Counting carbohydrates

You may be concerned when your child is away from home – will they eat enough carbohydrate so they don’t have a hypo?


Teaching your child about carbohydrate foods and quantities they need to eat is important. Extra fats or sugars occasionally are not going to be harmful in the long term.


Encouraging them to make their own decisions about how much they need to eat at meals at home is a good place to start. With this confidence they may deal with other situations more easily.

Making carbohydrate choices at meal times should not be difficult – offer selections from potato, corn, sweet potato, rice, pasta or bread. Desserts can also be nutritious and offer another carbohydrate alternative -try fruit or dairy based desserts such as fruit salad, yoghurt, banana split, custard or canned fruit.

Allowing your child to join in outings, sleep-overs and camps helps them to learn to share responsibility for their diabetes. Older school-age children are often ready to do more of their diabetes care, such as making their own food choices, assisting with cooking meals and even reading food labels.

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