Our Beautiful 4 year old Daughter has Type 1 Diabetes, as her Parents, we work tirelessly to control her blood sugars 24/7. 

As a Type 1 Diabetic, we MUST count the carbs she consumes. Without doing this, Type 1 Diabetics are at risk of hypos/hypers, both can be detrimental.

Thought is given to those with allergies, religious beliefs, intolerances around food, yet within my child’s school, I am expected to ‘guess’ how many carbohydrates are in her schools meals/snacks.

Carbohydrates should come under the same umbrella as allergies/intolerances etc. 

I have been advised by a Nurse, that we shouldn’t expect my daughters food to be weighed, there is absolutely no valid explanation for this. If she has too little carbs, she will, inevitably drop too low and rely on her teachers to provide her with fast acting sugar, without any attention to this, in the worst case scenario hypos can result in seizure/death.

With too many carbs, she will go too high, again in the worst case scenario, being severely hyper could cause seizures/death. Too many highs will put her at risk of terrible health problems as she grows up.

In a World where we are aiming for inclusiveness and not to be judgmental because there are countless invisible illnesses out there, why aren’t we taking Type 1 Diabetics life into consideration with regards to School care & Restaurant menus?

Many Type 1’s, who carb count, HAVE to estimate their carbs, with some guidance they/caregivers could improve their blood sugar control. All it would take is to know the carbs per 100g and, in schools, for food to be weighed so that the carbs per portion can be calculated.

I don’t feel this is a huge ask, supermarkets provide nutritional values on their food packaging including the carbs therefore the working out of my child’s portion at school should be a simple task.

Thank you for reading, please sign.

Jayne & Mike.