My son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 6 days ago. Does anyone have any ideas for lunches....Im still doing the lunchables (minus the cookie) with chips (which he hardly eats anyway) and a yogurt, bottled water. I think the lunch is ok (its within the carbs they want him to have). I think he is going to have to have a snack in between breakfast and lunch...any ideas??? My delima is this....how do I know what kind of snack to send when I dont know what his BG level is going to be at 10am?? Yesterday it was high today it was 58!! This is so hard!!!
You're right -- it is extremely hard! But it gets easier... I promise.
My 10-year-old daughter takes essentially the same thing to school for lunch every day... a PB&J uncrustable, bag of chips (of some sort), some kind of fruit (grapes, apple, banana), and the school milk (some days white, some days chocolate). That way, I can write in all the carbs and calculate her bolus for the school staff.
Snacks for school -- those 100 calorie packs are awesome because they are almost always 15 - 20 grams -- Oreos, Chips Ahoy, pretzels, etc. We also like fruit snacks -- easy and usually in the right range of carbs. Not sure what your endo office is saying, but Maya has her snack every morning, every afternoon, and every night before bed -- regardless of her blood sugar. I think that's partly so they can start to find the patterns and partly because they risk going low by the next meal otherwise. I used to do a better job of including protein with her snack, but that gets hard. She prefers to have some kind of package or baggie she can open and snarf down at her desk.
I promise you this will get easier -- you will never feel like it's really in control (at least I haven't yet in 6 months), but you get far better at it and you don't have to think quite as hard. You learn what to always have on hand -- cheese sticks, beef sticks, peanut butter, diet soda, crystal light, etc. And then you go from there.
Good luck!
Thank you so much! Most of the foods you mentioned he does (even before diabetes) eat...EXCEPT he used to have a joice box with lunch, dinner etc...so we've cut those out. I did buy some of the 100 calorie packs of cookies, those are a great option! I guess my biggest struggle is having to depend on other people (school, teachers, daycare, etc) to look out for him...which they have done great so far!! And I made up "goody bags" for daycare and his teacher with candy, crackers etc. I wish I could know what his blood sugar is 24/7....but Im sure we all do :-)
Thanks so much!
Hi Donna
First of all let me say I am so sorry that you had to join this "club". My son was diagnosed last Nov 5th when he was 6 yrs old. I remember well feeling so confused about the food. I cried many times while at the grocery store. I pretty they think I am crazy there!!
My son eats lunch very early at school (10:40) He eats basically the same thing everyday. PBJ, chips, fruit, yogurt, or sugar free pudding. This is his choice not mine. I write everything in the notebook that goes to the nurse everyday. They check his sugar and give him the insulin according to the carbs that I have packed. He has an afternoon snack at 2:30. That is too long for my comfort between checks. He goes to the nurse at 1:30 to check, if he is 90-125 he goes back to his room and eats his snack with the rest of the class in an hour. If he is 70-90 he has a little snack (5-7 gr) in the nurses office. Under 70 he has a full 15gr snack. If he is high he goes back down for a recheck at 2:30 and then is give correction if needed. Seems like a lot but it works pretty well. I used to pack a carb free snack (pb or cheese) for the days that he was high but he hit a cheese burn out quickly! Your school nurses will be your new best friends!
Collin also likes the 100 calorie snacks. He likes the pb filled pretzelsand baked cheetos too. I try to give him stuff that I know he will eat to avoid lows.
It will get easier I promise. You will fall into a routine that will work for you guys. Please let me know if I can you in any way.
Kendra
Donna,
I feel my daughter does best when she eats a well balanced nutritious lunch and snack. We do lots of organic and whole foods. Keep a good balance of protiens and fats as well. It seems the less processed foods we do, the better.
Peanut butter, milk, granola bars work well(z bars) Juice boxes are good for lows as well.
Kim
My daughter is in afternoon kindergarten so I don't have to worry about the lunch thing except that I try to have her eat about the same thing every day also so that when she goes to school I will have a pretty good idea of what her blood sugar will be. As for snacks, she eats one every day about halfway through her school day. At our local Wal-Mart they sell (in the produce department) a package of sliced apples and some peanut butter to dip them in. My daughter LOVES these! They are $1 each so they can get expensive but I know she is getting some fruit and some protein. When she went on a field trip last week (they went to watch a musical) I sent her some beef sticks and string cheese. Simple things she can open and eat quickly so she can move on. The 100 calorie snack pack is a great idea and I will look into that. I try to make her afternoon snack have some protein because it is sometimes a long time before dinner. Also, my daughter used to love those capri sun drinks also. Have you seen the new capri sun roaring waters? My daughter loves them and the carbs on them are pretty low. It is a good comprimise. She will also take a bottle of water with Crystal Lite Raspberry Lemonade. My whole family drinks these now and you would never miss the sugar!