Because raising a child with type 1 diabetes is not only about managing numbers today. It is about shaping how that child will live with diabetes for the rest of their life.

This episode explores a powerful parenting philosophy built on three ideas: pacing the journey like a marathon, helping children develop a healthy relationship with diabetes, and gradually handing over responsibility using a “training wheels” approach to independence.

Along the way, Catherine reflects on the pressure of perfection, the importance of protecting childhood joy, and a striking insight from a teenager describing her “hate-to-love-you” relationship with diabetes technology.

If you are raising a child with type 1 diabetes, this episode offers reassurance, perspective, and a gentle reminder that the goal is not perfection today, but confidence and resilience for decades to come.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diagnosed as a child decades ago, she reflects on the quiet work her parents carried so she could remain a child. Now raising children with type 1 diabetes herself, she shares what previous generations can teach us about parenting through the daily demands of diabetes. This episode also explores a powerful idea from her father: that the goal of parenthood is ultimately redundancy - raising children who can one day carry their own lives forward.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy, Catherine explores the psychology of hypoglycaemia and why people with low blood sugar may appear argumentative, emotional, or unwilling to accept help. Through practical insight and lived experience, she explains the biology behind these moments and offers gentle strategies for supporting someone through a low.

A helpful listen for parents, partners, teachers, and anyone wanting to better understand hypoglycaemia behaviour.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, Catherine explores why people often panic when someone with type 1 diabetes is going low, and why the instinct to call an ambulance is not always the right response.

We unpack the reality of hypoglycaemia behaviour, the dignity and autonomy of the person experiencing it, and the simple question that helps most: “What do you need?”

A compassionate look at supporting someone through a low blood sugar safely.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine explains the symptoms of high blood sugar including fatigue, brain fog, thirst, irritability and dehydration, and why people living with diabetes can slowly lose awareness of how unwell high glucose levels make them feel.

This episode gently explains why reducing high blood sugar improves energy, mood and quality of life, and why gradual improvement matters more than perfection.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why can a perfectly “in-range” number suddenly feel frightening?

Using the powerful comparison of a migraine aura, this episode unpacks the physiology, psychology and parenting realities of downward arrows, anticipatory fear and decision-making in type 1 diabetes. A gentle, practical conversation about recognising the signals, responding calmly, and living with the uncertainty that diabetes sometimes brings.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this reflective episode, Catherine explores the powerful parallels between the cultural figure of the Irish Mammy and the modern “diabetes mammy”, women who hold families together while simultaneously managing the relentless mental load of type 1 diabetes. From tracking glucose trends and midnight alarms to translating medical language into family life, the invisible labour of diabetes care often sits heavily on women’s shoulders.

But this episode goes beyond motherhood.

It honours every woman living with diabetes: navigating hormones, work, relationships, pregnancy, and everyday life while managing a condition that requires constant vigilance. It also recognises the partners, sisters, grandmothers, healthcare professionals and advocates who quietly sustain others through the daily realities of diabetes.

With warmth, humour and honesty, Catherine reflects on the invisible load, the resilience, the community that forms between women in diabetes, and the quiet strength that makes extraordinary effort look completely ordinary.

This episode is both recognition and permission: recognition for the immense work women do every day, and permission to acknowledge that carrying diabetes: whether personally or within a family is both powerful and exhausting.

A tribute.

A moment of solidarity.

And a reminder that none of us carry this alone.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this gentle educational episode within The Things We Were Not Taught series of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, Catherine explores one of the most unsettling realities of parenting a child with type 1 diabetes: growth changes everything.

From pre-puberty’s quiet insulin resistance to puberty’s loud hormonal shifts, this episode explains why insulin needs can suddenly rise, why ratios stop behaving, and why beautiful patterns can unravel overnight, even when you are doing everything “right”.

We unpack the physiology behind growth hormone, cortisol and sex hormones, and how they increase insulin resistance. More importantly, we name the emotional whiplash that comes with changing baselines: the grief, the self-doubt and the quiet fear that you are losing control.

This episode is a reframe: adjusting insulin is not regression. It is recalibration. Stability is not the goal, responsiveness is.

If you are navigating rising insulin needs, creeping blood sugars, or the unpredictability of puberty with type 1 diabetes, this conversation will steady you. Growth is not mismanagement. It is biology. And you are allowed to move with it.

🎧 A compassionate listen for parents, carers and anyone living with T1D who needs reminding that adaptation is not failure.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we go deeper. Because every number comes with a choice. And every choice carries weight.

On their own, these decisions seem small. Together, they are relentless.

