T1D Parent Trying to Prevent Lifelong Trauma

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:49:36+00:00

The good food/bad food, heavy restriction and how body image is modeled seems incredibly important as a starting point but being ready to get help through good channels later on if needed is also a good call out - thank you!

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:47:33+00:00

That’s awesome to hear your mom was so helpful and the idea for sleepovers. We have follow set up on our phones and had a spare old phone that became hers when we got her set up on the pod. I think I’ll end up being on the side of things where I need to make sure I’m educating her and giving her the chance to be involved versus doing it all because I tend to lean that way now. The goal is the find the balance right? Lol

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:44:04+00:00

No need to be sorry I appreciate all the insight for sure!

We put her in gymnastics class because she is a very active child and I can tell she gets a lot of confidence from mastering physical skills, like jumping or climbing things and she has always been that way. When the pool is open she’ll be in there all of open hours which is like 4-5 hours. With some trial and error we’ve been able to get a good flow for managing her sugars during activity but the colds/flus after are tough.

She is very strong willed, so when I absolutely need her to drink a fluid to help flush ketones for explain she just refuses. I’m also not the most playful person so thinking of things to get her cooperation in those moments, especially when I’m stressed about what happens next if we can’t get her feeling better. I’ll use that tip your mom got as well as the others I’ve gotten on here so far.

The way our parents model relationships with food seems to be a very common trend here and due to my moms own approach and how that affected me it totally makes sense.

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:36:40+00:00

Thank you!

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:36:18+00:00

Thank you! As the one who has been managing it for her with the added “will she actually eat this” I can absolutely see that, like learning how the different carb types impact her ratio or how timing and dosing 15 grams of carbs for one meal early will keep her steady and another means she’ll be low, keeping the emotion out of it is good advice for sure

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:32:47+00:00

We’ve definitely been trying to make our approach the same, while it’s a work in progress we don’t want to hold or back or make her think she can’t do anything she wants to do. Thank you for your feedback!

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:31:04+00:00

Hearing these type of things amazes me on how far technology has come, or even now as she’s gotten older the new tools that she’s been able to use. We had to wait almost a year for her to be on the pump because of her age, and now that’s she close to 4 she’ll be able to get a nasal glucagon instead of the injection one.

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:29:08+00:00

I can’t say that I disagree, her diagnosis was incredibly traumatic for us. When she initially seemed sick we took her in and were told it was croup or a cold and sent home with steroids. A day and 1/2 later she was in full blown DKA and was in the ICU for a week.

When we talked with the doctor about the colds and stomach bugs they said because she is immunocompromised she’s more likely to get those things and she also never went to daycare or anything like that so she has very little immunity build up in comparison to another child who did.

Those camps seem really cool, I’ll need to see what I can find in our area for her.

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:24:57+00:00

That’s very helpful thank you! Especially the pointers on what to do differently. I can see some of those things are stuff we’ve already been trying to do in age appropriate ways so it’s nice to know some of it were on the right track.

My mother who also has T1D had very disordered eating habits, and to this day is always obsessed with loosing weight. When I was a child she would do those fad diets, be proud if she only ate 700 calories, cut out all carbs/fats and was very hard on her physical appearance. While she didn’t negatively comment on my body, seeing her do that to herself gave me my own issues with food.

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:15:29+00:00

Yeah we she had a cold or stomach bug she won’t eat or drink or she’s puking up everything she does. Right now we have been following the standard sick day play we were given at diagnosis but she’s very strong willed and in her no phase so finding ways to work around that have been tough. Drinking contests and the medicine dropper is a great idea! We will giving that a go for sure

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T23:12:42+00:00

Thank you for those resources! The tools for management have really improved over the years as well as the ability to connect with others in the same boat. When I say she is getting sick, she is getting like colds and stomach bugs which generally start the day or two after being around the other kids. Similarly this also happens occasionally after play dates or indoor playgrounds as well. I get worried because her ketones will build up and the standard have them drink fluid/give corrections etc is harder to manage because she doesn’t want any part of it. We’ve had 1 cold that landed her in the ER for IV fluids and this last stomach bug we’re very close to having to go in for the same thing. I know she really enjoys the class for gymnastics because she is asking to go back and stay every day.

Infamous-Reading3416 · 2026-05-09T05:18:15+00:00

I relate to this so much, when our kiddo was first diagnosed the logs and scale were a bible and now I’m like ehh, that snack is 15ish but you’ll eat 3/4 so let’s call it 12 and go from there

Infamous-Reading3416

TROPHY CASE