The Nutritionist
Your nutritionist, or registered dietitian, will be your guide for all that is food in your first months and even years. Although there will come a time when you'll know just about everything and your appointments with your nutritionist will feel more like catching up with an old friend, you should plan on having your child visit with him, in the long run, at least annually. Food likes and dislikes change, as does a child's metabolism. There's always something to tweak, and the nutritionist is the one to tweak it.
Meal Plans or Not?
Not long ago, all children newly diagnosed with diabetes went immediately on a meal plan. It was pretty much cast in stone, and it represented all the food groups. Basically, it was a low-sugar, moderate-fat diet. While no one debates that is the best way for a child with diabetes to eat, nutritionists who work with kids with diabetes are quick to point out that the most important thing you can do with a diet is make a child feel like a
For that reason, some nutritionists are willing to be more flexible. Most nutritionists will be willing to help you and your child work out a flexible plan that helps you live a more normal lifestyle. Still, in a perfect plan, meals should be carefully timed in all cases. For instance, if a snack is too close to a dinnertime check, blood glucoses can be falsely high, since insulin would still be working on them.
Alert!
Foods metabolize differently in every child. Don't take a diabetes friend's word for how to cover a certain food with insulin. Though this friend may have experience, he is not a medical professional. Rather, talk to your nutritionist about a plan that is tailor-made for that food and your child.
Even with flexibility, though, it's a good idea to let a nutritionist come up with a series of meal plans for your child. Use these plans as best you can, since, as every diabetes caregiver eventually realizes, repetition is the key to success. (Some famed athletes with Type 1 say their secret to success is eating the exact same foods at the exact same time every day.) Use the plans as a starting point, and ask your nutritionist to help you figure out how to deviate for special occasions, parties, or just because you feel like it.
Label Language
A good nutritionist will also help you become a label translator. Ask your nutritionist to allow you to bring the labels of some of your child's favorite foods and help you to understand what all the ingredients mean. Ask her to help you understand things like glycemic indexing and whether “sugar alcohols” count. In time, your nutritionist should have you speaking the same language she speaks, and understanding, for the most part, what foods mean to your child's diabetes.
Essential
Eventually, as your child grows, work toward a time when your nutritionist meets alone with your child, at least for part of the appointment. This will help shift the responsibility of understanding foods to your child, something that once he is fully grown must become a reality.
A nutritionist can also help fill in the blanks for the rest of the team on other issues. The nutritionist may pick up on signs of a possible eating disorder or other type or problem; the kind of information that, shared with the rest of the team, could help your child avoid a crisis or recover quickly from one.