Episode 44 explores the invisible toll of decision fatigue - the constant cognitive load, the pressure to get it right, and the quiet emotional thinning that follows. From everyday “should I bring backup?” moments to high-stakes insulin calls, we name the mental labour that so often goes unseen.

If your brain feels like it is always on, this one is for you.

We talk empathy, practical ways to ease the load, and why naming the burden matters.

You are not weak. You are carrying more than most can see.

🎧 Tune in for understanding, solidarity, and a little grace.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve ever opened your eyes, checked the monitor, and felt that sinking feeling of being “behind” before breakfast, this episode is for you.

Catherine explains the dawn phenomenon in clear, compassionate terms, breaking down what is actually happening in the early hours of the morning. As part of The Things We Were Not Taught series, this episode fills in a crucial gap in diabetes education: understanding the body’s natural diurnal rhythm and the role of hormones like cortisol and growth hormone.

This episode moves beyond numbers and into the emotional weight of starting the day in correction mode. It gently challenges the self-blame that so often accompanies morning highs and offers a softer, more biologically informed perspective, allowing us to reframe early morning highs as information, not failure.

Because you cannot out-organise cortisol. You cannot out-care growth hormone. And perfectionism does not override physiology.

If mornings have been feeling relentless, this conversation will help you start the day with understanding rather than criticism.

You are not behind. You are informed.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, Catherine explores what compression lows actually are, why they happen most often at night, and why they can so easily shake confidence in both the technology and ourselves.

Through a real-life endocrinology appointment moment, this episode gently unpacks how pressure on a continuous glucose monitor during sleep can mimic falling glucose levels, triggering alarms that feel urgent - even when blood glucose is actually stable. These false alarms can lead to repeated night-time wakings, unnecessary treatments, broken sleep, and the familiar morning spiral of highs, frustration, and self-doubt.

This episode is not about “doing better” or reacting perfectly at 3am.

It’s about understanding what you’re seeing, reducing panic, and naming the invisible emotional load that compression lows carry - especially for parents and long-term carers who feel they “should know better by now.”

Listeners are invited to reflect on the tension between trusting diabetes technology and trusting lived experience, and to recognise that there is no flawless decision-making in the middle of the night - only human decisions made with the best information we have available to us.

Above all, this episode offers reassurance:

Not all hypos are real.

But the fear around them absolutely is.

This conversation is part of The Things We Were Not Taught series - created to give families language, context, and permission where education may have left gaps short.

A grounding listen for parents of children with Type 1 diabetes, adults living with diabetes themselves, and anyone who has ever been jolted awake by an alarm and left questioning their judgement.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For those of us living with chronic conditions, raising children with type 1 diabetes, or simply carrying a lot, this episode offers a softer counterpoint to the pressure to reset, reboot, and optimise. Instead, it invites gentle beginnings, tending rather than transforming, and recognising maintenance as meaningful work.

Drawing on the traditions of Imbolc and the care-centred legacy of St Brigid, this episode reflects on the unseen, repetitive labour of diabetes care. The daily acts that sustain life, even when they go unnoticed. Changing sensors, packing glucose, checking overnight, adjusting again.

There is space here for tiredness, for January heaviness, and for letting go of guilt about what didn’t get done. This is an episode about aiming for enough rather than perfect. Enough sleep, enough safety, enough compassion.

For parents, it reframes protection not as preventing every storm, but as helping our children live safely within difficulty. We are not raising children to be untouched by challenge, but to withstand it.

A gentle episode for a gentle season, reminding us that quiet tending still counts, and that slow, careful beginnings are still beginnings.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drawing on her research with parents of children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Catherine reflects on how much education arrives at times when learning simply isn’t possible. Overwhelm, fear, and exhaustion mean important ideas are often missed : not through inattention, but through timing.

Exploring clever insulin pumps without promotion, she explains what has quietly changed and how many families were never taught the shift in thinking behind modern systems.

Catherine revisits the basal–bolus model and then explains the quiet revolution of modern pumps: systems that link a pump, a CGM, and an algorithm to respond to trends early, with small, frequent adjustments. Diabetes doesn’t become easy, but it can become a little less loud.

The episode also names what clever pumps don’t replace and highlights that while the work doesn’t disappear, the mental load shifts from constant vigilance to quieter supervision.

Finally, Catherine explores the emotional layer many families weren’t prepared for: guilt, grief, and the feeling of having “failed before” when numbers improve with technology. She gently reframes this, reminding listeners that needing support isn’t weakness, and that good diabetes care isn’t measured by devices, but by safety, sustainability, and whether life remains liveable.

