My 12 year old "forgets" to put in his carbs into his pump when he snacks. This makes it hard to know if I need to adjust his pump settings because he is growing, I have put signs up in the cabinet where the snacks are and also on his mirror. This does not seem to help. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
I wish I had words of wisdom, but we are having the same problem with our 9 year old. If you come up with something, I would love to know.
UGH! My child is only 5 and I expect she will be the same way. Does the pump have a timer setting - I know the meter we have has an alarm to test - maybe if he has to turn off the alarm every couple of hours (though at 12 I imagine he is almost snacking non stop)it will remind him to bolus even if it is after the fact? DOes he have a CGM? If it alarms every time he goes high it might make him more aware. Though both of these will only help if he is being forgetful - not if he is doing it on purpose...
GOOD LUCK!!! Let us know if you find anything that works.
hi barry, i do feel your pain my son is almost 14 and his numbers have been creeping up, so it is time to adjust basals. jacob is pretty responsible and always has been so we have not had that particular problem. however, i am a little bit of a mother hen and he is rarely home alone so he doesnt have to many opportunities to mess up so to speak. different children are at different levels with taking over their own care. it seems like he may be telling you in a not so subtle way that he is not ready physically or emotionally to have that responsibility. we all want our kids to be independent but this is a big deal in their life, a major inconvience to say the least! my plan is to very gradually hand over control as the years go by and do the most i can for him now so he can enjoy being a kid and not feel the burden of diabetes more than he already does. he has shown he is pretty responsible out socially and bolusing accordingly, most of the time :(. he ate nondiet beverages at a party and bolused some but not enough and came home at 480 bs damn cool aid! but anyways i guess i dont have any practical advise, just that he may not be ready for the responsibility. if serious conversations about being more responsible havent worked i would back off and make sure he is supervised if possible. hang in there, it's a tough road, but we can draw support from eachother! best wishes, amy
How about a reward system? It has to be something he really wants and he only gets it if he does the bolus when he snacks carbs?
We had the similar issue whereby my son (9) would bolus at school for selected food and then would be hungry for more but "forgot" to bolus again (too lazy I say, to much to do when you just want to eat and go play). I didn't fuss about it, just tried to understand at first why high at pick up. He was open and told me so I used that as a teaching moment: you see when you eat and not bolus your BG goes high and you do not feel great, isn't it. If you just quickly bolus again you'll feel much better at the pick up. If he does it I give him a small prize (new fancy rubber etc). I do want him to realize the cause and effect link and as you I do want him to take care of himself, one day. GOOD LUCK and keep us posted, the teenage years are in front of us - yey!
P.S. May be (if you have not done it yet) make it easier for him by labeling typical snack foods or hanging a chart up on the fridge if remembering carbs is too much for him
hi barry, i was thinking of your problem over night! yup i worry about others problems and mine but i do sleep well, to exhausted i guess!!! but anyways i agree with the previous poster and a reward system. is he to old for this, maybe a white board or something he can quickly write down what he ate, and bolused once you see this you can have him track his progress some type of sticker chart and then get a reward after so many stickers? sounds kind of juvinile but he might be just young enough to go for it. try to put yourself in his shoes and remember positive reinfocement gets way beter results than negative. hang in there! amy
I think you raise a good question - is it being done on purpose or is he being forgetful? He says he is being forgetful and I believe him. He tests five times a day so we are are able to pick up the highs and then he boluses. I am not sure if these spikes each day will do any long term damage if his A1C is reasonable. I will ask his endo. He generally does not feel bad when he is high so that is not a dis-incentive.
Thank you. I try to look at the big picture and focus on obtaining a reasonable A1C.Let's see what ideas people share.
Thank you for your comments. I know that at times he is just tired of dealing with diabetes. I think the best thing is to make sure he tests regularly so any highs can be picked up and dealt with as quickly as possible. He said that my signs around the house help to remind him sometime.
Thanks for your suggestions. One of the challenges at 12 is that sometimes a high comes from hormone spikes. When he tests high and I ask him if he forgot to put in a bolus sometimes he will say he did not forget but when I check his insulin pump I will see no bolus. I tell him he will not be in trouble if he tells me he forgets but that it is important for me to know so I can make adjustments to his pump settings. Most of the snack food I buy are individual packs and he knows how to find the carb amounts. I agree with you that each time is a teachable moment since our goal is independence.
Thank you for your suggestions and for taking the time to think this through. From the comments it sounds like it is a pretty common occurrence. I like the idea of him writing down his snacks and will bring that up to him.