Feeding a diabetic child

[jellibeans]

My nephew is coming for a visit and I would like to have some food ready for him. I know that things need to be low sugar but I need more specific things. Snack ideas? Maybe a few recipe ideas for dinners? A pancake recipe? Thanks!

[Seitvonzu]

i'm diabetic and i would have trouble with this myself. diabetic children seem like such a responsibility! i'd ask the parents what a typical menu looks like... breakfasts/lunches/dinner/snacks-- and get lots of ideas. i would think they would incorporate more protein (hopefully not dairy or nut intolerant, because that's where i lean heavily for "good" snacks). as an adult i love things like mashed cauliflower (great starch sub), but i'm not sure kids would like stuff like that?

also, different diabetics tolerate different things better than others-- some people are highly reactive to fruit or yogurt or pasta or whatnot....but other's aren't. whole grains, lots of veggies, lean protein... pretty similar to any sort of well balanced, "healthy" diet, i'd say...but again ASK THE PARENTS FOR IDEAS :) :) :)

[kristenk]

If he's type 1 diabetic, then it's not just sugar that matters, it's carbs.

A friend's DD is diabetic and we invited her over for a little gathering. I checked with the mom beforehand and asked about snacks. Snacks for her DD need to be in the 14-17 carb range. I tried to make sure that the things that we served were individually packaged with carb counts in that range.

Make sure to keep any packaging with nutrition info on hand so they can calculate the carbs in what he's having.

Have cheese, nuts, nut butters and other lower carb items available. Maybe orange juice on hand if that works well for him in case of low blood sugar?

A breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast might be easier to deal with than pancakes.

ETA (after reading bisous's post!): My friend's DD was fairly recently diagnosed (in 2012). She is not on an insulin pump. It sounds like that makes a huge difference in meal planning.

[bisous]

It is so nice of you to be so thoughtful! My DS1 has had diabetes for almost six years so I'll see if I can be helpful.

First, I definitely recommend that you check with the child's parents. Diabetes can be treated so differently among different children. My son is on an insulin pump and can literally eat anything (except juice and soda--unless low) that his peers can eat and he can eat them any time. Other insulin regimes are much more rigid and require a certain amount of carbs to be consumed with each meal and for snack time, etc. This would mean that some meals have too many (pasta?) while some super low carb meals might actually not have enough carbs. A quick check with the parents should be able to tease that out. Like I said, if you called me I'd say we'll have whatever your kids like to eat. :)

I'd say there are a few types of foods that although we'll eat if we're out, we try to avoid at certain times. My DS loves pasta but it can do a real number on his blood sugar--much more complicated to deal with than an equivalent amount of bread for some reason! Also, pizza is notorious for being difficult to deal with.

On the other hand, I find that certain foods are really diabetes friendly, even though they're not "different" or "low carb" necessarily. We love fresh strawberries with whipped cream. Cheese sticks are great no carb snacks as are carrot sticks,etc.

We eat regular pancakes here and they are actually better for blood sugar than Joe's Os or oatmeal. But my DS just chooses not to use syrup. As you can imagine, syrup has TONS of carbs and sugar which may or may not be a big deal. Eggs and bacon are both loved and work well for my DS's blood sugar so that is an option too.

Good luck! I'm sure it will work great! :)

P.S. If you find out more info, post it and I'll see if I can give you specific recommendations.

[AngB]

My 15 y.o. brother's girlfriend is a diabetic teenager (type I), she eats..uh, normal. I doubt she's really *supposed* to eat cake and a lot of the stuff I've seen her eat, but she does. I'd definitely ask the parents.

Edit because I just read this:


First, I definitely recommend that you check with the child's parents. Diabetes can be treated so differently among different children. My son is on an insulin pump and can literally eat anything (except juice and soda--unless low) that his peers can eat and he can eat them any time. Other insulin regimes are much more rigid and require a certain amount of carbs to be consumed with each meal and for snack time, etc. This would mean that some meals have too many (pasta?) while some super low carb meals might actually not have enough carbs. A quick check with the parents should be able to tease that out. Like I said, if you called me I'd say we'll have whatever your kids like to eat

Thanks for this info. My brother's gf is also on an insulin pump so that's probably why she does eat normal. (I had GD so my eyes always widen a little when I see her eating since some of it is really high carb/sugar...candy and stuff.)