This episode sets the tone for the mini-series: compassionate, contextual, and deeply human, offering not more rules, but a kinder understanding of the things we were not taught.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode speaks directly to parents of children with Type 1 diabetes, adults living with T1D, and partners and carers who carry the emotional and mental load alongside the practical work of diabetes management. We move beyond “coping” and into what it really means to feel resourced, regulated, and supported while navigating life with a chronic condition.

We discuss how being seen and understood by people who live Type 1 diabetes every day can ease decision fatigue, reduce burnout, and calm the nervous system. From diabetes conferences and education sessions to informal meet-ups, online groups, and shared conversations, this episode highlights the many ways community shows up and why shared language matters more than perfect solutions.

With a gentle January reframe, listeners are invited to consider connection as an act of self-care. Not more goals. Not more pressure. Just the quiet intention to stop doing diabetes alone. The episode also includes a warm invitation to Thriveabetes, a face-to-face Type 1 diabetes community event in Dublin, and reflects on the power of gathering with people who already understand the weight without needing it explained.

If you are parenting a child with Type 1 diabetes, living with T1D yourself, or supporting someone you love, this episode offers reassurance, validation, and a reminder you may not hear often enough:

You were never meant to carry Type 1 diabetes on your own.

Connection is regulating. Support is care. And thriving is possible when we stop trying to do this alone.

(Buy your Thriveabetes tickets @ https://thriveabetes.ie/thriveabetes-2026 )

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inspired by a Saint Stephen’s Day run and an honest conversation about work, home, food, movement and the everyday decisions we make, this episode explores a simple but powerful truth: life is hard, and so is living with and/or parenting type 1 diabetes. There is no easy option, only the path we choose and how gently we live inside it.

I reflect on how diabetes weaves itself into every choice, from routines and energy to expectations and self-judgement, and offer permission to release the idea that there is a “right” or superior way to manage it all.

The episode also pays tribute to a quiet, moving moment shared over Christmas with a listener who spoke about being deeply affected by the Welcome to Holland episode number 6 of this podcast (available @ https://open.acast.com/public/streams/6768991d15b96146455e80f3/episodes/683d9801708e9fc9b4394c66.mp3 ).

A conversation about emotional processing, strength, and learning to feel as adults reminds us that tenderness and resilience can exist side by side, in all of us.

A compassionate listen for anyone carrying invisible weight, navigating chronic illness, or simply doing their best inside a life that is already hard.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this reflective episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, I explore what it means to return to diabetes routines after the holidays without guilt, rigidity, or pressure. We talk about the hidden labour of Christmas when living with or parenting type 1 diabetes, the emotional dip that often follows the festivities, and why blood sugars, energy, and routines rarely realign at the same pace.

This is a gentle conversation about recalibration rather than correction. A push back against “New Year, New You” culture, and an invitation to choose kind, realistic, and sustainable intentions for the year ahead.

If January feels heavy, if decision fatigue is creeping in, or if you’re finding the transition back to routine harder than expected, this episode is for you.

A soft landing. A moment of recognition. And permission to move slowly.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drawing on a Scottish New Year tradition of opening the back door to let the old year out, and the front door to welcome the new one in, Catherine reflects on what it truly means to live through another year with type 1 diabetes. The hard days survived. The quiet wins that often go unnoticed. The lessons learned about ourselves, our families, and diabetes itself.

This episode offers space for reflection without judgement. There are no resolutions to set and no perfection to chase. Just an invitation to honour what you have carried, to recognise the resilience it has taken to get here, and to gently welcome the year ahead.

Whether you are living with type 1 diabetes yourself or parenting a child with it, this episode is a calm companion as one year ends and another begins.

A moment to breathe. A moment to reflect. And a reminder that you do not step into the new year alone.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode offers reassurance for anyone navigating their first festive season with type 1 diabetes, alongside validation for those further along the journey. Catherine introduces the idea of a safe minimum approach to Christmas Day, focusing on preparation, safety, and letting go of perfection in favour of presence and joy.

Through lived experience, practical planning tips, and compassionate reframing, she explores the balance between diabetes care and connection. From adjusting expectations around numbers to embracing the concept of “time in happiness versus time in range”, this episode gives permission to let diabetes take a back seat, just for a day, without compromising safety.

