Alright so tomorrow I have to send diabetes to school for the entire day. Who knew first grade could be so stressful?
We have an understanding of how the school likes to have things done, and what we want done too. But I have one major problem I just can't seem to figure out. I need advice from my trusty D mom's to help me get through it.
Here's my problem...
Lunch time.
I know, I know there are lots of ways that everyone does this. But hear me out first before I get swamped with emails.
First she is only 6. She has the basic understanding of how to count carbs, and for the most part she is pretty good at eating everything on her plate. Should I teach her how to handle this herself? Is she old enough to fully understand AND do it on her own? Or does she need to be supervised still? (I am thinking the later)
Second, we have the school nurse coming BEFORE lunch to give her insulin, BUT she can't stay to watch her get her food, or watch her eat it for that matter. WHO is responsible for making sure she eats what she was given insulin for and if not make any adjustments? Is this me? Do I need to go to school every day? Do I trust that it will be ok?
Third, Is it better for me to just send lunch every day? I found all the carb counts for school lunch. They have a pretty good selection, and Dude LOVES school lunch, but would it be easier to just send it every day?
HELP! I am meeting with the teacher and school nurse in a few hours and I am not sure how to handle it yet. SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW!
Did I mention diabetes is going to give me grey hair?
10 comments:
Okay this is coming from a diabetic and this is how I work but I wouldn't give the hole amount of insulin because then I know when I eat and then go out to play I will drop if I give myself the hole amount. I hope this is making sense but you also may want to talk to her doc. and see what they say.
HANG IN THERE, MAMA!
Sugar gets prebolused and then someone in the cafeteria is responsible for making sure she finishes everything.
We pack her lunch every day. I put a note in her lunch box listing each item and the carb count for each, then total it up and the nurse double checks my math.
Sugar knows she must eat everything. A typical lunch looks like this:
1/2 sandwich -- 10 carbs
12 grapes --12 carbs
chips -- 15 carbs
milk -- 12 carbs
I haven't had any issues with her not eating everything.
Let us know how it goes!
you just gotta hang in there girl and take a deep breath we all figure these things out as we go .
You need to take it easy and less stress . I know easier said than done . Good luck and let us know how it goes .
You both will do great and survive. =)
For us, I usually go to school at lunch. I have the carb counts. We test, then I let C make his lunch choices. After, I dose him and go home.
If I send a home lunch, I write everything on a piece of paper. He still tests then calls. I walk him through dosing on the pump.
If I am unable to be at school, and he wants school lunch, then he goes through the lunch line, and to the office to test, call, and dose.
We usually give the full dose, but see how things go. You know every kid is different.
Did you see how much gray hair I have??? Most of it is from diabetes stress. =)
If she is going to be pre-bolused, there just needs to be an understanding that if she doesn't eat EVERY BITE, she needs to go to the office and call you to let you know. Or, I would have the nurse under bolus by 10 carbs becuase the exercise is going to make a difference too...it is trial and error. Come up with a plan, and then tell the teacher you will give the plan 2 weeks and then re-evaluate. Their might be some hiccups in the beginning, but she needs a chance to learn the routine. I had to run down to school everyday for Kindergarten snack...and trust me, you don't want to go down that road if you don't absolutely have to.
Good luck friend! Come up with a plan, but make sure the teacher knows that there may be a plan B in a couple weeks.
How did I not know that you had a blog?!
Her meter beams the blood sugar reading to her pump right? If so, then the bolus wizard should be able to calculate any dosing corrections. All that has to be done is count carbs.
If you have the information from the school lunch menu and your son loves it and she wants it then let her have school lunch. Let her know what the carb count will be each morning before she goes (I'm assuming you have a calendar saying what's served each day). Tell her she has to eat everything or she will most likely drop too low. Give her snacks for any lows.
I know she's only 6 but at some point she needs to do this on her own. Give her as much control over her diabetes as you think she can handle. Realize she is probably capable of more than you would imagine when you're in Mother Bear mode.
The advice to talk to her doctor is excellent. What does he suggest?
Hang in there. Life is scary but it will work out.
Tristan
I am the mama of 2 D-kids as well and lunch is a bugger, even with the best nurse. We pack lunch, however if you have the carb count you can pretty much tackle the world in my opinion. The folks in the lunchroom has been told that NOTHING from Ms.J's lunchbox is to be thrown away, it all comes back and Ms.J has been instructed to tell her teacher if/when she does not eat everything. We have backups in this event in her box in the nurses office if she's just not in the mood. Our health plan meeting went great with our school and I'll be updating our info and our plan very soon on my blog too.
Stay strong Mama! You can do this!
I dont have any advice yet but just know that I love you!
OK...LOVE everyone elses comments. Joe is going into second grade now...this is how we have handled it for the past two years. If I pack his lunch, I carb count it and fill out the total grams of carbs to be consumed on the LOG that I send into school (this log is on my blog on one of the top tabs labeled "Docx...." or if he is going to eat "HOT LUNCH" from the school he and I talk about it first and go over what he plans to eat...I then add up the carbs for that and put it on the LOG. The nurse will then "watch" Joe bolus himself for lunch (correction/carbs). We don't do less insulin b/c Joe's underlying activity level is CRAZY. Joe will NEVER throw anything in his lunch box away...and he knows to tell the nurse/cafeteria staff if he does not plan on eating something packed for him and/or if some food item fell to the ground...etc. Then the staff knows to call me...so we can "make-up" the difference.
I hope this helps!...xoxo
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