Nutritional management

Meal planning and review

• The dietician should advise on planning, content and timing of meals and snacks (particularly carbohydrate intake) in the context of each child’s individual circumstances, lifestyle and the insulin action profiles
• Particular attention should be paid to the energy profile of snacks, encouraging low fat carbohydrate choices
• It is unlikely that meal planning will be successful unless the whole family is involved in making appropriate changes based on healthy-eating principles

The initial nutritional plans should be reviewed by the specialist pediatric dietician within a month or so after diagnosis Thereafter contacts will depend on local arrangements, but as a minimum should include annual reassessments to keep pace with the child’s height, weight, diabetes management, lifestyle changes, developmental stages and the identification of specific dietary problems such as weight loss, obesity and eating disorders