Pumping now...Can eat whatever they want??

[chocoholicsc]

Do you let your kids eat whatever they want (within reason of course) once they are on a pump? I can't help but wonder if I should continue to feed him low-carb snacks and drinks during his non-meal grazing that he does? I know I can cover the carbs immediately, but I guess I'm not sure if it's still harming him to have foods that are high in carbs/sugar?:confused: Obviously they need to meet the daily requirements of fruits and veggies but he's 2 and so picky:(
I hope this question makes sense!:p

[momtojess]

You will probable get mixed opinions on this.

Jess started pumping at 15 mths and I have always fed her that same as her older brothers.

[Amy C.]

I would allow him to eat what he wants. He isn't being harmed by eating these foods. The beauty of the pump is that you can have more of a normal life. Your child is harmed when he doesn't have insulin to match to food he eats, not that he is eating the food. The pump makes it much easier to deliver the insulin.

[Thoover]

Yes it makes sense. I know my daughter eats whatever she wants in reason.. Some foods you will learn to bolus before meal or right after the meal/snack. You will see different spikes with certain foods.. I don't let her go hog wild on food though that is for sure..

How is it going?? Pumping going good so far?

[karpoozi123]

My CDE says that people with type 1 can eat whatever they want (except for juice and regular soda, which she discourages except for lows).

That being said you might find certain foods very hard to bolus properly for, and try to restrict them. I think it's harder when the child is so young. it'll get easier when he grows up (say around 30:p).

[albasmom]

We started pumping in april and she eats pretty much what she wants now (within reason). It so much easier to get her to eat now, and her appetite is so much better. She's happier now than she was before. She doesen't eat high carb food all day but the fact that SHE can decide what she wants is liberating, and if we say no it's usually not because of diabetes.

[3js]

The only thing I don`t give my son is straight sugar- if it says in the nutritional info that the ONLY carbs are from sugar, that is. But chocolate, icecream, fruit, cookies ect all have starch (and usually fat too) and it`s not a big problem to bolus- people do this on MDI too.

We started out on NPH too, and it IS hard getting used to the idea that you can eat and cover with insulin, as opposed to cover insulin with eating!

If your son is picky, I think your life is going to be a LOT easier now:)

[chocoholicsc]

Yes it makes sense. I know my daughter eats whatever she wants in reason.. Some foods you will learn to bolus before meal or right after the meal/snack. You will see different spikes with certain foods.. I don't let her go hog wild on food though that is for sure..

How is it going?? Pumping going good so far?


Well, we absolutely LOVE it so far! I can't even believe how good his numbers have been so far! We had another low last night (I caught it at his 3am check -50). ANd then he rebounded high because I think I over-carbed him. We lowered his midnight basal again so hopefully that will help.
Besides that, he's been right between 80-140 for the past two days!! I love being able to give the teeny, tiny doses for all the teeny, tiny snacks throughout the day. I really can't say enough good things about it!

[StillMamamia]

We eat normally. Balanced, healthy meals. We don't keep sweets or cakes or cookies at home though. We didn't pre-d and we don't now.
We go out to restaurants and parties, and my son can have icecream or cake if he wants. He even has birthday cake when a classmate has a birthday at school.
Moderation is key...and so is living a normal kid's life:cwds:

[chocoholicsc]

I can't believe I forgot to add something to my minimed info-merccial (sp?)...:p
The thing I love the most, is how happy he has been! I've got my happy-go-lucky little guy back! With his bs in range, I think he just feels SO much better and it shows. He's running around squealing, falling down giggling and just being his sweet little self again!
For us, starting on the pump was the best decision we've made since the D! Of course, all this being said before the first site change by ourselves tomorrow....:eek: I hope I don't feel differently then :p

[Caydens_Mommy]

Glad things are going so well..

Can't help you with this question as we do not pump. But just wanted to let you know that I am extremley jealous of those numbers.. :) Keep up the good work Mom!

