too ! 
Jodil – thank you !
I agree 70 is not really a low (same here in France) but as I said for her + before the night, it is.
I usually give her a little piece of whole bread with a teaspoon of PB, nutella or butter, and she often have a mini homemade raspberry milkshake… so I guess we’re not far from what people here kindly recommend. And she woke up at 90 today, so… 
!
oh my ! she certainly wouldn’t say no to these treats ! i make our own icecream (with no white refined sugar but a friendlier option like agave syrup, whole sugar or coconut sugar) so i guess i will have to calculate how much of it, along with a little piece of bread or a cracker… i’m sure that would work, and probably without spiking too much. thank you for the suggestion ! ps : do you give your son any type of chocolate or do you stick to the dark type ?
He prefers dark, but really we use anything we have on hand. With Halloween coming, we will have mini chocolate bars that we will use for nighttime for a couple of weeks.
Bonjour Valerie,
Parler vous francais?
Yes, you are on the same track as us Canadians (Quebecers) as far as snacks. I agree I WOULD NEVER put my son to bed with a blood sugar of 70 regardless of whether it is a true low without giving an extra snack first. My son LOVES nutella and peanut butter so that on bread with a glass of milk is said to be a good snack.
Bien a vous,
Jodi
Hi daneenm,
We too will be stocking up on the mini chocolates. I think these are great for diabetic kids as they get to have a small treat so not to feel left out without having too big a sugar rush. I just opened a box of chocolates I bought for Halloween and took out all the mini smarties (m & m’s) for my son as he loves these and I know each mini box is 8 carbs.
Happy Halloween.
PS…THis is my son’s first Halloween as a diabetic…when first diagnosed he thought that was the end of Halloween so we are glad to see he got into the spirti (I think the initial diagnosis is so shocking it takes a child time to adjust).
I know what you mean. When my son was dx, it was September and we swung totally non-candy, for ‘fear’ of what it would do to him. In time, we adjusted and learned that we did not have to handle anything differently. We pretty much go with the approach of everything in moderation and that works for him too.
If this is your first Halloween, I will give you a word of caution…my son runs LOW every Halloween! My theory is the excitement and activity does it, but we actually have to have him dig into his candy while he is trick-or-treating to keep him up. Again, in moderation - he picks one or two while he is out. You may have a totally different experience, but this was so counter-intuitive for his the first time, i always mention it.
Thanks…he could run low b/c of the excitement and all the running around from house to house. I am sending his flashlight and meter with my husband (I stay home to hand out treats) and having them check his sugar a few times if needed.
My son’s pump is set to adjust him to 125 on any snack eaten after 9pm. He puts the carbs in and instead of adjusting to 100 as the rest of the day, it corrects to 125 for bedtime. It then is set to start giving more insulin at about 3am to slowly adjust him back to 100 by waking/breakfast.
He is 17 so if he did not have the 3 am adjustment, he would wake up not at 125 but higher at about 150 or even 175 due to the dawning effect and hormones.
We are relatively new to this (my son was diagnosed in May of this year, he is 4 now), but we often give a 8-10 carb snack at bedtime, usually in the form of nuts. Some of his favorites are pistachios and almonds. This works for us. Originally they suggested giving him a snack if his blood sugar was below 150, although we have figured out his body would still take his blood sugar too low over night. So, now we give him a snack regardless of his bs, even if its 250. He still wakes every morning at about 100-120.
thank you ladies ! it is a warm glow in my heart that we can to exchange ideas, opinions, feelings, experiences here. there 's a halloween sleepover at my house so i can’t reply individually now; but i certainly will before next weekend. i hope life will be kind/gentle on our little & less little ones tomorrow. best wishes to everyone xx
My son is 12 and going throug puberty too...battling highs has been our "norm". BUT...I think I have a new discovery. He is on the omnipod and for John, this seems true. If he eats a low carb dinner, and all the insulin has gone through by bedtime, AND if he is is a good target zone, (150-200), then, when I check him at 10:30 and 2am, I usually find that he is still in that target zone and I don't have to feed him or give a correction in the middle of the night. So, it seems that dinner is key to managing nighttime. John has had lows (50's) at 2 am so this new "discovery" is so encouraging to me, if this proves to be true in the future.I hope this helps!
It may also be that a lot of the carbs that this age group likes (or we all like) are also high fat and that will continue to rise many hours (6-8) after it has been eaten and not be offset by the insulin taken with the meal. I know there are options on the pump that can be programmed to add insulin later, but we don't use this if it goes into the night. We have missed the target too many times after Saturday lunch pizza and had him too low to be comfortable with that feature when he is sleeping.
Most of the lows my son has during the night we think are due to his late afternoon and evening sports. We are always aware of 6 hours after an activity because that is when he drops. He is more aware and knows to temp his basal after an organized activity, like hockey, but it is the impromptu soccer game, shhoting hoops, frisbee, working sports medicine and all that is harder to gauge and know if a temp basal is needed during the activity and after.