Party food for child with type 1 diabetes

[shrinkingnora]

Dd's best friend has recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and Dd's tenth birthday is coming up. She wants to have a sleepover and we want to make the whole thing as easy as possible for her friend to attend. I have spoken to her mum and we have come up with the option of staying all evening then being picked up at ten and coming back for breakfast in the morning if they don't feel spending the night is going to work (they're still getting used to lots of stuff as you can imagine).

I want the party food to be easy for her to access without making her feel she is having to have anything different. So basically, any suggestions? I am a good cook and up for a challenge.

Aw, bless you, that's lovely.

I expect they still are working things out, so you are best guided by mum and them by their specialist nurse.

Basically t1 diabetics can eat anything they like - they just put in insulin to Cover the carbs. The family might not even be carb counting yet, so work with mum on it.

Have the usual. I would go steady on the very sugary things, as from experience my son gets high blood sugars. However, good to have some more on hand in case of hypos - there might be a few of thos with charging round, but no worry (we have not yet managed a sleepover for Ds, as his bloods plummet with the excitement and the lovely hosts can't get enough sugars into him to keep him 'up'!). Lots of my friends t1 kids have had great sleepovers, however.

Would also be a good idea to have some low/ zero carb snacks on hand in case levels go high - things like sugar free jelly or meaty snacks.

Have a lovely time. You are very wonderful to want this little one still to be able to be a little child. People like you help to make our worlds go round when they are starting to crash around our ears. X

Well said Brambles

If her friend is on MDI she will have a lot more control over what she can eat. Make sure that she can check her blood sugar and maybe get her mum to show you how to check her - it's really easy!

I guess it's easy for me to say as have been type 1 since I was a kid but apart from going easy on the mega sweet stuff she'll pretty much be able to eat what she wants.

I think the most important thing is that she's not made to feel different so give them all diet coke. Is it just this girl coming for the sleepover?

I think you sound great OP :)

Things like cheese, ham, carrot, peppers would be carb free as is sugar free jelly so can be eaten without insulin. Little cocktail sausages are low carb and the flavoured rice cakes aren't bad, jubbly lollies too. Main thing I would steer away from are sweets, chocolate is not as bad!

Good point paddy. Stick to water or sugar free drinks.

Hungry has some great ideas there for snack food and agree with keeping the sweets to a minimum. Have a chat with mum beforehand and let her know what food is on offer and timings, she can then workout best way to go re insulin.
It is so thoughtful of you, im sure the mother will really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for the replies (and the compliments ).

She is doing her own blood sugar and DD knows how to do it and what to do for a hypo or hyper - she has a little bag with all her kit in and they are allowed to go out of any lesson to do a blood sugar check and go to the office if necessary. They live about 5 minutes drive from us so her mum could be here quickly if there were any problems. I've taken her for an afternoon at the park since diagnosis but it was only two hours. Her blood sugar has been unstable over the last week due to a cold and they have had to do extra insulin doses (booster doses?) for the first time which has been worrying for her mum.

I thought I might do 'cocktails' with the flavoured water which I know she can have and get them umbrellas and funny shaped ice cubes and twirly straws.

Food wise I think maybe homemade cheeseburgers with wholemeal rolls and salad stuff to start with. They are carb counting so hopefully this will make it easy to work out in advance.

I need something for them to have while they watch a film (is popcorn a terrible idea? Was thinking i could pop it here and sweeten with splenda) and some idea of how best to do the cake - was thinking of cupcakes so they can be easily counted? Would it be good to do a carrot cake type thing rather than a sponge? DD is happy to have anything that makes things easy for her friend.

A cold will def mess up her levels - mine are all over the place for that exact reason!

Sounds like she is on quite a flexible regime if she's carb counting. I would say don't worry if she runs a bit high for the sleepover - my blood sugar can be in the mid teens and I can still feel ok - as it's sustained highs you want to avoid.

Cupcakes would be fine if she goes easy on the icing.

Sounds like she is a lucky girl to have a friend like your DD :)

How long is it since her diagnosis? Is she still in the honeymoon phase did her mum say?

That sounds good. If you are able to do anything that can be carb counted ahead it will make things easier.

Ask mum if she has a copy of the 'carbs and cals' book or phone app - they are such a help and my Ds takes the book with him if he goes to friends'.

If she is injecting then she might want to cover it all with one injection, otherwise she will have to top up the injection later. I hope that her mum is being supported to get her onto a pump - the fact that they are carb counting already is good news.

Colds do weird things to blood sugar - Ds is currently brewing one and has had some stubborn high blood sugars.

She wrote DD a letter just after diagnosis thanking her for her friendship and support. Made me cry.

I think it was early July that she was diagnosed. Her mum is amazing, I am full of admiration. It seems like suddenly needing degree level knowledge of a subject and it being a matter of life and death how well you learn it. In a very short space of time.

I will do everything for the party in individual portions so it can easily be carb counted ahead - I knew all those years of dieting were good practice for something! I thought I might present all the food in a diner style rather than buffet style eg burgers wrapped in grease proof and chips in cardboard cones.

They do have the carbs and cals book and yes she still is in the honeymoon phase. They thought that all the mad readings last week might be the end of it, but it does seem to be a virus. She saw her nurse this afternoon so I'll get an update tomorrow. Thanks for the help with this - I didn't want to quiz her mum about it all as she has enough going on right now. I now have enough information that I can present a plan to her and hopefully that will be make things easy for her so she can be confident that her DD can come here any time.

Just prior to diagnosis I had started teaching the girls to cook but we have paused that for a bit. I've suggested to them that they might like to write a collection of recipes for other kids in the same situation to use with all the carbs etc counted. They're bright girls and I have no doubt that could produce something amazing!

I have SO got something in my eye reading this, Nora.

Ds's play date invites dried up after diagnosis, people we scared. Only a trusted handful of friends carried on treating him like a little boy.

It's mum that needs the support too, which you're giving. You're right, there is so much to learn.

(Btw, if she does not know about the 'children with diabetes' uk website/mailing list, that is really helpful too).

As a now grown up child with diabetes can I just say that the whole thing was much much worse for my mum than it was for me. Reading mums' reactions on here make me cry as it makes me realize what she must have gone through :(

It will all become the new normal for this girl and I bet that in another 6 months it will all be second nature and will hardly be mentioned.

I also find that children are far more accepting of a medical condition than adults which is why it's such a refreshing change to hear about parents like yourselves :)

I think that the child just looks at the present and immediate effects and the parent sees a future of medical issues. The school has been really good at letting the girls get on with it and they are too well behaved to take advantage. When they talk about it they sound like grown women!

I guess. But if it makes her mum feel better the complications don't affect everyone. I've had type 1 for 30 years now and apart from some minor damage to one eye have got through it all relatively unscathed. That included surviving school, uni and even childbirth!

They both sound like lovely girls :)