A gentle, grounding listen for parents, adults with type 1 diabetes, and anyone feeling the emotional weight of trying to do it all during the festive season. This episode invites grace, flexibility, and kindness towards yourself, reminding you that memories are made in the messy, joyful moments, not perfect blood sugar graphs.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We sit with familiar phrases often heard in diabetes care, such as “I don’t know,” instructional comments like “calm down” or “be careful,” and the well-intended but complex reassurance of “don’t worry.” Spoken with good intent, these words can comfort or quietly undermine confidence. Drawing on lived experience, clinical insight, and parenting, this episode invites more compassionate language, deeper self-trust, and permission to pause.

A gentle listen for anyone living with, caring for, or supporting someone with type 1 diabetes.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We then move towards something softer. I share how pairing the hard diabetes tasks with small, intentional moments of sweetness can help prevent burnout, soothe the nervous system, and make diabetes care more sustainable.

Whether you’re a parent of a child with type 1 diabetes or an adult managing your own condition, this episode offers compassion, understanding, and practical ideas for restoring balance on the days when the work feels heavy.

Join me as we talk about energy, resilience, diabetes fatigue, and the importance of emotional sugar in a life lived abundantly with chronic illness. May this episode feel like a little exhale in a busy week.

(More info about The Spoon Theory @ www.butyoudontlooksick.com )

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I talk about the subtle, often invisible ways stigma has shaped how many of us live with diabetes – the hiding of injections, the quick tucking away of sensors, the apologising for alarms, and the belief that we shouldn’t be “seen” managing our condition. I share my own journey from discreetly checking numbers in toilet cubicles to openly, proudly creating a well-organised diabetes kit at home, shaped by my pharmacist’s training and years of living overseas.

We look at how stigma shows up in clinics, in family life and in the words we hand down to our children. And, most importantly, we talk about how visibility builds confidence: how checking glucose at the table, wearing tech with pride and speaking kindly to ourselves can slowly, gently dismantle shame.

This episode is an invitation to notice the quiet places where stigma still lives in our routines and to make one small shift towards being seen. Because visibility is not weakness - it’s strength, safety and self-respect.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine shares examples from clinic life, home life, and her own experiences as a pharmacist and a mammy living with type 1. She invites listeners to reflect on the tone and labels that often slip into conversations about diabetes and challenges us all to pause, listen, and choose words that support rather than shame.

The episode also looks at how the language we use around our children becomes the language they use with themselves, and how tiny shifts in phrasing can model self-grace, resilience, and emotional literacy.

Ultimately, this episode is an invitation to speak with more kindness, more accuracy, and more humanity. Because when it comes to diabetes, language isn’t neutral. It’s powerful. And it truly, genuinely matters.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this gentle check-in, I share what the past fortnight has looked like: busy, emotional, full of diabetes events, and equal parts inspiring and exhausting. I also highlight a powerful insight from a passionate diabetes researcher who believes the full human genome may be mapped within three and a half years, opening the door to early identification and even prevention of diabetes. A hopeful thought for all families living with type 1 or type 2.

We touch on upcoming conversations around diabetes education for parents, language and stigma, decision fatigue, and how to rest in a condition that never takes a break.

If you can, please leave a rating or share this episode. It helps more parents and families find support, connection, and comfort.

Thank you for being here. You don’t have to do diabetes perfectly to do it well.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Catherine unpacks what decision fatigue feels like, how it leads to burnout and most importantly how to soften the load. Expect honesty, grace and gentle reminders that “good enough” is often exactly what we need.

💙 Takeaway: You’re not lazy, you’re human — and managing diabetes is already a full-time job.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With her signature warmth and honesty, she unpacks how this distinction shows up in diabetes life - whether we’re talking to our children, engaging with healthcare teams, or checking in with ourselves.

Through relatable stories and gentle humour, Catherine invites listeners to pause, notice and lean into curiosity instead of correction. Because when we shift from listening to reply, to listening to understand, we create more space for learning, grace, and connection - three ingredients every diabetes family needs more of.

Key takeaways:

• Listening is presence, not silence.
• Curiosity strengthens relationships and diabetes teamwork.
• Sometimes the most powerful thing we can say is nothing at all.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether you’re explaining type 1 diabetes to a teacher, volunteering at a community event, or simply helping someone understand that sugar isn’t the enemy, you’re already advocating.

As World Diabetes Day approaches, this episode is a gentle reminder that advocacy belongs to all of us. Together, our stories and small actions shape a world where diabetes is better understood — and better supported.

