my 3 year old has type 1 diabetes and i cant get her to eat much she keeps going low every day?

Question

how can i get her to eat i have tryed everything it is so hard to make some one eat if they are not hungry please help?

Answer 1

wow, she's so young and at this age they can be sparse eaters. I would try keeping yogurt covered raisins (something healthy but tasty) within her reach at all times. If you keep her active enough she can have sugar, which she may be more apt to eat if it tastes better with some sugar in it. Can you explain to her simply that she has got to eat if she wants to grow up big, pretty and smart and be able to go to school and play outside like bigger kids do that she has to eat. That is what I had to do with my 3 yr old when she was anemic, I explained she needs iron for this, that and the other, therefore she cannot have this food or drink (soda, tea, too much diary) but she has to have a certain amount of these others, she surprisingly complied and doesn't ask for her brothers soda and tea (tea parties).
Maybe those nutitional drinks you mix with milk, like those instant breakfasts.

Answer 2

Well with my experience as a monther and as a type 1 I realy feel for you. I am an adult type 1 and I know how difficult it is at times, sometimes I am just not hungry or feel like eating. And I have a son (10 years old not diabetic) and I have fought since he was 2 to get him to eat, he hates food unless it is breakfast food! The one thing that I do remember reading on one of my insulin info papers you get when you get your RX from the drug store is that with kids you can give the fast acting insulin after the meal that way you know how much they did eat. As far as geeting her to eat good lunk that is a hard age, even my 12 year old daughter who eats much better then my son was hard to feed at that age. Sometimes for lunch if I am not hungry I'll drink milk with an instant breakfast packet.(you can buy it reg. or low sugar I keep both on hand depends on how much sugar I want/need) Or organic yougut, it has about 30 grams of sugar instead of a low sugar version, but I also take a spoonfull of peanut butter with it for protein so the sugar doesn't crash. Hope I can help.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

you're right you can't make them eat. Sounds like you have to "feed" the insulin so I'm guessing NPH is in the mix for her. When she doesn't want to eat but you KNOW that the insulin is peaking you can give her small amounts of high carb food/drink with a little protein. Juice is 15 grams for 4 oz. and a spoofull of peanut butter. Ask you doc about making a switch to Lantus and novolog. Lantus will act as her basal insulin. This will allow you more freedom to feed her only when she's hungry and only give her novolog with meals. It's never easy to feed a kid that doesn't want to eat and Type 1 just makes it so much worse. I keep small amount of healthy snacks on hand at all times. My son goes through phases where he doesn't want to eat normal meals so we'll give him 1/2 PB and J sandwich, yogurt with cereal, crackers with cheese. The key is small amounts with a mix of carb and protein. Also, I was told to administer fast acting insulin during or after meals if there's any question of whether of not the child is going to eat . This lessens the chances for having a low.

Answer 5

The insulin pump would be the best choice here (she can eat when she wants).

Second best choice is Humalog for meals and Lantus for basal, using carbohydrate counting.

It sounds like you give her a fixed dose of insulin and a fixed meal with the same amount of carbs every day. This is the old system, and as you can see, it doesn't work well.

Lastly, you need to give her the Humalog AFTER she eats. Count up the carbohydrates in what she ate, then give the corresponding insulin dose.

Make sure you have a pediatric endocrinologist (children's diabetes doctor) looking after her.

Answer 6

Try keeping tastey treats around the house just incase she refuses to eat her dinner. I've heard at younger ages like this it's ok to give her shot after she eats so you can calculate the right amount of insulin. Do you know how to adjust her insulin? If you don't talk to her doctor on your next visit about carb counting and how to change insulin depending on how much she eats. At this point you don't want to force food upon her or she will start to associate the shot with eating, and that is the last thing you want. (you could end up with a child or teen with an eating disorder) I think the best thing to do would be talk to your doc., and give her insulin AFTER she eats. That way you know how much insulin is too much. It's dangerous AND scary to have a diabetic baby having lots of lows. After too many lows, she and you may become un aware of a low because her body will adjust to lows and have no symptoms. This problem needs to be fixed. Good luck!

EDIT: Don't worry too much about her not being hungry when she's low. Humans have a natrual response to low blood sugar. They eat. I've heard stories of small children waking up low, and their parents finding them infront of the fridge eating everything he could reach. (this this is when you need to worry, because you have no clue what he's eaten) I also wake up low on occasion feeling like i HAVE to eat. So when she's low offer her food, chances are she'll eat, even if she's just had dinner.

ANOTHER EDIT :)
If she does go through a phase where she'll only eat one thing, feed her that one thing, it's more important to get her the carbs, than it is to eat her veggies. My own brother went through a phase where all he would eat was peanut butter and honey sandwiches, so that is what was fed to him. And you know what, he's turned out just fine.

Answer 7

As a parent of a child who was dxed at age 2, I hear you loud and clear.
Talk to your child's doctor about dosing after eating with humalog. That way you can keep better control rather than playing catch up when she doesn't eat.
Also check out a pump for her.That provides the tightest control.
Join a support group for parents in your area.Many hospitals offer these.

Answer 8

Have you ever thought of the pump for her? If she is on the pump there is both a basal rate and a bolus rate. The basal rate would be the rate of insulin per hour she needs to survive without any food. The bolus rate would cover her whenever she wanted to eat. This way, if she's not hungry, she doesn't have to eat. Plus if she goes a little low and refuses to eat, you can suspend the pump from giving the basal rate for a while, and her blood sugar will rise on it's own.

Answer 9

talk to a dietitian and her physician maybe she is taking too much insulin in the am? I am a insulin regulated diabetic and I have to take 5 shots daily but I am very under control now

Answer 10

lower her inuslin, the more she eats the more insulin, the less she eats the less insulin