I am curious as to how closely you count your child’s carbs. Our DD is 7 and we have been counting her carbs since dx. But we eat a lot of home-made foods and sometimes getting an accurate carb count can be hard - so i will guesstimate from a similar food in the calorie king. We have also run into this in restaurants/or food items that are not listed in the calorie king book. I have heard some people who use salter scales to accurately measure but that really seems like a lot more work. Right now Willow knows how to count a bowl of cereal, snacks that have a nutrition. guide on them, and will ask me if she cannot figure it out. I will usually put a sticky note in her lunch box to let the nurse know the carb count for lunch dosing. But I still do everything with more of a rounding up than with pin pint accuracy. Just wondering if it all really makes that much of a difference. How many of you “guesstimate”? Or are most of you really trying to to count to a tee?
I know for us with our 2 year old son,we really try to be specific. He is still all over the place right now with his BGs and we are just getting started with a pump. I still use the measuring cups and we use a little scale for other foods that are listed by weight. If we decide to venture out to eat I just pack the measuring cups and scale and maybe pack something little that I know for sure he will eat and we know the exact carb. count. It becomes quite a process so we don’t eat out much, plus it isn’t exactly a treat with a 5 year old, 2 year old and 7 month old anyway. I really think he needs more carb. coverage for his meals. He currently uses diluted insulin in his pump, 1/4 strength. His carb. ratio is 1/9 but that would actually be 1/36 of actual insulin. I am sure maybe once we get him all figured out with his carb. ratios and get his BGs more stabilized, we can have a little more wiggle room. But for now I am so worried about getting the exact amount figured out that I still feel the need to measure and weigh everything.
Thanks - I realized that I might have sounded like a “lazy” parent. She is EXTREMELY picky and often eats only a bit of what is presented to her. So the givens that I know for sure - an apple, the bowls of cereal with milk that she will eat, and oatmeal and mac and cheese. I guess after the holidays I had found that carb counting was much harder - since so much of what we had was from someone else and the portions were often mixtures of lots of ingredients - and then she would eat like a tbsp of something. I am sometimes embarrassed to say what I have resorted to feeding her - just so that she gets some protien at each meal. before - D - if she would not eat what I cooked or what we had - she had to try or go hungry - that may sound harsh - but literally she would live on cereal/oatmeal if I let her.
I use that little wheel dial for counting simple things and I try to have her look on the sides of boxes for ingredients. And we use the calorie King. Just yesterday we had a treat (this is a very seldom thing!!) - mini donuts - she was allowed 1 - it was 25 c. - I went on line to KK and looked up the carb count - and when she was done she said - I am still hungry. I explained that she had reached her limit on carbs but was happy to let her have cheese sticks, or a slim jim (i know not very healthy). Later she said to me - wow - I never thought that 1 donut would not fill me up - I think I’ll choose something different next time.
I guess - it feels like I am doing the best I can ( we also have 2 other DD - age 5 and 3) and that still her numbers are all over the place. I try to count as close as possible - but wonder when I can give my self a break for not counting to a tee. ANd also she has lots of activities out of the house - where they will have snacks and such - so that is often a guestimate as to what it is - bc she might say I had a handful of cheetos and 1/2 cup of juice - so then I try as best as I can to figure that out . . .last night she was at girlscouts and they had pizza and cookie then ran around like wild kids! So I planned to give her insulin afterward - but she told me she did not eat any pizza and had 3 cookies. SHe got home and her BG was 167. - no bad. But all she wanted to eat was cereal. So I let her (cheerios, fiber one and milk)and DH was upset bc he thinks she needs other foods than just cereal. Ugghhh . . .the eating thing for us is such a pain. If she would just eat . . .I know this is somewhat of a tangent on my original question - I just needed that vent!
Thanks
Our CDE gave us a book that has regular food in it and how much is 15g of carbs. It is called: Carb counting and Meal Planning. I think that they have a website: ChangingDiabetes-us.com
I use this book quite often when we are trying to figure out how much carbs she is eating in a home cooked meal. We also always use labels. Sometimes the book and labels don’t match. I use the label then. We measure the carbs and soup, cereal, everything that we can to get an accurate serving size. If we eat out I either use the fast food book the CDE gave us,calorie king, or Restraunt Nutrition on my iPod. IF the restraunt isn’t in those I go up to the counter and ask. I live in CA so most restraunts have handouts fro Nutrition.
Vicki How many carbs is your dr. allowing your l/o to have. My DD is 14 and they have her on 45 to 60 carbs per meal because she is still growing. I am just wondering if you have her on the low carb thing? My DD has a hard time even trying to eat the 45 carbs. Let alone 60. We only eat out 1 x a week and then we try to make healthier choices. Pizza is the worst though, and of course her fav. It is a big adjustment. I am lucky and my kids are not picky eaters, jsut my hubby. Good Luck.
We are in WV and most restaurants DO NOT have the nutritional guides avail. I have even asked to speak with managers. Many did not realize that they could get this info . . .I was slightly appalled - but that’s also the downside to living in a less than progressive area!
We count carbs using a salter scale and measuring cups/spoons. Using the scale doesn’t take too much time once you get used to doing it and then you aren’t guessing and worrying. It’s great for home baking! I try to get as close to targets as possible as 5 grams of Carbs below target can mean a low sometimes. As for eating out, I usually guestimate based on what I know from home and correct later if necessary. With a scale, you could take a few hours and measure out weights/carb amounts for commonly eaten snacks for your kids and write this info down so that when they are hungry they themselves could weigh out the appropriate amount and know how many carbs their getting. Generally stick to dinners that are measurable (ie. separate items) or cook from a cookbook that has the nutritional breakdown per serving.
Cheers.