💙 Join me for a warm, honest chat about how every voice, in its own way, makes a difference.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine shares how small, simple gestures can make a big difference: a five-minute classroom chat, a “blue day” at school, a family walk, or even lighting a blue lamp at home. With ready-to-use ideas, a sample mini-talk for schools, and a gentle reminder that “tiny is plenty,” this episode helps parents mark the day in a way that feels doable and meaningful.

Whether you choose to celebrate at school, at home, or in your community, this is your invitation to make World Diabetes Day 2025 personal, positive, and full of heart.

✨ Keep it simple. Keep it kind. You’re doing better than you think.

If you would like to borrow the mini-talk from this episode, here it is. Tweak it into your own words.

“Today is World Diabetes Day - a day about understanding and kindness.

Diabetes doesn’t take a day off,

but with the right tools and support,

children with type 1 can do everything their friends do.

What helps is simple - notice the signs of a low,

give space to treat it,

and be curious, not afraid.

We are more than numbers on a screen.

Thank you for being part of our circle.”

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Through her own family story and reflections from childhood, Catherine explores what it feels like to grow up beside diabetes rather than with it. She describes the quiet moments of being “the one watching on”, the emotional balance parents try to keep, and the hidden strength and empathy that so often grow in the shadow of chronic illness.

Listeners will hear practical ideas on how to honour and include siblings in daily family life - from carving out one-to-one moments and celebrating their milestones, to listening when they express frustration or sadness about diabetes taking centre stage.

The episode closes with a message of reassurance for parents: love doesn’t have to be divided equally to be felt equally. Every child deserves to feel seen, celebrated and cherished – diabetes or not.

💛 A tender reminder that while type 1 may shape a family’s rhythm, it does not define who shines within it.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Behind the carb counting, blood sugar checks, and school snack boxes lies a hidden mental spreadsheet that never switches off. We talk about the sleepless nights, the constant vigilance, and the silent background noise that often goes unseen by others.

This conversation explores:

• The invisible labour of type 1 diabetes parenting – the worries, the mental checklists, and the hidden work that few recognise.
• Burnout and guilt – why feeling drained doesn’t mean you’re failing, and why guilt often comes from deep love, not neglect.
• Permission slips for parents – gentle reminders that you’re allowed to rest, to ask for help, and to find joy in the middle of diabetes care.
• Small steps for mental health – practical, everyday ways to breathe, reset, and protect your own wellbeing.

This World Mental Health Day, let this be your reminder: you cannot pour from an empty cup. Caring for yourself is not selfish – it’s essential. You are doing enough, and you deserve rest, joy, and support just as much as anyone else.

Tune in, take a deep breath, and know that you are not alone on this journey.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She shares practical tips on using October’s predictability to lighten the load, while also preparing for the inevitable curveballs of school trips, sports days, and birthday parties. The heart of the message is simple but powerful: October is not about perfection, it’s about leaning into rhythm, finding comfort in stability, and giving ourselves grace for the days that don’t go to plan.

Tune in for encouragement, small supports that make a big difference, and a reminder that you’re doing enough.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trick-or-treating is full of joy, but the mountain of sweets that follows can feel overwhelming when blood sugars and insulin dosing enter the picture. In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy, I share how our family found a magical solution — the Switch Witch.

From the early days of sneaking away sweets, to the tradition of the Switch Witch swapping treats for treasures, this practice turned what could have been a night of stress into one of imagination, excitement, and even generosity. As my children grew, the tradition evolved with them — first as a magical surprise, then a playful negotiation, and eventually as a way to pass treats on to others.

Tune in to hear how a simple idea became one of our most cherished family traditions, and how you might welcome the Switch Witch into your own home this Halloween. Because with a little creativity, even the stickiest challenges of type 1 diabetes can be sprinkled with magic. ✨🎃

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If carb counting is the maths of type 1 diabetes, insulin dosing is the art. In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy, we dive into what insulin dosing really means in day-to-day life.

From the basics of why we need insulin and the difference between basal and bolus, to the unpredictable realities of growth, hormones, stress, and even the weather, this conversation explores how numbers meet real life.

With tips from experienced hands, gentle myth-busting, and plenty of honesty about mistakes along the way, this episode is about building confidence in the constant balancing act.

Because in the end, carb counting gives you numbers — but insulin dosing is what you do with those all important numbers.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inspired by the back-to-school season and the milestone of teens heading off to festival events like Electric Picnic, we talk about balancing safety with independence.

Catherine shares why allowing our children to face challenges is key to building the 4 R’s: resilience, resourcefulness, reflection, and relating. From everyday school setbacks to the unique pressures of diabetes management, these struggles are the training ground for adulthood. Through personal stories and practical encouragement, she highlights how stepping back empowers our teens to grow in confidence and self-management.

