Q: My 9-year-old son was diagnosed with type 1 in March. How can I help him feel as if he’s not missing out on the Easter, he’s so looking forward to all the Easter eggs?

In my experiences I found that the best thing for my sons was making sure they felt normal. Chat to your endocrinologist and Diabetes Educator about how to adjust his insulin to allow him to have some Easter treats. My boys are now using an insulin pump however when they were on insulin injections, I worked out how much insulin they required for 15 grams of carbohydrates. This gave me the confidence to allow them to eat extra food (in this case chocolate) that their Blood Glucose levels at the time may not have allowed.  I also gave my boys the choice….. First of all they needed to test, if their levels allowed them, they could have a snack however if their levels were too high they could still have the snack but needed a needle as well.  9 times out of 10 they were more than happy to have a needle so they could have the treat. This approach gave my boys a sense of control over their diabetes at a very young age and they all look back on this as a great way to grow up by having the freedom to choose if they eat or don’t eat.