1 gram snacks

How much does 1g raise her bg?

 

P.S. the most common time to want 1 gram snacks is during the night when she is asleep but is running just a little too low for comfort. Two one gram Teddy Grahams will do the trick beautifully while an unmeasured sip of some juice could end up being four (or six)grams of carbs which would result in a high at breakfast which sets the stage for a poor day later that day.

 

You know, I am still trying to figure that out mathematically though I have a gut sense.

During the day and during a low it averages out to 3 grams raises her ten points when measured 20 minutes later. (this is the only time that we have actually figured out exactly what the carbs do because we have tons of data on lows.) However, I would add that she just finished honeymoon so time will tell what may change. Those first few days when honeymoon ended were marked by some steady highs, that (and the calculations done at the endo) is how we knew honeymoon was over, but now we switched to having mostly covered snacks between meals and the highs are fixed.

But if we just want to hold her off another hour while waiting for dinner than that same 3 grams might not result in even 5 points for a few minutes or alternatively might result in 20 points for 2 hours.

During a bath 4 grams works great to stop a low but no grams could allow her to drop 50 points.

Midway between breakfast and lunch 5 grams of uncovered snack will raise her from 85 through 200 and leave her at maybe 95 just before lunch.

The question for me now is: when figuring out how much a gram raises her how much later should we be checking? Do we want to measure 20 minutes later or 90 minutes later?

 

Has anyone mentioned the glucobits? Find them only at Target so far. They are actually yummy! My son also breaks regular glucose into 4 pieces and puts them back into the bottle so he always has a 1 gram option.

 

I have to laugh a little. We have 2 scales, 3 sets of measuring cups, 3 sets of measuring spoons and several relevant websites bookmarked on our computer.
But Chris is 14 and counts his own meals most of the time. In his world a meal is either 60 or 75g carb. Very rarely 100g. He does this at school, in restaurants, potlucks, and anywhere he is on his own. It usually works.
Of course, I understand the difference for a younger child.

 

When my son was diagnosed, I still had my breast pump stuff around. This included the collection bottles. These bottles indicate every quarter of an ounce and every 10 ml. I use these for lows or almost lows at home all of the time, especially since I cannot get him to chew anything when he needs something in the middle of the night. Usually I give 2 or 3 ounces unless he is significantly low but since a single gram raises your daughter so much right now, you could give juice to the nearest quarter of an ounce. This is equivalent to just over 0.9 grams of carb of the apple juice that we happen to use.

But, if you can get her to chew at night then maybe my earlier suggestion of conversation hearts best fits with what you currently use of things like Teddy Grams.

The collection bottle I am talking about is shown here: http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/breastmilk-collection/442/collection-bottle-wsolid-lid

 

That's what the 2 hour correction is for

 

A glucotab is 4 so cut in half would be 2. I believe peanut M&Ms are 1 carb each as well as the regular ones. An animal cracker is probably more like 1 1/2 to 2 carbs each. A baby carrot is probably 1 carb each

 

Ripeness doesn't affect total carbs, just glycemic index. I think giving up on accurate carb counts is going to result in least accurate counts.
I guess or round a lot of the time but when I'm trying to figure out exactly what's what and measuring my carbs, I try to test my ratios with exact numbers of carbs. It would be very hard for every meal but I think it's worth doing for tune ups (so for this week I'm trying to be very accurate with breakfasts and next week I probably won't count at all).

 

If you're not already using carb ratios I would highly recommend them.

Here is what we do for adding/subtracting small amounts to make the count come out right:

Divide the desired number of carbs / carb ratio of food

For example, let's say you need 3 more carbs to "round out the count" to an even unit. Just add a touch more of something you're already eating like apple sauce or milk. Divide 3 by .1 for unsweetened applesauce and you'll know that 30 more grams of applesauce will make things come out right.

Likewise you can top off the milk with another 60 grams to add your 3 carbs (3/.05).

You can do this with any food as explained here: http://www.carbperfectionist.com/OtherPages.aspx

PS Saltine crackers are 2 carbs each

 

I never suggested that one should "give up" on accurate carb counting. I simply pointed out that I don't believe it is possible, even with scales and measuring cups, to get carb count accurate to the point of needing to make up a single gram in order to dose.

I disagree regarding fruit and ripeness.

 

Jelly beans. 1 bean = 1 carb
Smarties. 1 Smartie = 1 carb (I think)

 

2 smarties would be closer to 1 gram, but not exact. I always call a package 6 grams and there are at least 15 candies in there.