13 Year Old Daughter Sneaking Food

Hi there, I am brand new to this site. My daughters principal called today to let us know she caught her eating a cookie at snack time. I am at the end of my rope with all of this. It’s been 1.5 years since she was diagnosed, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Her numbers have been high and our nutritionist seems annoyed that we can’t get this under control. How can I make her understand that eating foods like this will cause her damage in the long run? I am sick of nagging her, but I am really getting scared. Can anyone give me some ideas on what to do? Thank you in advance for any advice.

Denial will never work. Follow the Typeone Grit on Pinterest page and learn how to make diabetes safe meals and desserts. https://www.pinterest.com/typeonegrit/

I make brownies, cookies and even an incredible peanut butter chocolate dirt cake. My kids love them. There are also breads you can make from flax meal and almond meal that are great for type 1’s. My daughter ate half of pan of the brownies and didn’t bolus and her BG stayed level.

I’m baking stuff every night!

Well, I can’t offer advice but I’m right there with you - you are NOT alone.

I’ve tried EVERYTHING with my 10-yr-old son. (diagnosed at age 3). My husband & I have nagged him to death to no avail. My husband showed him pictures of what happens later in life with complications. He & I sat & watched an incredible video made by a woman in her 40’s who was diagnosed at age 19. She was a professional ballerina and allowed her sugars to run high during her career. She now is suffering the consequences and has had a kidney transplant, bleeding behind both eyes & a heel amputated. He was really drawn in and seemed to get it. I explained that just because he doesn’t “feel” the highs, doesn’t mean they aren’t bad. He totally feels his lows and takes action to fix them immediately. The highs, no clue. He could be over 400 for hours & not know. I explained that the damage caused by this isn’t something he will see or feel right now. It will take years for him to see the results of allowing his sugar to run high. I really thought he understood and that we had reached a point of understanding…

The next day he snuck some candy out of his father’s stash before he went to bed.

Hang in there and know that you are not alone and that your child is not “abnormal”. All we can do is love, educate & support them and hope that they come out on the other side of adolescence unscathed!

Hi!! I can sympathise with your thoughts. My son is 15 , diagnosed aged 13. On my fridge at home I have a typed up sheet labelled 'snacks with injections/snacks without injections. " And a long list of different foods under each of those sub headings. Thats a recent list as his bs has been high for 6 months plus. Teenage yrs are bloody challenging period and diabetes gives an added challenge on top!!!
Because on the list under “snacks with injections” he can see cake/biscuits/ice cream, I hope he doesn’t feel restricted. My message by having this list is.You CAN have all these foods as your snacks if you want but the sugary ones just need an injection with them.
Well the list is up and the foods are available to him. So I have done my bit. Still he chooses to not inject sometimes or doesnt inject enough and overeats. My son is pretty honest about his high readings and will even write them down. I am glad of this and im sure his honesty prevents arguments but it doesn’t prevent my concerns about future complications etc
I talk to him about his diabetes regularly but not daily. If I want to know his daily readings I look in his log book. ( Although his logs are not always done these days.)
As a parent of a teen (I have 2 older boys too) I have learnt that they want independence and to feel in charge of their lives. My son knows his bs are not good at the moment and he also knows eating chocs/biscuits in between meals without injecting is not a gd choice for him.
We can advise, support, give suggestions, ideas, listen etc but we cant make them do what we think is best for them. They have to make those choices.
I would consider, however, sanctions if my son decided to not try to look after his bs etc. In the same way I put down sanctions when at one stage when he was not contacting us when he was out with friends. His outings became few and far between. He soon started checking in when he was out and that problem is now sorted. In the same way I might say “if you are not going to look after your diabetes and make poor choices for snacks without injecting, I will have to keep a close eye on you etc etc” and Im sure u can come up with ways of how to do that.
Anyway hope some of the above is helpful.
Good luck :slight_smile:

Is your daughter on a pump? My control was terrible when I was a teenager and young adult…I just wanted to be normal and eat normal things without feeling guilty about it. Who wants to give herself a shot just for eating a cookie? If she has a pump, she can just dial in a bolus for that cookie, enjoy it, and move on with her life. Please look into it if you haven’t already. I’ve been pumping for 13 years and sure wish I had this wonderful tool when I was a kid.

