I really need suggestions for meal & snack ideas. My 3 yr old daughter Isabelle was diagnosed 2 months ago. She is on 15g carbs for her three snacks & 30 carbs for her meals. I feel she is eating the same thing day after day. My husband & I work full time, so she eats her breakfast quite early. We have had some problems with her dropping low when she goes to her babysitters (only in the morning), then she tends to go high in the after her nap.
When I read all your posts, everyone seems to know so much & at this point, I don’t even know what food affects her BG…feeling a bit overwhelmed right now! Any advice is appreciated!
First, let me say, you are doing great. At two months, you are expecting a lot of yourself. It takes time to figure out which foods send your child higher than others, and even when you think you have it all down, it changes. Gotta’ love T1D.
Not sure exactly what your daughter’s regime is, as we were never asked to target certain carb amounts for meals. Based on what you said, i would try bumping up the carbs in her morning snack so she does not go low. I am a bit slow in my approach, I change one thing at a time and watch it for 2-3 days to see if a pattern is establishing. It takes a while sometimes, but at least I feel confident that I know what has made an impact. If you change more than one thing at a time, you never really know.
My son was 20 months when he was dx and I used to find that he was a bit high after nap time too. My guess was always that his metabolism slowed down when he slept. You could give her a correction in that window, or keep her snack low carb and have her be very active during that time to help bring her down.
As for eating the same food all of the time, that will change as you become more comfortable in managing her T1D - at least it did for us. Of course, our son was a picky eater who was very happy to eat the same thing day after day, in fact he preferred that. When you are both ready to and comfortable with branching out, you will. 8 years in to this, I can proudly say I can estimate the carbs in almost anything just by sight, and I am usually pretty darned close.
I am not sure I understand why they have you doing a reputitious 30 carbs for meals. I have heard that some doctors/dieticians do this, just glad my son does not. Depending on what you are eating, 30 carbs can be a very small amount, even for a 3 year old. Just curious…did they give you a reason for limiting her carbs to 30 grams for meals? Do you feel when you are fixing her meals that the amount of food you are giving her is the same as before she was diagnosed?
Krogers has a yogurt called carb smart. 4 grams of carbs for the whole container. My son loves it. He said at first the texture took a little getting use to (if you are comparing it to regular yogurt) But what a great snack for him that is filling and also good for him.
Turkey or Ham rolled up with cheese is a great snack and basically a freebie.
Granola bars are another good snack. They are a little more then 15 grams.
For my son…we dont limit carbs for meals. Kids are constantly growing and as their bodies change, their hunger can increase or decrease. He typically only wants a snack in the afternoon and once in a while in the evening. I have learned that its really important for my son to be active after a meal. At school, before school starts, he goes to the gym and plays basketball and then does the same after lunch at school. Being active helps keep those highs from happening to him. We use to eat dinner an hour earlier then we do now…I started us having dinner and hour later and that helped with him not even wanting his nighttime snack.
Not sure if I will be of any help or not. My daugther was dx at age 2 and she is now almost 3 1/2. She was not limited on the # of carbs she ate. I hated to give her a shot between meals so we used a lot of string cheese and meat like turkey pepperoni or bolonga. If I needed a few a carbs we sometimes did a few gold fish. Chester’s puffcorn I think also has a few carbs but not too many. We also used popcorn. The previous reply is right…you think you have it figured out and it changes, especially if your little girl goes through what they call the “honeymoon” stage.
My little girl also went high after an afternoon nap…I guess there are certain times of day this can happen. There is so much info out there and we learn something new all the time. Try not to get information overload. It’s nice to have access to so much info online but it can overwhelm and sometimes scare you so you may want to limit what you look at online. Stay positive, work with your healthcare team. I imagine you are so overwhelmed right now. I will be thinking of you. Feel free to contact me about anything. Take Care!
I am a bit confused. If you don’t have a target amount of carbs, how do you know how much to feed them? Or if they have eaten enough/too much? How do you know what amount to feed your child? My daughter eats alot of fruit. Usually she has 1/2 banana, cereal & glass of milk for breakfast. She will have an apple with some cheese for her morning snack (a yogurt is sent if she is running lower that day). For lunch, she has a peanut butter sandwhich (whole wheat bread - 18g carbs for two slices - very thin!), cucumbers, pickles (sometimes), milk, another vegetable (either carrots or broccoli), then a little snack - maybe arrowroot cookies, or 1/2 banana, it depends. In the afternoon she usually has meat (sausage ring) with cheese, an orange. We also found this trail mix that has some nuts, raisins & a couple of smarties (she thinks it is a big treat!), strawberries etc. Dinner time, she eats whatever is for supper, we eat around 6 - 6:30pm because of our schedule, then she has bedtime snack around 7:15 - 7:30pm. She is not on the pump yet (should be here in the next few days!). She in on NovoRapid & NPH in the am, NovoRapid with supper & Levemir at bedtime. As for corrections, I have never been told about this & do not know what corrections to give!
