Has anyone taken their T1D kiddo to MNSSHP?

[nollidttam]

I keep reading about the gobs of candy you will receive and am wondering if it's even worth it. I know we can get the candy and just ration it out, but it's such a huge temptation. Any advice?

 

[buffettgirl]

I keep reading about the gobs of candy you will receive and am wondering if it's even worth it. I know we can get the candy and just ration it out, but it's such a huge temptation. Any advice?

Never been, but I'm interested in hearing the answers. What sort of candy is handed out? Prepackaged stuff you can get at any supermarket, or something different/special? I'm just thinking that it's easier to dose if you know what sort of candy it will be. Not that they can't eat the stuff, but Halloween can just be a royal pita in general at home.

How long have you been dx and how what are you doing re: insulin? Maybe I can offer some tips on how to best handle it. (we've done halloween on shots, using both a set carb old fashioned meal plan and NPH, on MDI with lantus, and on pumps with insulin to carb ratios...so tips..I have them lol)

 

[nollidttam]

I got to thinking, after posting that, that I should have given more info.
We were dx Feb 8, and my DD has just turned 5.
We do MDI with novolog and levemir.
I read through some of the results I Got when searching "diabetes" and am a bit concerned about the fact that Disney doesn't give nutrition info..I'm hoping by Oct we'll be much better at this!
From what I've read, I'm pretty sure it's just grocery store stuff they give out. And to make matters worse in regards to halloween, I have 7 kids, so it's not just the T1 dd that I'd be dealing with, it's all of them! LOL We managed through our first easter, but I just don't know about halloween candy. I welcome any and all advice you can give me about WDW and T1D! Thanks so much!

 

[buffettgirl]

ok, first off I can 100% guarantee you that by October you will feel like this is old hat. I promise you. Right now you're just swimming in confusion with so many things. the early weeks - shudder - the worst. So you have my most heart felt empathy.

Ok, so second will be deciding how much candy your other kids are allowed, and how much you would have allowed this child to have prior to diabetes. My 2 cents is that you allow that same now, or make a plan for all the kids. But the worst thing to do would be to say "sorry kids, we're not going to have candy this year because of Dd's diabetes". I've seen it. It's a one way ticket to sibling hatred of D (not that they don't already think that DD is getting aaaaalllll the attention, because they do ) So first work on how you want to handle it in general. And get that squared away. That's half the battle. Deciding how we as parents are going to handle the situations. There are no rights and wrongs. Just what works for you.

3)head over to CWD if you haven't already forums.childrenwithdiabetes.com and see this very comprehensive list of Halloween carb lists. http://forums.childrenwithdiabetes.com/showthread.php?t=45074
as halloween gets closer figure out what candy your child is likely to eat and make your own little cheat sheet.

4) by october you'll probably have a much better handle on extra shots for extra food, and you'll also have a greater handle on how to increase insulin to cover extra foods. Candy is probably one of the easiest things we deal with as it's just so quick that if you dose it right there's hardly a blip of blood sugar spike with very little lingering after effects. So over the next few months your endo team will be helping you (if they haven't already) learn how to adjust on your own. That's everyone's ultimate goal, because this isn't something you deal with only in the doctors office -it's 24/7 at home. After Halloween one of my favorite things to do is to stick an extra piece of candy in my son's lunch box every day. Most of those tiny pieces are only 3 - 5g of carbs each.

5) no, disney does not provide any carb counts (unless the food is prepackaged). Get a good food app for your phone (I like the one put out by fat secret) Calorie king is also another good resource. If you need to, because you're new, bring along a travel scale or measuring cups. We did our first year. It saved us a lot of bad carb counting.

6) remember - it's vacation. If BGs are crazy...they're crazy. You'll fix later. We have a lot of trouble because all the food seems so high in fat but usually that helps off set any lows from all the walking during the day. But on vacation I leave the log book at home.

and remember above all else, your daughter is a child first. The diabetes is your deal right now, not hers. It will be hers for all her life, but for now, and for a long long time still to come, the responsibility is all yours. The foundations that you're laying now are going to set the tone for how she views diabetes going forward. I often stop and think "what message am I sending? What message do I want to send? " when I have new situations come up. (recently for us it's the issue of field trips without mom or a nurse ...eek..) My son was also diagnosed at 5, he's almost 12. The decisions never end. But each time we do something new, it's a moment for teaching them an important lesson that they'll take with them as they move towards independence in their teens and ultimately when they head off to college.

good luck!! you can do this. You will do this. Your family will love every minute of it.

 

[Hannathy]

When we went we didn't even bother with the candy! My kids get all they want at home so it was no big deal so we just didn't take the time to go thru the candy line/stations

Unless they have changed it, it was very easy to not do the trick or treating. There was so much more to do and see and ride we didn't want to waste time in a line for dumb candy.

