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T1 - snack in between meals

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Ruth Goode

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
T1s - DSN told me to give Carly some snacks in between meals to avoid going into hypo, now I was told T1 don't need to snack in between meals so I wonder what other T1s do?
 
If on MDI or pump, each time you eat you inject with insulin, so theoretically you can eat whenever you like as long as you inject........

With mixed twice a day injections however this might have to be done as its much harder to predict what is happening with resitance and so on throughout the 12 hour period........
 
Hi ruth 🙂 If that's what carly needs for good control then I guess she needs snacks between meals. Type 1s in general don't though. We are supposed to be able to eat what we want when we want (in theory), on MDI and the pump. Ive just read though that Carly is on 2 injections a day, so it's a lot less flexible unfortunately.
 
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Hi Ruth

Is Carly on premixed insulin (probably 2 injections a day?). Seems likely since still quite tiny. If so then yes you will need to keep up the snacks. The premixed will have a blend of insulins of differing activity profiles which will need a regular intake of carbs to match - otherwise you're off into hypo land.

It was the regime I was put on after dx. Never eaten so many flapjacks!

M
 
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I generally don't need to snack between meals unless I want to, but I am on MDI. If I snack i might inject for it depending on the amount of carbs eating.
 
As others have said, on twice daily injections snacks really are better. I was on 2-a-day when I was first diagnosed, & needed a mid-morning snack, mid-afternoon snack and small supper on top of 3 meals. However, this was nearly 18 years ago!

My parents found what worked best was routine. Up at much the same time every day, meals & snacks at much the same time, & carbs for each meal & snack much the same from day-to-day (e.g. around 30g of carbs for brekkie & around 15g for mid-morning snack, etc.).

However, I must stress that this is only my experience from a very long time ago. Advice may have changed by now.
 
Hiya

Like the others have said, I can't remember what regime your daughter is on and I'm sorry but I can't remember how old your child is either. Lots of children on MDI do need snacks (without an extra injection) midmorning, mid afternoon and before bed.

Sometimes this is necessary to stop the hypo by the next meal. A typical pattern seems to be high 2 hours after eating, hypo by next meal and then start again after the next meal. We had this with my daughter and she had to have a 15 carb snack at these three times during the day. Even if she hit say 22 mmol mid morning she still need a 15 carb snack with no injection (which goes against the grain) otherwise she would drop big time by lunch.

Each child (and adult) is very different, there is not rule book only a general rule of thumb which most certainly does not fit all. You must find what works for Carly and go with that. There is not wrong way or right way, just different ways. Go with your gut, mum's are great at that. 🙂
 
Thank you for all your replies. Carly is 2 years old and on 2 insulins a day (narvomix) today DSN visited and want her to start on 4 insulins tomorrow (narvorapid and levemir) so we will see how she go
 
Wow. Don't know if you will think so but that is just fantastic news. You will have so much more freedom with the 4 injections. Is she going to be teaching you carb counting, I do hope so as that is how you know how much novorapid to give ie for every 15 carbs you have 1 unit of insulin etc.

She may still need the snacks so keep an eye out for any patterns. If you are not sure, we are all here to help and support you.

Good luck 🙂
 
Adrienne said:
Wow. Don't know if you will think so but that is just fantastic news. You will have so much more freedom with the 4 injections. Is she going to be teaching you carb counting, I do hope so as that is how you know how much novorapid to give ie for every 15 carbs you have 1 unit of insulin etc.

She may still need the snacks so keep an eye out for any patterns. If you are not sure, we are all here to help and support you.

Good luck 🙂
Click to expand...

What adrienne said 🙂

Also it is one step closer to the pump, should you decide that is the best option for Carly in future 🙂
 
Hi Ruth,
Ben is on Novorapide and levemir (has been since diagnosis at 18mths) and we have always had to give him snacks - the pattern being exactly as Adrienne said - can be very high mid-morning but still need 10-15g carb to stop him crashing at lunchtime. I'm think poss because when they're still so little their basal needs can be really small and even half unit changes in levemir can have a big effect either way so snacks kind of help balance this (someone can correct me if I'm wrong). I think thats one of the reasons pumps are so useful in this age. So yeah even on the four/five injections we have always needed snacks to a greater or lesser degree. To be honest It's not a big deal as I think this is the way most kids eat and as ben started nursery this month he looks for his snack at the same time as all the other kids so he's not standing out in any way. Good luck with the change I'm sure it will make a big difference to things.
 
Hi 🙂

I have been advised today to have a mid-morning snack also. I keep going hypo just before lunch. I currently have 4 insulins a day.

I hope it gets easier for you and Carly x
 
I swapped to MDI (Levemir and NovoRapid) about 3-4 months ago. I was told by the DSN at the time that small snacks would be necessary, probably md-morning and mid-afternoon, and at bedtime, especially if the gap between the meals is going to be 4-5 hours or more.

We have moved onto carb-counting now, which is great, and a lot more flexible, but takes a lot of learning and keeping up with.

On the positive side, there is a fantastic book that my dietician recommended to me that is full of actual photographs of different amounts of food on plates and tells you how many carbs and how many calories are in each portion. Some of them are for actual meals, and some of them are for a particular food type on its own. It's called carbs and cals, and you can see it at www.carbsandcals.com

Richard
 
From what I heard from adrienne it looks like snacking may be neccesary for young kiddies beacuase theyre growing up big and strong very fast......

You learna new thing every day............
 
Great new? more freedom? I will find out sooner or later... thank you but at moment Im dreading to give Carly 4 injections and be more aware for hypos again.
At moment she get 1 unit of narvorapid at meal-times so no carb counting, yet. I guess there will be more freedom when its started. 🙂
 
awwwwwwwwwwwww. 1 unit.........you would think hardly worth the bother.....
 
haha, she is little and skinny.. anyway its just to start with and its her 1st day today with 4 injections a day
 
Best of luck!

I found when I switched to 4-a-day it made a big difference. Life became significantly more flexible.

Keep us posted!

Em
 
My 13 year old daughter has been encouraged by the nurses to have a snack mid-morning, mid-afternoon and at bedtime and she is on 4 injections a day. She's been doing that since her diagnosis a month ago. We discovered that without the snack she is hypo by meal time sometimes. But she is doing well with that routine at the moment.
Hope Carly does well on the 4 times daily!
jenny bear
 
I know with kids it's different growing and all that, so guess I can't help, but I haven't been snacking that much until recently, but it wasn't to stop me going hypo it was hunger/work stress, and as such my levels have been down yo-yo-ville of late, even with injecting for the snack, I think I had 8 injections yesterday but it ended okay and started today okay, oh boy this is fun isn't it🙄

Good luck.

Rossi
 
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