# problems with sweets at school



## gavman (Mar 13, 2010)

hi im having trouble with gavins "healthy" school. i have his teacher handing sweets out in class when theyve been good or as a treat for class assemblys. also when its a childs birthday they bring sweets in to share with the class. as gavin has only had diabetes since sept 09 he is still strugling to come to terms with it and gets very angry and upset especially when he see others eating sweets and he refuses to do his insulin and blood tests which leaves me trying to coax him to do them. ive been in to the head master and explained i feel awfull at the thought of everybody having to do without just because gavin has diabetes but something needs to be done. after all it is a "healthy" school. he told me he couldnt controll the children bringing sweets in. yet he can have a say what goes in childrens lunch boxes. can anybody give me some advice as to how to handle the situation


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## ZoZo (Mar 13, 2010)

HI, 

I know how you feel. My son was diagnosed in Jun 09 at the age of 11. 

We've always been told that no foods are banned and he can eat anything in moderation. I dont know what regime your son is on, but mine is on MDI, so he counts carbs and injects the correct amount of insulin to cover that at every mealtime. Therefore he can pretty much eat what he wants. 

In the situation your son has been in, I have told my son that its fine to have the sweets but rather than eat them there and then like another child might, he saves them and has them after his lunch or dinner. That way he can count them in with his mealtime injection. He then eats his meal and enjoys his sweets afterwards.  
If you start banning food ( and its usually the things they want to eat) then he will grow up hating diabetes and may well carry on rebelling against it by refusing injections. How we deal with it now is so important to how they grow up feeling about themselves and the condition they have to live with. 

As you get more used to living with diabetes and understand more about the condition, you will pick up all these things as you go along.  
Good luck!!


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## sophieee (Mar 13, 2010)

I completley agree with ZoZo, telling him to save them for at home or after lunch is a great idea. He was possibly thinking he couldn't have sweets at all and if you can show him a way round it the smiles all round !!


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## gavman (Mar 13, 2010)

gavins only 9 and to go from eating what he wants when he wants to being monitored he is really struggling. hes on novomix twice a day at the moment but his sugars are up and down to the extreme high to the lowest. his highest was 30 last week but he did have a cold. he had his diabetes apt and they were talking about putting him on insulin 4 times a day useing the novo rapid inbetween his novomix and being taught carb counting.but this week hes been having 2 lows a day so were holding off the 4 times and sticking to the 2 novomix a day but i have had to lower his insulin. the only way round the sweet situation to me was to try and stop them in school as i was getting very frustrated.


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## ZoZo (Mar 13, 2010)

You'll find there is a way round everything when you really think about it. 

The last thing you want to do is make the school change their rules, because of your boy. If he's anything like mine, he will feel different enough as it is. They just want to be like the rest of the kids, and what you can try and do at this stage is make sure he feels as regular as everyone else. 
Its a tough job, but you will find a way. Thats why places like this are great, to get advice. 
Thanks Sophiee, thats good to know. With my son coming up to his tricky teenage years and living with diabetes, I value what you think, cos you are living it! It helps me understand how he might be feeling.


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## grahams mum (Mar 13, 2010)

in graham class they are doing the same but they put the sweet in his snacks box and the birthday sweet they are giving out at the and of the day at 3;15 so i ask the teacher what the reading was at 2 and if is good graham can have it


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## ZoZo (Mar 13, 2010)

gavman said:


> gavins only 9 and to go from eating what he wants when he wants to being monitored he is really struggling. hes on novomix twice a day at the moment but his sugars are up and down to the extreme high to the lowest. his highest was 30 last week but he did have a cold. he had his diabetes apt and they were talking about putting him on insulin 4 times a day useing the novo rapid inbetween his novomix and being taught carb counting.but this week hes been having 2 lows a day so were holding off the 4 times and sticking to the 2 novomix a day but i have had to lower his insulin. the only way round the sweet situation to me was to try and stop them in school as i was getting very frustrated.




Get him on the MDI!! Speak again to your DSN. 
Once he starts carb counting he will be able to eat what he wants, and match his insulin to that, rather than trying to match what he eats to the insulin he is getting.
His BG will be so much better that way. My son rarely has lows, and we moniter and adjust his insulin according to what he eats. 
i urge you to speak to them again!!


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## am64 (Mar 13, 2010)

sophieee said:


> I completley agree with ZoZo, telling him to save them for at home or after lunch is a great idea. He was possibly thinking he couldn't have sweets at all and if you can show him a way round it the smiles all round !!



ditto sophieeeee x


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## gavman (Mar 13, 2010)

thanx everybody for your helpfull advice i will give it a go fingers crossed all will go well. carb counting is it easy?


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## bev (Mar 13, 2010)

ZoZo said:


> Get him on the MDI!! Speak again to your DSN.
> Once he starts carb counting he will be able to eat what he wants, and match his insulin to that, rather than trying to match what he eats to the insulin he is getting.
> His BG will be so much better that way. My son rarely has lows, and we moniter and adjust his insulin according to what he eats.
> i urge you to speak to them again!!