 

[mnosky]

I am an adult with type 1 and have done MNSSHP several times. Sometimes we get a lot of candy and sometimes we dont get too much because we do rides and dance parties and such. It kind of depends on what the kids want. My kids dont have diabetes but I always encourage them to skip the candy and do other stuff that we cant do outside of Disney. Last year we were at Disney on Halloween so missed regular trick or treat so they wanted to spend more time on candy collecting.
It's not great candy. there isn't much chocolate because of the heat so it ends up being good for me to keep and use for lows (although normally I prefer glucose tabs). Often someone on Dis will post what they are handing out that year and you can google and figure out carb amounts before so you have an idea if you want to be prepared.
My general type 1 tip is use a pedometer to judge that day's walking and it helps predict if you might go low from exercise that night. Lows tend to be much more of a problem from cumulative walking than highs from crazy food, especially for me.
Michelle

 

[buffettgirl]

I am an adult with type 1 and have done MNSSHP several times. Sometimes we get a lot of candy and sometimes we dont get too much because we do rides and dance parties and such. It kind of depends on what the kids want. My kids dont have diabetes but I always encourage them to skip the candy and do other stuff that we cant do outside of Disney. Last year we were at Disney on Halloween so missed regular trick or treat so they wanted to spend more time on candy collecting.
It's not great candy. there isn't much chocolate because of the heat so it ends up being good for me to keep and use for lows (although normally I prefer glucose tabs). Often someone on Dis will post what they are handing out that year and you can google and figure out carb amounts before so you have an idea if you want to be prepared.
My general type 1 tip is use a pedometer to judge that day's walking and it helps predict if you might go low from exercise that night. Lows tend to be much more of a problem from cumulative walking than highs from crazy food, especially for me.
Michelle

yes yes yes! I forgot this one. Smarties especially are great to put aside for lows. If you make the 'candy for low' a once in a while, once a year thing, then Halloween becomes something to look forward to again, not dread.

 

[nollidttam]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I try very hard to never ever say, "we can't do such and such because of D" I don't ever want the other kids to be upset about D, or her. So you are right, I just need to make a plan. Shoot, first I have to decide if the cost is worth it.
We have 6 day park hoppers and that puts us in the parks every day we're there. I'm not sure my kids would last a full day at a park and then do the party. And I also know that for the cost, we wouldn't feel comfortable saying, "ah, we'll just forget a park for the day so we can do the party" BUUUT...at the same time, someone put the halloween fireworks soundtrack online and my kids have listened to it for a few years and love it, so...idk!! UGH!! Decisions!!!
Again, thank you so much. If anything else comes to mind, feel free to share. Oh, and I am on the children with diabetes board. I don't go often, but I am a member. I'd much rather hang out with fun stuff on the disboards. LOL!!

 

[buffettgirl]

oh good, I'm glad you're there already anyway on CWD - lots of good good info there. Lots of hugs when you need them, but also lots of straight talk when you need it too.

it's hard with siblings, even if you think you're never ever giving the D child more attention the siblings often think you are. Last year DS and I got out of line at tower of terror because DS didn't want to ride it - it was his first try, he got nervous, we got out of line. So my teenage daughter and DH rode. When they got off, DD was making a major stink about DS and how "he GETS EVERYTHING because of diabetes"(in a tone only a teenage princess can muster). I thought "where did this come from? he didn't want to ride. I was't going to force him. It had nothing to do with D". but it bubbles up in the kids in the weirdest ways. I'm sure it's the same in other families with other diseases too. In this case I looked at her and said "yeah, he gets everything: 10 finger pokes a day, forced to eat glucose tabs when he's not hungry, woken up at night to drink juice, and a big fat infusion site stuck in him every 3 days. Yep, he gets EVERYTHING."

 

[daneenm]

Lots of good advice has been given already, but i just wanted to add one more thing. You might find that your daughter needs some extra carbs while you are there, in which case the extra candy would come in handy.

Our first Halloween, we were shocked that DS was constantly low, especially while he was out trick-or-treating. In fact he will typically eat 2 or 3 things from his bag while he is out just to keep him out of low territory. My theory is that it is the excitement more than the 'exercise' from walking door to door. in this case.

So, with the combination of the excitement of the party and the extra walking you are all doing while you are touring, you might find that you don't even need to give extra insulin for the few pieces of candy she might eat.

 

[tikistitch]

I'm not sure if the question has been answered already, but when I took my nephew in 2010, this was the haul that we walked away with! We only hit each candy stop once, so this is two bags worth, just to give you guys an example of what might be available this year.

 

[buffettgirl]

oh fudge. That's insane.

 

[PatsMom]

I can vouch for the truth of the candy haul! I've never taken a T1 child or adult. I am TII and we do a little trick or treating usually. Mostly my daughter. But last year my daughter was in college and didn't go with us. All the kids in the neighborhood wanted "Disney candy". I tried to tell them it was just like what they would get around here!

So my husband and I set out to gather candy. We asked a CM for several extra of the small free Disney trick or treat bags. We put those away in my pack and started trying to fill our large bags. We came pretty close! It was a lot of candy. We filled the smaller bags and gave them to the kids and they thought they were just wonderful. So free souvenir presents!

I think if you decide not to trick or treat you would still have a great time. The park is decorated awesomely. The attractions have short lines. And the parade is unique.

As others have mentioned, with T1 you can "cover" the extra carbs with extra insulin. I miss the days when I did insulin and could do that! Now I nibble at the treats and save the Smarties! All for me because they are my favorites.