This may come as a surprise - but DH has been D for 15 years and NEVER carb counted. So when DD was dx this summer - this was all really new. It is still hard - bc she sees him “guesstimating” and his family really sees no problem in it. I totally understand how sometimes a difference in 5 carbs can make a difference in her BG later based on what her i:c ratio is.
Currently we are 1/2 u:25c or 1:60 although it is rare that she eats more than 40 c at a meal. Probably only at breakfast when she gets to eat cereal. I make her have a full glass of milk for protien and have her drink the milk and occasionally I can get her to eat an egg - but she prefers cereal and that is one of our only meals that we do not struggle with her to eat!!! So I usually allow for the higher BG and correct as necessary - actually at breakfast I give more like 1:45 and then do the 1:60 for all other meals. It is working for us now.
DH just started the pump and has had to count carbs (due to the CDE making him) for the first time. He says it is eye-opening - (I just roll my eyes - not to him - lol - bc I have tried telling him this for 6 months!!) Anyway. I know that counting carbs will need to be even more exact when we are pumping and we should be soon - but for now I am just trying to do the best I can with a 7 year old who is very picky and eats more like a bird than a kid - unless you let her eat cereal! Oh did I mention - she LOVES cereal! LOL
Thanks for all the ideas - I may look into a salter scale in the near future!
We do the best we can, and we keep a scrap book of nutritional information for all his favorite packaged foods, but like your daughter our son is picky and unpredictable. I try to estimate how much he eats by cutting up his food into a certain number of chunks (10 or 20 if possible) and then I count what’s left on the plate and do the math that way. But sometimes he throws food to the dog, so it’s not an exact science.
Vicki,
I don’t know if this helpful but our CDE suggested that we add peanut butter to our son’s oatmeal (he is also a big oatmeal fan but thankful not a picky eater!) We are blessed with a child who will eat anything; our challenge has been getting him full; we have tried high fiber foods which seem to help. Homemade food can still be a struggle: I just try my best to make an educated guess based on a similiar food in our Calorie King book. The scales sound like a great idea for homemade food.
Thanks for starting this thread; I have been wondering also if other people struggle with being exact in the counting of CHO. I like the scrapbook idea, Elizabeth.
Unfortunatly - at least as I have found - Diabetes is not an exact science - so even w/o throwing food to the dogs - on any given day - a food may react differently than another day - we find in the mornings if I do not bolus her before she eats - she is really high by morning snack at school - 9:45am and she eats breakfast at 7:15 (usually) So I try to have her eat as close to the same thing each morning as possible. But yes - exact science is so hard when it comes to D.
Lorri: I will try the peanut butter - if she will tolerate it. We’ll see - I am guessing the protein in it is what the CDE is wanting you to have? She will eat peanut butter but then will boycott it altogether for days at a time . . .
also, about the peanut butter thing…a family friend has a strange little tradition in her family, which we have now adopted, of eating “peanut butter suckers” - literally just pb on a spoon. not too much though, no choking allowed. we also keep precooked bacon around for waffle or pancake mornings, the protein makes an incredible difference in my son’s morning and lunch readings.
I count the carbs religeously. it goes as far can using calculator and pre packaging things I started using this little store that carries gluten free products and also tons of sugar free products, I take hours to grocery shop cause i could the cars and seee what I can get for the buck and how many carbs per product and you would be super surprised.
when it comes down to it the days i dont guess and i have it together I dont have problems with her
When Riley’s at home I measure everything. I measure his cereal and milk in the morning. I try to be as exact with his carb couns as I can. I measure with measuring cups, but am thinking of buying a scale. When we eat out it’s more of a guess. I used to take measuring cups but have stopped doing that. After three years I can pretty much eyeball what a 1/4 cup looks like. I have a carb book I keep in my pocketbook to help with carb counting. When I’m making something homemade I add up all the carbs I put in and divide it by whatever. For example, if I make a casserole and all the ingredients total 125g carbs, then I’ll measure out about 1/10th of it for Riley and know that it has approx. 12.5 g of carbs. Maybe I’m over the top with it. I don’t know. I do know that sometimes when I’ve guessed we’ve ended up with high numbers which tells me being as accurate as you can with carb counting can make a big difference.
We do not guess unless we are stuck somewhere without a Calorie King book or a Salter scale. Most carb counts of foods she eats are in my head already. Weigh most items at home on the Salter or use measuring cup and Calorie King book. Either/or. Salter is more accurate but Cal King not too far off. In a restaurant, we go for the side aisle tables next to a wall, etc. Ask for paper drink cup and will “measure” discretely with that if in doubt. Rarely have to do that now, can eyeball pasta and rice, etc. Yes, I do same regarding restaurant meals if I can’t get the carb counts. If I can’t find count, I use similar meals in Calorie King as my guide. I don’t bother with entering recipes into the Salter. I either add up all the carbs in the recipe and divide by serving or use allrecipes.com or recipeczar.com and make recipes from those sites, because they give you the full nutritional information for each recipe. P.S. Don’t bake much and cook very simply except on special occasions.
Would any of you mothers like to share your child’s diabetes story on my site? If so, just see my page where my site contents is listed there. Just click on a link, and you’ll go right in to the site itself. On my type 1 page there is a place to submit individual stories. We really need them and I am trying to make this a more “community type,” of site.
Thank you in advance, I hope to see some interesting submissions to help others.
I really think he needs more carb. coverage for his meals. He currently uses diluted insulin in his pump, 1/4 strength. His carb. ratio is 1/9 but that would actually be 1/36 of actual insulin. I am sure maybe once we get him all figured out with his carb. ratios and get his BGs more stabilized, we can have a little more wiggle room. But for now I am so worried about getting the exact amount figured out that I still feel the need to measure and weigh everything.
It is a big adjustment. I am lucky and my kids are not picky eaters, jsut my hubby.