[Thoover]

I can't believe I forgot to add something to my minimed info-merccial (sp?)...:p
The thing I love the most, is how happy he has been! I've got my happy-go-lucky little guy back! With his bs in range, I think he just feels SO much better and it shows. He's running around squealing, falling down giggling and just being his sweet little self again!
For us, starting on the pump was the best decision we've made since the D! Of course, all this being said before the first site change by ourselves tomorrow....:eek: I hope I don't feel differently then :p

YEAH for little Christopher. And tomorrow on the site change you will do just fine.. One little poke and its all over for another few days.. Im glad its going well for you..And wow what GREAT numbers hes having.. See we all told you it would get easier..

[usbornetheresa]

The only time I limit what Tori eats is when I am trying to figure out the pump settings.

[wendyc]

We feed both kids the same, we let them eat what they want within reason. If they want a snack prior to a meal, but after a regular snack we do tend to stick with free foods since it's more a matter of it not filling them up with empty calories.

[hawkeyegirl]

I'm on the minority on the board, but I actually do my best to keep snacks low carb. Here's my reason: Say he eats breakfast at 8:00. Then at 10:00 he wants a snack. That's a time when his sugar is still high from the breakfast spike. So if he's at 220 at 10:00, and he has a snack with a bunch of carbs, he'll go even HIGHER, while the insulin works to bring him down. Then two hours later at lunch, the insulin from the snack is still working, and he's not down to a nice number like 120. Instead, he's still floating around the 180 range. With snacks that have a significant number of carbs, your kids will run higher, UNLESS you include the snack bolus in the prior meal's bolus. I'm not crazy about doing that, because sometimes he doesn't want a snack, and it's always possible that I'd forget if he didn't ask for one that day. Then he'd drop like a rock.

The snack issue is actually addressed in Think Like a Pancreas. He concludes that snacking isn't terribly conducive to good numbers for the reason I stated above - the body never has a chance to get back to a fasting number, so you run higher all day.

I'm not a total meanie. Sometimes he gets some carbs between meals, and of course he does if he's trending low. But much of the time, his snacks (when he wants them) are ham and cheese, or veggies and dip.

[3js]

Of course, all this being said before the first site change by ourselves tomorrow....:eek: I hope I don't feel differently then :p

It will be ok! I was terrified, plus my husband left for a trip and we had only done 1 or 2 (?). 2 of the sites did not work, and an hour or so after changing the site he was in the 20`s (over 360) for no reason. It was fine after re-doing. You will do fine:)

[chocoholicsc]

It will be ok! I was terrified, plus my husband left for a trip and we had only done 1 or 2 (?). 2 of the sites did not work, and an hour or so after changing the site he was in the 20`s (over 360) for no reason. It was fine after re-doing. You will do fine:)


Right now it just seems like so many steps. I'm scared I'm going to miss a step!

[3js]

That is EXACTLY how I felt (well, still do a bit:o). It helped my husband and I to do it together- a calming effect having someone else there as a "check".:)

[Jacob'sDad]

It's all about matching up. You have to not only give the right amount of insulin to cover the snack but you also have to time it right to avoid spikes before the insulin kicks in. Matching up is not all that easy but it is easier with lower carb snacks and lower GI snacks.
Sometimes matching up right just comes from practice and intuition. Last night Jacob wanted a bowl of cereal before bed (organic frosted flakes). His BG was 85 and he still had IOB. I subtracted off some of the IOB when I bolused him for it and guessed that he would not spike. We checked him 4 times from bedtime to breakfast and he was never under 110 and never over 135. Sometimes you just get lucky.:)

[twodoor2]

Do you let your kids eat whatever they want (within reason of course) once they are on a pump? I can't help but wonder if I should continue to feed him low-carb snacks and drinks during his non-meal grazing that he does? I know I can cover the carbs immediately, but I guess I'm not sure if it's still harming him to have foods that are high in carbs/sugar?:confused: Obviously they need to meet the daily requirements of fruits and veggies but he's 2 and so picky:(
I hope this question makes sense!:p

