Alarm going off whilst eating lunch

[GemFI]

Hello, just a general enquiry.

If you give the insulin 15 minutes before lunch, and after 10 minutes of her sitting down for the lunch the alarm goes off, what would you do?
She is 5 years old, very tiny and takes ages to eat lunch. Her parent provides the carbs information each day and she takes a long time to eat her lunch. It consists of a lunchable, crisps, yogurt, apple & wafers.
Do you wait for the food to work its magic, or give an apple juice and risk her BG going High?

many thanks

 

[rebrascora]

It is always best to err on the side of caution and prevent a hypo, so I would give her a small amount of apple juice (not a full hypo treatment) and then let her continue her meal.

 

[helli]

For me (sorry I am a little older than 5), I would double check the reading with a finger prick.
If the finger prick confirms my BG is under 4, I would treat the hypo with fast acting carbs.
If the finger prick told me I was in the low 4s, I would check the arrow, if pointing down, I would treat as a hypo.
If the arrow was flat, I would eat my lunch.

I would also reconsider the insulin dose timing for the future. As your 5 year old is a slow eater, it may be better to inject after eating rather than before. That way, the insulin will not start working before the carbs start being digested. The added advantage is that you can dose for what has been eaten and not force the little one to eat more than wanted because they have to “use up the insulin”.

 

[GemFI]

It is always best to err on the side of caution and prevent a hypo, so I would give her a small amount of apple juice (not a full hypo treatment) and then let her continue her meal.

Brilliant, thank you for the advice.

 

[GemFI]

For me (sorry I am a little older than 5), I would double check the reading with a finger prick.
If the finger prick confirms my BG is under 4, I would treat the hypo with fast acting carbs.
If the finger prick told me I was in the low 4s, I would check the arrow, if pointing down, I would treat as a hypo.
If the arrow was flat, I would eat my lunch.

I would also reconsider the insulin dose timing for the future. As your 5 year old is a slow eater, it may be better to inject after eating rather than before. That way, the insulin will not start working before the carbs start being digested. The added advantage is that you can dose for what has been eaten and not force the little one to eat more than wanted because they have to “use up the insulin”.

thank you for your advice, we may have to have a chat with the diabetes nurse again. Im sure they are sick of me by now.🙂

 

[Inka]

I’d look at moving the timing of the injection closer to lunch @GemFI Depending on whether the child is good at eating all their lunch, it might also be advised to give it after lunch.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I’d look at moving the timing of the injection closer to lunch @GemFI Depending on whether the child is good at eating all their lunch, it might also be advised to give it after lunch.

Me too @Inka !

The purpose of taking the insulin a little early is to help prevent a big glucose rise after the meal - but not at the expense of risking a hypo (or rebound high).

Feels like a slight tweak to the lunch system might be worth considering @GemFI ?