I agree with angivan. bolus/dose insulin and move on. elliminate forbidden foods by recatagorizing them. You both need to agree on what is ok to eat or it wont work. When she is not with you she is in charge. for example, a taste of cake is ok. my daughter agrees that you dont need a large piece with frosting to be satisfied. She eats ice cream rarely and during the day because for her it is unpredictable and we dont want to loose sleep over it… perhaps reward her when she boluses for what she eats when she is not with you. She should be able to tell you what she has eaten without dissaproval from you. She just wants to do what her friends do.

I may have a little different perspective on this–both I and my teenage son have Type 1. last A1c’s were 6.8 and 7.0–his was the lower one. The best advice I can give is to let your child have as much control as you can. There are no “forbidden” foods–just foods that require more insulin than others. We have general guidelines we follow most of the time–we try to stay around 60 or 70 grams CHO per meal most of the time but those carbs are ours to spend as we please. If he wants to eat beef & veggie soup and a salad and then have a piece of cake, so be it. A cookie? Most cookies have no more carbs than a slice of bread. I really like the one that said they made the list of injection and non-injection snacks and then let their son choose. I’ve taught my son how to count carbs and figure his ratios and then I let him be as normal as he can. And you know what–he doesn’t feel like he’s “sick”. He enjoys life–goes to pizza parties, eats chinese food when he wants to. I never tried to scare him with horror stories of dialysis and amputation–it just doesn’t work anyway. I’m on a pump but son doesn’t want one. I’ve told him the pros and cons and let him make his decision. And sometimes it’s fine to cheat. The other night he came home and told me he had a big plate of fried rice for dinner. Here was our conversation:
Me: Wow, how many carbs did you figure?
Him: About 200 grams.
Me: So how much insulin did you have to take for that?
Him: Its 1 unit for 10 grams so I took 20.
Me: So what’s your postprandial?
Him: I don’t know yet–let me check. (Checks sugar). It’s 127. Am I good or what?
Me: Better than me, that’s for sure.
And that’s how most of our interactions go. I do my best to empower him and make sure he knows how impressed I am when he does it right.
As a parent you have a choice to make–you can choose to battle your child and that makes your child the enemy. Or you can choose to battle diabetes with your child and that makes him your ally. It’s up to you.

I can understand where you are at and also how your daughter must feel; I was there 6 decades ago. Nagging her and emphasizing what she can NOT DO, rather than being positive with her and encourage her to take control of her T1D, will only push her deeper into a hole. Also, unless you and your daughter asked the principal to monitor and report “cheating” [a horrible label] that principal is doing a disservice to your daughter and possibly violating Federal Law. Feeding her horror stories probably won’t help either; but in retrospect I wish that I had paid better to my condition when I was a teen.

If her numbers are high and out of control, it could be that her insulin dose[s] are not the right amount or at the wrong times to meet her nutritional needs. Her insulin must be tuned to the carbohydrates [plus fat] that she actually consumes considering the needs of HER body and no by what some book says. As you did not mention a pump, I’ll assume that she treats by MDI [Multiple Daily Injections] geared to the carbs [or food exchanges] of the anticipated meal. Does she count carbs? and are her meal carb to insulin ratios correct? I use different carb ratios at different times of day and I need to adjust those ratios periodically - especially as seasons change. Attempt to gear insulin to food NOT food to insulin - I tried the food to insulin dose for 20 years and it just wouldn’t work - it doesn’t match the human.

Life with T1D is not easy; it is frustrating most of the time but especially with all the tools currently available [I remember when getting a BS reading took 2 days] she can be in the driver’s seat and not let diabetes control her life. Yeah, on Sunday I had two wonderfully sweet biscotti for dessert at supper - yummy and I didn’t think I was cheating.

Stay in touch “Mom” and let your daughter talk with other people with diabetes. Here is a link to an article published yesterday by Joslin diabetes Center [ Joslin Diabetes Center – World Leader in Diabetes Care & Research ] ot is a great educational tool and the poster near tth top can be saved, enlarged, printed and hung in the Teacher’s Room.

Dennis
PS: Sorry if I got too wordy or sound preachy - bur tiye daughter’s well being is foremost. Keep up your courage.