February 19, 2001
Meal Planning, Food and Diet
Question from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA:
My five year old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age three and one-half and is on a constant carb diet. She is a very picky eater. We experience many lows (below 40 mg/dl [2.2 mmol/L]) and many highs (above 400 mg/dl [22.2 mmol/L]), due to her lack of eating. Any suggestions on how to get her to eat more or is there another diet control method?
Answer:
You do not mention if your child is eating snacks. Sometimes, we recommend that the number of carbs be given between breakfast and lunch, lunch and afternoon snack, and dinner and bedtime snack. For example: if your child is not hungry for breakfast, offer her the remainder of carb in addition to the morning snack. I call this windows of time. It may help the “food focus” a bit. This can be used for the time period between lunch and afternoon snack and between dinner and bedtime snack. Sometimes, we resort to giving insulin after the child eats.
JM