Let me see if I understand your question and can explain. When my son wakes up. I ask him what he wants for breakfast. One day it might just be a bowl of cereal (which is around 40 carbs) and another day it might be cereal and a banana and a slice of toast with peanut butter. (78 carbs). Then using the carb ratio we are given (his morning carb ratio is 1 unit of insulin for every 40 carbs). I am going to assume your doctor doesnt have you using carb ratios for meals. For breakfast and lunch my sons carb ratio is 1 unit of insulin for every 40 grams of carbs and for dinner 1 unit of insulin for every 30 grams of carbs.
It is funny how different everyones experience is. Corrections were being done with my son right after he was diagnosed because of course at that time he was running high. We don’t need to do corrections often but the way they work for us is we have a target blood glucose of 150. For every 120 over the 150 he gets a unit of insulin for his correction dose. Then with the correction dose he has a 15 carb complex carb snack.
At my sons doctors office, they do not put the kids on the pump until they have been diabetic for one year. Their hope is by 1 year they are out of the honeymoon stage and they feel that there is to much fluxuation during the honeymoon stage for the pump. My son is 7 months into his diagnose and at his next appointment in May, we will start the process for the pump.
Back to you needing suggestions for snacks. My son eats everything he did prior to being diagnosed, minus regular pop. On some snacks, he may have to eat less then before, but nothing has changed that way.
Gogurt - 13 carbs
100 calorie snacks like chocolate covered pretzels and brownies are about 15 carbs
you can find popscicles that are about 10 carbs
We make cinamon toast with splenda - bread is 10-15 carbs
I wanted to add…we avoid artificial sugar as much as possible. For syrup, we use the lite. It is half the carbs. For jelly, same thing. Prior to my son being diagnosed, the only sugar free thing I let him have was gum. Now the only thing we buy that is sugar free is pop, crystal light and sugar free jello cups (another great snack with zero carbs)
My son was on the same regime of fixed carbs when he was first diagnosed and it was not easy, so I understand how you feel. Also, I think that often, doctors tend to think all T1 kids are born to stay home mothers and do not readily modify the insulin and snack schedule for each kid and his/her situation. But you will get there in time, in the meanwhile it is important to test 2 hours after each meal, or snack to see how a specific snack affects her blood sugar. When she goes low in the morning, is it before the snack and after breakfast? if yes, as she eats breakfast early, you might want to make sure her breakfast is a combination of carbs, protein and fat as the fat will slow down the absorption of carbs. you might want to think outside the box (of cereal) and do oatmeal with a tbspoon of flax seeds and a glass of milk? and does she take her nap right after lunch? if yes, she might not get enough insulin to cover the 30 grams, or she might be getting too many what we call “slow carbs”. Also, be ready to get used to a system that works, then a growth spurt comes in and you will have to adjust the doses again.
My son is on a carb ratio diet and it seems like we eat the same things day after day also.
Have you tried the whole wheat pancake mix and sugar free syrup, yet? This is one of my sons favorite breakfast. I tend to use as much wheat products as possible, even wheat pasta. We have to be careful with pasta and becasue it he tends to run high and then drop low after a pasta supper, and pizza is another food that seems to do the same way.
We are just coming up on his 1 year anniversary of being diagnosed. It has been a huge learning experience thus far and you will get it figured out in time. I think the MAIN thing is to have a “good team” not only with the drs and nurses but the family is part of her team also.
Just hang in there and you will be a pro at her meals and snacks before you know it.
It does seem to get easier. (even more so now that he is on the pump)
Thank you so much for the advice and positive thoughts. I feel more relaxed after reading all the excellent explanations. I was starting to feel like I was doing something wrong! But now I feel more secure (for now!).
Just curious and like you said…everybody is different…but why would her daughter need 6-7 shots per day? My son gets humalog for his breakfast, lunch and dinner (3 shots) and lantus for his long acting (1 shot). The only time he gets more then 4 shots is if we need to do a correction dose, or if he chooses to have a bigger snack that is above the allowed amount of carbs for a snack.
I like to think of snack time with kids as the ideal time to get in the fruits and veggies. Here are a couple ideas:
Celery with serving of peanut butter to = 5 carb, (or sunbutter if an allergy) and mini box of raisins (10 carb).
