Guidelines for planning meals on sick days for children with diabetes

Any illness may cause an upset in the blood sugar balance of a person with diabetes. This includes common illnesses such as a head cold, a sore throat or a case of the flu.

Blood sugar levels usually go up with an illness, and appetites tend to go down. If your child is not able to eat solid foods, make sure they have drinks that contain carbohydrate. This will help them to:

• Get enough liquids
• Have enough energy to fight the infection
• Keep blood sugar in a healthy and safe range

Your child should still keep taking insulin even if they are sick and not eating.

Helpful tips

• If possible, keep following the meal plan. Your child still needs carbohydrates to prevent a low blood sugar reaction.
• If your child has a hard time eating solid foods, you can give them drinks that contain carbohydrate. This will replace the amount of carbohydrate your child would normally have during that day.
• If needed, spread the carbohydrate evenly throughout the day.

For example, if your child has 42 grams of carbohydrate for breakfast and 15 grams for morning snack, the total for the morning is 57 grams of carbohydrate.

While your child is sick, they can have the 57 grams all at once or have 10 to 15 grams every hour.

If your child is not counting carbohydrates

They should have one of the sample choices below every hour.

Sample choices of liquids that contain 10 grams of carbohydrate.

• Half a cup of juice
• 1 cup of soup
• A third of a can of regular ginger ale
• Half a popsicle
• A quarter cup of regular Jell-O