Whether your child is still in primary school or already navigating teenage years, this episode reminds us that our job isn’t to remove every obstacle: it’s to walk alongside them as they stumble, learn, and thrive.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy, I explore the role of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in Irish primary schools and what that support really looks like for families managing Type 1 diabetes.

From those fragile first weeks after diagnosis to the longer journey of helping our children grow in confidence and independence, I share my own stories of both supportive and challenging school environments. We’ll talk about how the SNA system has changed, why not every child with diabetes automatically needs full-time assistance, and how we as parents can strike the delicate balance between protecting and empowering.

Whether you’re navigating school meetings, advocating for resources, or simply wondering how to prepare your child for more independence, this conversation will help you see school as one piece of the bigger picture in parenting with Type 1 diabetes.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy, I break down what carb counting really is (and isn’t), why it matters, and how to actually start without losing your mind - or the joy of food. We’ll talk about sneaky carbs (yes, lattes and ketchup, I’m looking at you 👀), why chasing perfection will drive you mad, and how to shift from overwhelm to confidence with practice.

For those further along the road, there are tips on eyeballing, using tech, and finding freedom in “close enough.” And for the newly diagnosed, a step-by-step guide on where to begin.

Plus, a hopeful look at the future: with faster insulins and smarter algorithms, carb counting may not always be our daily burden. Imagine food just being food again - with the maths happening quietly in the background.

So whether you’re new to type 1 or a seasoned veteran, this is carb counting explained with honesty, humour, and a good dose of mammy-reality.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Together, we’ll talk about how food shifts after diagnosis, the emotional weight it carries, and why it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. I’ll share practical coping strategies to ease the load and a gentle reminder that food is still joy — birthdays, pancake Tuesdays, family dinners — even if the maths tags along.

For those newly diagnosed, this is reassurance you’re not alone. For the long-timers, it’s a nod to how far you’ve come. And for all of us, it’s a reminder that food can still be love, connection, and celebration.

🎧 Listen in for comfort, perspective, and a dose of hope.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy, Catherine shares the moment a well-meaning staff member turned a simple treat into a lesson in stigma, and how we turned it right back into a lesson in inclusion. We’ll talk about where the “no sugar” myth comes from, why it’s still so common, and how these small moments can have a big impact on our childrens' confidence.

You’ll hear how we handled it, what our daughter learned, and the simple shifts in language and understanding that can turn exclusion into empowerment. Because in Type 1 diabetes, sugar isn’t the enemy - shame is.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From unsupervised summers to the ever-present pings of CGMs and group chats, we weigh the pro’s and con’s of both times. Are our kids better off with tech, tools, and therapy? Or are they missing the slowness we once took for granted?

If you’ve ever longed for more simplicity - or questioned whether you’re doing too much - this episode’s for you.

Feelings Wheel: More info

A feelings wheel is a simple, powerful tool that helps people identify and name their emotions more precisely. By breaking broad emotions like “happy,” “sad,” or “angry” into more specific feelings-such as “grateful,” “lonely,” or “frustrated”-it helps bring clarity to what we’re experiencing internally. This can be especially helpful for children, teens, or anyone who finds it hard to express how they feel. Naming an emotion accurately is often the first step in understanding it, processing it, and finding healthy ways to respond to it. The wheel turns vague discomfort into clear, manageable language. You can find many examples online including one at www.feelingswheel.com

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With honesty and warmth, Catherine invites listeners to think differently about what it means to be both cared for and caring—reminding us that trust and mutual respect are as vital to health as any prescription.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From CGMs to insulin pumps and apps, she shares how these tools can transform diabetes care from reactive to proactive. But it’s not all smooth sailing—building trust in technology takes time, understanding, and a willingness to stay curious.

Catherine reflects on the evolution of diabetes management, from urine tests in the 1980s to today’s real-time data and cloud-connected conversations. She reminds us that while tech offers better navigation, we remain the captains of our care. Through honest anecdotes, gentle encouragement, and a big dose of humanity, this episode invites you to embrace tech—not as a replacement, but as a co-pilot.

Catherine also takes a moment to thank the professors, researchers & scientists whose dedication makes life with T1D safer, easier and more hopeful. While their work is not always visible, their impact is deeply felt in every improved algorithm and improved system we use.

✨ Whether you’re tech-savvy, tech-wary, or somewhere in between, this one’s for you.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Catherine shares how small, intentional changes in nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, and community can improve life with diabetes.