String or cube cheese and watermelon, or other fruit, 1/2 apple, 15 grapes…
1/2 apple and peanut butter…
This would never work for us. My son is going to be 13 years old and while it would be great for his snacks to be healthy…celery and peanut butter is not filling enough, nor is fruit. My son often has fresh fruit with his meals. Breakfast a banana, lunch and dinner cut up honeydew melon, grapes and strawberries and this way we can include it in his carb count and insulin for it. Back when he was first diagnosed, it was prime time for fresh fruit and we had fresh melon, strawberries, pineapple, raspberries, blackberries etc in the fridge at all times. Breakfast he would always have a bowl of fresh fruit with whatever he ate. Can’t wait for good fruit again. As far as veggies go…he gets plenty of veggies at dinner. For his age…2-3 cups of veggies per day is the recommended serving and he exceeds that.
For me snack time has to be something that is going to hold my son over until his next meal. So I always tell him to make a wise choice with what he has. Again, the carb master yogurt at Krogers is perfect to pair with his snack. 4 carbs for the whole container. Sometimes he will mix granola cereal in it. Other times he will have it in addition to whatever other snack he chose. For snacks, I try to avoid buying anything that has as much sugar as it does carbs. Raisins are one thing that is almost even in carbs as it is sugar. My rule of thumb for snacks is it has to have half the sugar as it does carbs. (so if it was 10 carbs, the sugar would need to be 5 or less).
I agree that your sons nutritional demands are going to be much different than those of a three year old, as well as his time in which he has to eat a snack. Hopefully, he is able to dose to his snacks accordingly, so he isn’t having a restricted diet.
Robin - I am guessing that your restricted carb amount is a temporary thing. Most doctors I have come in contact with discourage limiting food on growing children. As you gain more education and understanding of the disease, and as the doctor’s gain better awareness for your daughters insulin needs, etc. this will get much easier! Good luck!
His snacks are restricted in that he can only have a snack that is under 30 carbs. He can go higher, but then has to give himself insulin which of course means another shot and he has only chose twice since he was diagnosed to get an extra shot for a bigger snack. We will begin the process for the pump in early May so not much longer and it will ease up a bit on the restrictions. We have everything down so well and his numbers have been so awesome, that I am really nervous about him switching to the pump and changing things. But…for him I am excited because I know what this means for him.
We try to keep breakfast and lunch fairly similar and then mix it up a bit for dinner but we basically follow a modified food pyramid for our two year old moving veggies to the largest amount. Children around three that are at a healthy weight they say need around 1300 calories a day. We were told just make sure you feed over 1000 calories, we also have the max of 30 carbs a meal.
We’ve found that paying attention to the GI level of the item helps a lot. Not everyone follows that but for example…watermelon is in the red on the GI scale it takes little mans BG through the roof and then is gone in a very short amount of time leaving him to crash. Strawberries on the other hand are a low GI food and a small snack of them (usually 2oz-4 carbs) will last until lunch/dinner (generally two hours after snack) But you have to just play with the foods, pay attention to what you gave her and how she was after it, after a few times of the same item you’ll realize if it works or doesnt work for her. Bananas he burns right through but apples barely affect his BG. A lot of type one’s I’ve spoken with say they can’t eat apples at all. Unfortunately everyone is different but I’m sure you’re doing a great job!
Hi. My daughter was diagnosed at 4 and in pre-school at the time. You may want to see what times they are giving the snacks and such and that might tell you as well. She may be dropping because she is being given too much insulin too closely together. Some snacks that I have found that are 15 grams are 5 saltines and two cheese sticks are 12, the pack of crackers with the spreadable cheese is 15, the little snack bags of ritz crackers with peanut butter is 16.
When my daughter was diagnosed I didn’t know what was going on either and there is no one in my family that has this diease so it was all japanese to me. Just keep your chin up and you will get it. One thing that I can say is just roll with it because these things may change from day to day. Also don’t beat yourself up and explain to your daughter what is going on. My daughter at 5 could test her own sugar and do her pump. When she started Kindergarten this year the nurse actually had to tell her to slow down because she was doing it so fast that the nurse couldn’t see what was going on. Explain to her as much as you feel comfortable. Kids understand more than we think and they are able to take this is. Besides the more they understand the more they can explain to others. I remember we went to a friends house to pick her daughter up for soccer about 1 month after diagnosis and the little girl offered Francesca a cookie. She looked at her and told her she couldn’t eat that she was diabetic and proceeded to explain to her new friend what that meant. It was a proud moment for me.
My son was diagnosed the same day as your daughter and just went on the pump 2 1/2 weeks ago. Before the pump we weren’t told anything about corrections either. In fact he was on only 1/2 unit of insulin with each meal (reguardless of how many carbs he ate) and 1 unit of Levemir each evening. I think when you are in the “honey moon” phase they try not to be over concerened with all of this as it seems like things change daily. However, at our pump training we were taught all about insulin to carb ratio, correction factor, etc. Since then we have started slipping out of the “honeymoon” phase and have been accustomed to correcting bg and changing ratios. Hopefully your pump trainer will be able to explain all of this to you. If not, you should ask your endo about it. Hope this was somewhat helpful or at least a little reassuring!