Absolutely! Mixed insulins do not work - thats why they are being phased out by most clinics. Even better than MDI - ask for a pump - control is sooooo much better! As for sweets -have a little box at home to put his goodies in and let him have one after a main meal - as long as you give extra insulin there shouldnt be a problem.Bev


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## jimmysmum (Mar 13, 2010)

I completely agree with everyone, we dont ban any foods either and we do the same as ZoZo we tell J that if hes given sweets or birthday cake etc etc to bring it home and have it with his meal or lunch the next day  he doesnt go without, we are also on MDI and carb count but bcoz J is still in his honeymoon phase (he was diag Nov 09) we dont have to carb count to the prescise number yet, just roughly. 
At the moment i do weigh and measure everything but its more for me to get my head round portion sizes, it seems very easy, i.e 1 tablespoon of rice = 10g carbs ive got a list of things we regularly eat and am learning every day in preparation for when we start doing it to the gram.

My daughter is only 2 and her ratio is 1 unit of insulin for every 45-50g of carbs shes eating but bcoz shes only just been diagnosed we dont have her doses tweaked yet but i think it will be easy and am not dreading it at all, its funny i look at food in terms on carb value now! 

Good luck seeing your DSN my son has great control and only the odd high and odd low they are very rare. xx


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## ZoZo (Mar 13, 2010)

gavman said:


> thanx everybody for your helpfull advice i will give it a go fingers crossed all will go well. carb counting is it easy?



It is easy. It takes a bit of getting used to, and you will need a set of digital scales, but with everything labelled these days, you will get your head round it. Your diabetes team will talk about what ratios to use to work for your son. 

As Jimmysmum says, because of the honeymoon period, its better getting started sooner rather than later, as it gives you a chance to get used to it. 
The honeymoon is over in my house now, O's levels have been creeping slowly up, so we are having to be more precise now, but we've had the best part of a year to practise! 
Please speak to your team, there is a lot of info and they will go through it with you and you will see benefits really quickly. Not only in his BG levels, but also in the fact he will have so much more freedom in what he can eat. He may feel much less resentful then, and see diabetes as something he controls not the other way round! 
PS - Jimmymum - I saw the kids eating the sugar free jelly on FB!! Thanks for the tip off - O eats it like its going out of fashion now!!!


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## jimmysmum (Mar 13, 2010)

PS - Jimmymum - I saw the kids eating the sugar free jelly on FB!! Thanks for the tip off - O eats it like its going out of fashion now!!![/QUOTE]

They love the stuff dont they!? the faves in this house are the cranberry and apple, i find they can bulk out an in-between meal snack to make it substantial along with something else, we have a whole shelf of them in the cupboard  glad i could help someone else for a change  xx


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## Kei (Mar 14, 2010)

My two (age 5 and 6) both do what others have suggested.  Their teachers have instructions that birthday sweets, treats and baking that they do in class should be put into their lunch bag and brought home to have after dinner.  This works fine for us.  Also, if there is a food-related lesson happening during the next few days, the teacher tells me what they're doing and we try to work out whether we can substitute whatever it is for one of their snacks.  They had an "ancient Greek" day in DD's class last winter and we worked out the carb counts of a few foods with her teacher so that she was able to join in and just not have her morning snack to compensate.

Both of mine are on mixes, but we were taught to carb-count from day 1 by the dietitian at the hospital, and I honestly don't know how we'd keep their blood sugars under control if we didn't!


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## Caroline (Mar 15, 2010)

gavman said:


> hi im having trouble with gavins "healthy" school. i have his teacher handing sweets out in class when theyve been good or as a treat for class assemblys. also when its a childs birthday they bring sweets in to share with the class. as gavin has only had diabetes since sept 09 he is still strugling to come to terms with it and gets very angry and upset especially when he see others eating sweets and he refuses to do his insulin and blood tests which leaves me trying to coax him to do them. ive been in to the head master and explained i feel awfull at the thought of everybody having to do without just because gavin has diabetes but something needs to be done. after all it is a "healthy" school. he told me he couldnt controll the children bringing sweets in. yet he can have a say what goes in childrens lunch boxes. can anybody give me some advice as to how to handle the situation



I haven't read all the replies, so I may be repeating some of them. The head teacher doesn't sound too sympathetic. It is possible to prevent the children bringing sweets in to school and you can have a healthy school. The school my little feller goes to will not allow sweets in school and have asked parents to wait until they leave the place before giving children sweets. Mid morning all the children are give some fruit and water or fruit juice. Most choose water. For birthdays parents send in the childrens favourite fruit to share with the class as sweets are not allowed, nor are crisps or nuts. The parents abide by this ruling too, although some have questioned it. I know some fruit is higher in sugar than others (grapes and ripe bananas), but I think it is the best compromise they can come up with.

Perhaps a word withthe class teacher and maybe the special educational needs officer might do some good? Hope it all works out.


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## gewatts (Mar 15, 2010)

Yes - MDI is soooo much better - we had 4 years of 2 injections a day and really bad blood sugar levels. We are now on 3 a day and carb counting at tea time. We are moving to 4 a day at Easter - can't wait. Carb counting is fine once you get the hang of it. We use The Collins Gem carb counting book and also have some Salter nutritional scales - are small enough to up in your bag if you are eating out. Get measuring spoons and jugs too if you haven't got some. I bought a wipe down memo board to put in the kitchen and write down all the carbs in her meal as I'm preparing it and serving up. Is is difficult when they give out sweets. We used to put them in her hypo box at home or now she can have them after her tea and we just add up the carbs. Good luck x


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