From turning playtime into exercise to swapping white rice for quinoa, Catherine offers practical, real-life examples tailored for busy parents. She also explores the six pillars of lifestyle medicine - nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep, avoiding risky substances, and social connection - while gently reminding listeners that progress, not perfection, is what truly matters.

You’ll hear honest stories, quick wins, and motivational tips designed to make healthy living feel do-able, even on the hardest days. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or years into the journey, this episode will leave you feeling supported, informed, and hopeful.

And if after listening, you wish to do some reading, this booklet might be a good starting point: https://lifestylemedicine.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Pillar-Booklet.pdf

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Catherine shares her own story from 2005, when pumps were basic, alarms were loud, and stigma felt enormous. Fast forward to today’s tech-heavy world, and the decision is still just as personal, even if the devices have advanced.

From teenagers navigating body image and alarms, to parents feeling overwhelmed by too much online information, this episode is a reminder that choosing technology is not just a medical decision - it’s a deeply human one. Catherine explores the power of balanced support, trusting your instinct, and giving yourself time to make the right choice for you.

Whether you’re standing at the edge of a big diabetes decision or supporting someone who is, this episode offers courage, compassion, and clarity.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With honesty, humour, and vulnerability, Catherine invites listeners to rethink what “a good summer” really means - and to let go of the fantasy in favour of real moments, real rest, and real self-kindness.

Key themes:

·      Letting go of perfect summer expectations

·      The emotional and physical toll of managing diabetes in parenting

·      Why feeling tired, grumpy or unmotivated doesn’t make you a bad mammy

·      Encouragement to embrace a slower, more compassionate summer

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Catherine explores the unseen toll of decision fatigue: the constant cognitive load, the pressure to get it right, and the emotional fallout that often follows. From tiny “should I bring backup?” moments to high-stakes insulin calls, we break down how relentless - and invisible - the decision burden really is.

If you’ve ever felt like your brain is always “on,” this one’s for you. We talk empathy, strategies for easing the load, and why naming the burden can be the first step toward lightening it.

You are not weak. You are carrying more than most can see.

🎧 Tune in for a dose of understanding, solidarity, and a little grace.

Note: While I haven’t yet tracked down the original source of 180 extra decisions number, I did find a 2014 document referencing it as coming from Stanford. (https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2014/05/new-research-keeps-diabetics-safer-during-sleep.html )

If you happen to know where that original study is hiding, I’d love to hear from you - please get in touch!

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Being the parent of a child with type 1 diabetes is a constant act of love, advocacy, and vigilance - but what happens when you’re supporting a condition you don’t live with yourself?

In this tender and empowering episode, Catherine speaks to the unique emotional space parents occupy when they’re managing diabetes from the outside. From navigating the intensity of low and high blood sugars to responding to the phrase, “You don’t get it,” this episode offers gentle guidance for showing up with empathy - even when you can’t fully understand.

You’ll hear:

💬 Why validating your child’s feelings matters more than having all the answers

🧠 How phrases like “false hunger” can be confusing for kids

❤️ What to say when your child feels misunderstood

👂 The power of “Tell me more” in parenting through chronic illness

This episode is a reassuring companion for any parent walking beside their child on the type 1 journey - without walking in their shoes.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a candid glimpse into the unpredictability of type 1 diabetes - even for those who “know better.”

From insulin pump mishaps to the heavy fog of high ketones, Catherine walks us through the frustration, the surrender, and ultimately, the grace we must give ourselves.

Because some days, we’re not perfect - we’re just “good enough.” And that’s more than OK.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Using the poignant poem "Welcome to Holland" by Emily Perl Kingsley as a guiding metaphor, she explores what it means to grieve the future you imagined, and to find unexpected beauty in a life that looks different than planned.

Catherine shares her personal journey through grief, fear, and fierce love—honouring the silent hope many parents carry, and the emotional shift that comes when life diverts course. With honesty and compassion, she acknowledges the pain of letting go, while gently inviting listeners to see the tulips, hear the music, and embrace the slower, deeper joy that can grow in “Holland.”

This episode is a warm hug for any parent navigating a life they didn’t plan for—and a reminder that you’re not alone on the journey!

See the poem, in its entirety here:-

Welcome To Holland

by Emily Perl Kingsley

Copyright©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. 

All rights reserved. 

Reprinted by permission of the author.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." 

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this whirlwind episode of The Diabetic Mammy, Catherine takes you behind the scenes of a jam-packed week of diabetes events, reflections from National Volunteer Week, and what’s been lighting up conversations in the community.

