Post Breakfast BG with cereal

Type 1 and LADA Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes
#1

I’m new to this so sorry if there’s already a post about this.

I have a 4 year old who’s had diabetes for 8 months. We use Animas Pump and we just recently started Dexcom CGMS.

Of course now with the Dexcom I can see what foods are causing the biggest jumps in her BG. Mostly all day long the graph looks like rolling hills. We are slowly getting used to her eating patterns and so it’s becoming easier to bolus before a meal instead of after/during a meal. That’s kinda hard to do with a 4 year old. But we are getting better.

The worst meal of the day is breakfast. She likes cereal. Cereal seems to provide the biggest spike - a huge rise and a huge fall. We try to give breakfast insulin 10-15 min before she eats (wish I could hold her off longer) and we’ve been doing the “super bolus” technique all week if you are familiar with that. The superbolus has helped, but she still gets a big spike and fall. Without the superbolus she spikes over 400 before returning to normal. With the super bolus she spikes in the 200’s before falling.

I’m sure the answer to this is just to bolus longer before she eats cereal, like 20min.

I could cut out cereal altogether, but why? The dietician told us in the beginning, “there are no ‘no’s’ in diabetes, just match with insulin”.

I’m a perfectionist, so this is a bad disease for me! (or is it a good one? It depends on the day!)

So far the worst cereal was Raisin Bran. I truly have noticed the lower GI foods are better in regards to the ‘spikes’.

Any comments?

#2

I cut out cereal, I couldn’t control the spikes and the drops were too unpredictable with my job at the time so I had to switch to a breakfast food with a smoother profile that made keeping the insulin doses less dangerous.

#3

I’ve actually had good luck with multigrain frozen waffles, peanut butter, and sugar free syrup. Had a few problems recently since starting the pump, still tweaking the dose to get the same numbers I had with shots, but on shots it was more of the superbolus method and I had late-morning lows because of it. Toast on the other hand is just as bad as cereal for me but the same bread for a sandwich is fine.



I’d say it’s more trial and error then anything and I generally live under the philosophy of your dietician but if you can’t control a certain food then there is no reason not to exclude it from the diet.

#4

I eat ceral very seldomly b/c it caused so much trouble with me and the spikes. Creal is known to do that. Good luck. My kids are now grown but I babysit my 3 g-kids and I have a 4 year old g-daughter who ALWAYS wants ceral for breakfast.

#5

Just a shot in the dark, but what about having her eat a good protein breakfast then letting her have a handful of dry cereal or something for a snack, or as bfst ‘dessert’? That way the insulin would have time to work?

#6

You don’t have to make crepes with wheat flour- they can be LC. Do a web search for LC crepes, or ask Gerri!

Your cats are just tooooooo cute :slight_smile:

#7

I can’t eat cereal either, so I stick with eggs in one form or another. You can also combine them with any kind of vegies in omelettes, etc. I also eat 1/2 C of refried beans (homemade) with my eggs instead of bread as it works better and I need the protein (I’m a vegetarian)

I agree on the kittens…I want to pick them up and cuddle them! They look exactly like my Lula, who is now 17 looked when her mama brought her and her brother to me. Her brother, Latte, who sadly got lost years ago was much darker (Latte shades!). If they grow up to be anything like Lula they will be highly spirited, have more than 9 lives and full of love!

#8

I make sort-of-fritatta fairly often. I use a square glass baking pan, and have breakfasts and pretty free snacks for days. They usually end up about 5c per portion after peppers, a little diced tomato with jalapeno, onions and cheese.

#9

That’s wonderful that she likes vegies! Healthy in general, and so much easier to feed a diabetic than if they are carb cravers as many kids seem to be!

I make my refried beans on the weekend and then just microwave. I make huevos Mexicano which are just eggs scrambled with chilis, onions and tomatoes. That and the reheated beans only take me 10 minutes, but I do understand the patience of a 4 year old might not last even that long! I do miss my favorite granola, yogurt and fruit, but the spikes for me from any kind of cereal are just not worth it.

Enjoy your omelette! I’m making vegetarian eggs benedict this weekend. I make over easy eggs, asparagus (which I steamed already for tomorrow), tomatoes, hollandaise sauce and parsley garnish on an Orowheat Double Fiber English muffin (21 grams and really good, I also use them for vegie burgers). Total carbs including my morning capp: 33. Yum!

#10

My endo did not like for me to eat cold cereal and milk for breakfast because both really spike the BG. Milk can spike it as much as the cereal itself. If your little one could tolerate soy milk, it has much less sugar (lactose) and does not spike as much, and has good protein. I am an old gal and can’t get used to it so I quit eating cold cereal for breakfast.
I don’t recall how much fat the soy milk has since kids do need the fat, right? I am not a kid expert by any means.
I sometimes eat peanut butter on wheat toast and drink half a glass of milk, which works OK for me. Adding a tiny drizzle of honey may make it taste better for the daughter.

#11

Well put, Lynne!

#12

Breakfast is hard here too. We have the best luck with a combo bolus 75/25 over an hour and pre bolus about 20 minutes. Cereal is too hard to cover for breakfast. We stick with omelets, fruit and milk most of the time. Dietician’s, I found, do not have any idea about how certain foods really spike the blood sugar.

#13

maybe your daughter eats too much cereal( too much carb.) & no protein to slow down the absorption?try it...good luck but we made it...still you have it easier than my mother did,75 years ago...no pumps...blood testing...