I think whether you're on MDI or pumping, you should try to avoid very high GI and high fat. That's just my opinion, and it does seem to help avoid spikes. However, some people are more or less sensitive to high GI and high fat than others. My daugher is very sensitive to both and high protein as well. This is mutually exclusive from the fact that you're pumping or using MDI. Insulin acts the same way regardless of the delivery system (syringe or pump). There may be slight differences in absorption between pump and MDI, but that's about it, and this has nothing to do with the type of food consumed.

I posted a thread on this subject a while ago (can't find it). Basically, the thing you have to watch out for is that if you are a grazer, or eat several snacks all day long. The pump companies would have you believe you can eat whatever you want WHENEVER you want, the WHENEVER, IMO, is a different story.

For example, if your child has a BG 200 mg/dl only one hour postprandial, and the DIA tends to be longer, then if you give more food, there might be a spike on top of a spike. Elizabeth tends to have a very long DIA (duration of insulin action), and I have to give special carb ratios at the beginning of meals to accomodate snacks, otherwise, she'll have the spike on top of spike issue. Even probolusing doesn't always help.

It's something you need to experiment with, but prebolusing is very important, whether you're on MDI or pumping. Again, the pump companies would have you believe that you can eat whatever you want WHENEVER you want, but this is not always true for everyone. My thread went into that, and many people gave their opinons on this. People with a shorter DIA tend to be able to snack more easily between meals it seems. However, I still have Elizabeth on a schedule to allow for meals and snacks spaced out in a specific fashion, even on the pump.

[Judy&Alli]

I can't believe I forgot to add something to my minimed info-merccial (sp?)...:p
The thing I love the most, is how happy he has been! I've got my happy-go-lucky little guy back! With his bs in range, I think he just feels SO much better and it shows. He's running around squealing, falling down giggling and just being his sweet little self again!
For us, starting on the pump was the best decision we've made since the D! Of course, all this being said before the first site change by ourselves tomorrow....:eek: I hope I don't feel differently then :p


Your post made me tear up!!!!!! This is the best reason to pump. Alli's personality had been gone for so long I had forgotten what she was like pre diabetes. I am soooooooooooooooo happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!


As far as eating what they want we let Alli eat what she wants unless it is close to dinner. But ONLY if we are restricting the other kids as well! We want her to be a kid and we don't want her to have food issues!!!!!! So I say let 'em eat cake!!!!!!!!!!!
Judy:)

[bz'smom]

Moderation is key...and so is living a normal kid's life:cwds:

I totally agree with Paula, we treat food the same as we did before dx for both of our kids. I'm glad things are going smoothly for you guys.

[sugarmonkey]

Both kids are allowed to eat the same things. In saying that they are only allowed fruit or veg between meals. Its always been that way. Before pumping Phillip thought i had that rule because of d. When he started pumping he found out otherwise.

[jendean]

This gets me. I hate when people say that pumping is great because they can eat whatever they want.

I think that if we all let our kids (D and Non-D) eat whatever they want, we would have kids on cardiac meds at age ten. Kids (generally) want to eat crap.
No kid should eat whatever they want. It would be twinkie heaven at our house..... :D

EVERY kid should have a balanced diet, with a protien source, loads of fresh fruit and veggies, whole grains, and a variety of flavor, and a little of everything they are not allergic to. (with the exception of kids with celiac/sprue/and lactose intolerance etc....)

The reason for pumping is to gain a different handle, or different type of control on blood glucose levels.

They may be more "free" to snack, and graze on a pump, but it is never a really cool idea for a kid to do that all day, Diabetes or not. A person on MDI can do all the things that a pumping person can do.... But they have to take more insulin for it. and the calculations to avoid stacking must be done manually.

Pumping does make busy lifestyles much more convenient.

[badshoe]

we are in the what ever they want camp