MDI's: What do you do with the leftovers?

[Mom2Deacon]

For those who MDI, what do you do with the remaining carbs? Example: Deacon's ratio is 1/2 unit for every 20 carbs. I gave him a 67 gram lunch which equaled 1 1/2 units of Novolog. What do you guys do with the leftover 7 grams? What do you guys do if it is a higher amount of remaining carbs? Do you leave it alone or round up?

I have been leaving the remainders alone unless the remaining carbs equal the snack grams that need to be covered. For Deacon it is above 12 grams.

--Sara

[Boo]

When my son was on MDI, I did a variety of things, depending on my mood (or his).

Sometimes I would take a bit of food away, or add some, to make the carb count easier. Other times I would give a touch more (or less) insulin. A "heavy" unit as we would call it. Not as nearly as technical (or as accurate) as Marsha and her magnifying glass ;), but the same idea.

[Mom2Deacon]

When my son was on MDI, I did a variety of things, depending on my mood (or his).

Sometimes I would take a bit of food away, or add some, to make the carb count easier. Other times I would give a touch more (or less) insulin. A "heavy" unit as we would call it. Not as nearly as technical (or as accurate) as Marsha and her magnifying glass ;), but the same idea.

I have been known to give "heavy units" too. I know that with leftover carbs is where the pump has an advantage.

--Sara

[Momof4gr8kids]

Sometimes with Julia we'd give some extra carbs to get us to the next unit, like adding a cookie, or something fun that I knew she'd eat. Other times I'd round it off. Sometimes I'd round it down and make sure she played hard for a few minutes after her meal. It really just depended on what her recent pattern was, and what issues we were having with bg. Her first year had a lot of lows. She would drop so easy that I normally made errors toward the high side if I had to choose because trying to bring a child that has a full tummy or doesn't want to eat up from a low is a bad word that isn't allowed.

I don't know what rapid you use, but humalog can be diluted so that you could get the carbs covered easier.

[twodoor2]

For those who MDI, what do you do with the remaining carbs? Example: Deacon's ratio is 1/2 unit for every 20 carbs. I gave him a 67 gram lunch which equaled 1 1/2 units of Novolog. What do you guys do with the leftover 7 grams? What do you guys do if it is a higher amount of remaining carbs? Do you leave it alone or round up?

I have been leaving the remainders alone unless the remaining carbs equal the snack grams that need to be covered. For Deacon it is above 12 grams.

--Sara

It depends on how sensitive your child is to insulin. That's why I had to come up with the "magnifying glass" trick. Otherwise, you round up or down. If the dose in the middle, (say you have a dose like 1.24 or 1.73) you round down to the nearest whole or half unit, or you try to feed something extra to get closer to the nearest whole or half unit.

[lil'Man'sMom]

Hi Mom2Deacon-

This what we do, lil'Man's ratio is 1:50, so if he were to eat 67 carbs I would divide the 67 by 50 = 1.34 then round, he would get 1.5 units. I also take his before meal BS into account. If he were low (below 80) I would consider this plus if he was going to be active I would reduce to 1.0 units. If he were high (above 150) I would then subtract his BS from 150 the divide by 100 adding this to the carb figures.

We round down if the number is .25 or below, round to the half .26-.74 and round up for .75-.99. We give insulin after he has finished his meal.

It works for us so far...