Hi. My 9 yo daughter was diagnosed about 7mo. ago. She started pumping recently, which has been wonderful! My frustration is with holidays. Easter was yesterday. So last night, hubby and I were up ALL. NIGHT. LONG. treating her, literally. (She finally came down to a decent BG level when it was time to get up for school.) FB friends made non-candy suggestions, but Halloween was the same story (Valentine’s was tough, though not nearly as bad.) Plus, I don’t want more toys or stickers in my house either. We ration the candy, maybe not enough, two bite-sized pieces after egg hunting and then after each well-eaten meal. I’m guessing a lot of the problem is the kind of candy I chose. I chose bite-sized candy bars, LOTS of fat, I now realize. So beyond choosing things like suckers or sweet tarts, with less fat, any suggestions? I thought about: doubling the carb amount of the candy to double the coverage, doing a combo bolus, (though I’m certain that would still be a drop in the bucket), or doing a temp basal rate. My concern with that is that her CGM was being ridiculously unreliable, and I didn’t want to drop her too low and not know. In fact even her pump went haywire; we had to give one of the doses via pen. It was an awful night. How do you guys ration/treat/deal with holiday candy? And will I ever be able to count on getting to sleep again? According to our JDRF mentor, apparently not, but I’ve gotta hope it does get better.
Carla,
Sounds all too familiar. We also do not want our child to miss out on the holiday treats and have to try and reason with her about taking care of T1D first. Tough to keep things balanced and sane sometimes.
I would try suggesting the candy when having to treat a low BG or at least earlier in the day so not to completely throw the night-time routine into a frenzy.
7 months into this is early. Be strong and support each other while you work through some of the frustrations T1D have to offer. Keeping a food journal helps to keep you posted on which foods work best for her activity level at certian times of the day. Especially since you can monitor the results on her CGM. There are going to be days when you have done everything “by the book” and diabetes is going to challenge you greatly. Stay in control and in touch with your Endo team when things get tough. Your all going to be fine.
I wish you and your family well,
-w. bryan
Hey there,
My son is 13yrs old (diagnosed at 11yrs old) and I’m still dealing with “the candy issue.” He’s more so sneaking candy or eating it without documenting anything. He is also on the pump. What I would do when he first started the pump and eating candy is only allow one or two candies and make him eat it with a meal and I would base the amount of carbs on the size of the candy. He was not allowed to eat candy before or after a meal. It just made it easier. Maybe that’s why he sneaks and eat candy like he did this Easter. As far as sleep goes for me, it has gotten better but I still check in on him while he is sleeping because of 1 incident where he dropped very low he couldn’t yell out for help, never want to experience that again…hopefully it will get better, you’ll find a way 
Assuming she doesn’t have any nut allergies, candies with nuts are really helpful in keeping the carbs down. Things like Peanut M&M’s or toffee macadamias, peanut butter candies, honey-roasted nuts, or coated pecans are somewhat lower in carbs, not only because nuts are lower in carbs, but also higher in fiber, so you can deduct half the fiber grams from the carbs. I can have a normal-sized Hershey almond bar for 20g! I still think fattier candies are better because the fat slows down the release of carbs, and since she has a pump, you can set a short dual-wave to extend the insulin release for 30 or 60 minutes. But whatever works for her. It’s been 31 years for me, and I have a sweet tooth. It’s a pretty sick joke to give a sweet tooth to a diabetic. 