From digital health as a lifeline - not a luxury - to learning from the neurodivergent folks living with chronic conditions, Catherine shares thoughtful takeaways, practical insights, and heartfelt encouragement.

We also dive into travel tips for people with diabetes and a touching reminder of how far we come on this journey - from feeling overwhelmed to quietly becoming the ones who help others find their way.

Plus, a reality check on May madness: school chaos, bedtime battles, teacher gifts, and the slow crawl toward summer. If you're holding it all together with a thread and a juice box - this one’s for you.

✨ Topics covered:

·      Why digital tools in diabetes care are essential, not optional

·      Neurodiversity and diabetes: dignity in the little things

·      Travelling with diabetes: prep, patience, and a pinch of humour

·      The power of peer support and paying it forward

·      Surviving May as a parent (odd socks and all!)

Whether you're a seasoned T1D parent or brand new to the chaos, tune in for solidarity, sanity, and a few smiles.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Through heartfelt storytelling, Catherine shines a light on:

• The "invisible parent" at diagnosis, who never gets asked how they are doing.
• The martyrdom mindset, where suffering is seen as noble and enduring misery becomes a badge of honour—illustrated through a nod to Mrs. Doyle from Father Ted.
• The danger of chronic struggle, where exhaustion becomes normalised and self-care feels like indulgence rather than necessity.

But this episode is not about staying stuck in survival mode.

Instead, Catherine shifts the focus to self-care as leadership. Our children learn by watching us—if we hydrate, rest, regulate, and show kindness to ourselves, they’re more likely to model that too. She encourages listeners to embrace small but powerful acts of self-care and introduces the concept of the “Diabetes Duvet Day”: a restorative pause on the days when sleep-deprivation, emotional fatigue, and relentless blood sugar management make even getting dressed feel like a chore.

The episode closes with a powerful reminder: “You matter. Not just as a caregiver, but as a whole person. Self-care isn’t selfish- it’s essential.”

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Instead, she offers a practical, compassionate framework using SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely - to encourage gradual, joyful, and sustainable diabetes management. Listeners are encouraged to shift the focus from perfection to progress, helping children learn patience, resilience, and flexibility.

Key messages include:

• Diabetes is a lifelong journey, not a race to perfect numbers.
• All-or-nothing thinking can lead to guilt and burnout.
• SMART goals can support steady improvement without overwhelming children.
• Joy and balance matter — food and life should be celebrated, not restricted.
• Self-compassion and role-modelling are essential to raising empowered, healthy kids with T1D.

Catherine’s closing message reminds parents that imperfect days are normal, and that raising a child with diabetes is not about getting everything right, but about staying in it for the long run with love, grace, and determination.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode walks listeners through the essential metrics of diabetes management with warmth and clarity:

• Glycemic Control – the overall aim of managing blood sugars in a safe range, with emphasis on balance over perfection.
• Blood Glucose Levels (BGL) – explained in both mmol/L and mg/dL, with realistic goals tailored to each child.
• HbA1c – a long-term measure of average blood sugars, usually targeted under 7%, but personalized.
• Time in Range (TIR) – a newer CGM-based concept reflecting how often blood sugars stay in the target range.

Catherine reassures listeners that understanding these numbers is a process and that it's okay not to have it all figured out at once. She emphasizes that good glycemic control supports physical health, energy, and emotional well-being, but also reminds parents that numbers aren’t everything—their child’s joy, safety, and spirit matter just as much.

She closes with an uplifting message of community, validation, and encouragement: You are doing a great job. You’re not alone. And this isn’t a race—it’s a relationship.

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She explains her motivation for launching the podcast: to create a supportive environment for diabetic mammies who often juggle invisible challenges like burnout, mom guilt, and balancing self-care with parenting. Catherine emphasises that this podcast is not medical advice but a place of real talk, real stories, and shared experiences.

Please connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy or email her <catherine@abundantlydiabetes.com>

The Diabetic Mammy is the heartfelt, no-nonsense podcast where type 1 diabetes meets motherhood, community, and daily life.

Hosted by Catherine, a mammy navigating the highs and lows of type 1 diabetes, each episode blends personal insight with practical wisdom, offering support for parents, carers, and anyone living with or loving someone with diabetes.

From tech transitions and hospital diagnoses to school lunches and stolen sleep, this podcast embraces the messy, meaningful moments that make up life with chronic illness. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned warrior, The Diabetic Mammy is your space to feel seen, supported, and never alone.

Connect with Catherine on Instagram or Facebook @ TheDiabeticMammy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.