Dexcom receiver or cellphone placement

Hello everyone! Newbie here and trying to be as practical as I can…the Dexcom G6 needs to either have the receiver or cellphone for continuous monitoring. What do parents with younger children do to make this happen? My daughter is 5. She loves purses and bags but having that on her flapping around while playing hard won’t work for her. Trying to find some options before it gets here this week so she can be fully set up. I’ve seen arm bands, tummy bands so many options. What do you use for active child? Any other advice with 5 year and Dexcom? Compression lows at night and what you use to avoid as much as possible?? Maybe too many questions in one post! TIA😊 just a mom trying to be prepared

Hi @Mygirl_Meez and welcome to the forum. I don’t have kids but do wear a Dexcom. I can’t sleep on my stomach (hurts my back) so I usually put my sensor on my abdomen, front of my thigh, or on my arm. Not all sites are additives by the FDA but that does not mean they won’t work, so work/check with your trainer or nurse educator to see about other options.
When I use the handheld receiver I stick it in a Vera Bradley case which I wear around my neck most of the time, but if I’m wearing cargo pants or pants with pockets I can secure I tuck it inside.

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Hello,
My sister uses both the receiver and the phone. I’ve heard that Dexcom works with apple watches. We have never personally tried one but it might be an option when my sister goes back to school. I think that could potentially be an option for you. Anyways, the benefits of the receiver is that it’s a small device. Easy to carry and works just like the iPhone would. The battery is also long lasting. An iPhone is also an awesome option because you could also be able to see her blood glucose through your phone with an app called dexcom follow. So with an iPhone, your daughter would be able to share her readings to multiple people’s phone if she wanted to. The phone and the receiver can also be used both at the same time which I think is nice.
Regarding compression lows, my sister sleeps on her arm and on her stomach sometimes and that’s where the Dexcom patch is. She doesn’t experience compression lows that often. I’d say just experiment putting the patch wherever she feels comfortable. Also not sure if you knew this but I highly recommend that you use over patches when you put her sensor on. You can request some from Dexcom. If you don’t use anything to protect the sensor, it could start to peel off before the 10 days. So I recommend you look into getting over patches or something that can make the sensor stick onto her skin better.
Anyways, good luck!! :sparkles::sparkles::sparkles::sparkles:

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We kept the receiver with her kit, which was always nearby but not necessarily on her. It doesn’t have to be all that close, and if she comes back in range periodically, the data will update.

Our daughter still doesn’t have her own phone, btw, and it’s fine. She has the receiver, and I have the app on my phone. Since the receiver’s not a phone, my phone does need to be Bluetooth-distance to her transmitter to get the data, but it works the same way as her receiver does, downloading the last three hours, I think, of data whenever it gets in range (and the Dexcom updates to the cloud automatically, as long as it’s connected to WiFi, so even if your phone is away for too long, the data is preserved and available to be reviewed).

If your child is five, then a responsible adult is supervising anyway, and her receiver can be with her other diabetes stuff (back-up meter, glucose tabs, snack, ketone test strips, glucagon, whatever is in her kit): on the park bench, by the side of the pool, or wherever the supervising grown-up is, if it’s not at your child’s feet or on her body or in her school desk or whatever. Our daughter did wear it a fair bit — we encouraged her from the beginning to take as much responsibility as she could — and she wore it slung across her body like a messenger bag, rather than dangling off the shoulder like a purse. Much more secure!

You’ll be surprised how quickly it becomes second nature to have that kit. We’ve only ever left it behind once in the 6 years since diagnosis, and realized it quickly enough to turn around and go get it.

Oh, and compression lows don’t happen to us much, either. Our daughter wears the Dexcom pretty much everywhere (except her thighs don’t work well for whatever reason, so she doesn’t wear it there). She’s VERY active (always moving: cycling, swimming, running, fidgeting — she even moves around a ton in her sleep!), and the Dexcom works great. :slightly_smiling_face: She uses skin prep and then Skin Tac, and that’s mostly it. In super-hot, sticky, Florida summers, if she’s in the pool every day, then she needs an overpatch, too, but most of the year, swimming just a couple of times a week, it sticks fine all 10 days with just the skin tac, but I of course that’s just us. YMMV.

Oh, and welcome to TypeOneNation! :grin:

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I’m taking notes… after all these years I am starting the g6 in a few days. :smile: For all recent T1’s and parents - imagine that I was testing urine in a test-tube 40+ years ago!

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A science experiment in your own bathroom! My mom repurposed the ugly salmon colored mixing bowl from my EZ-Bake Oven and we kept it in the bathroom for “collection.” There was a wooden stand with shots holding a test tube and dropper. Ah, memories - thanks @joe !

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@wadawabbit thank you for your response Dorie. I’ve noticed your responses on others posts and hope one day I can have the knowledge you have. I appreciate the pictures makes it much more simple for me right now since my brain is on overload from trying to learn, stress and being scared, and sleep deprived hoping my girl stays stable at night time. I’m really hoping Dexcom makes things somewhat easier, but then again my educator said it helps but I’ll probably still have sleepless nights and worry just as much because there’s a new learning curve once that’s in place. I choose to stay hopeful because she can’t describe what she’s feeling when she’s high or low and she drops and rises the past few days quite dramatically and I never know until I prick her finger over and over. You guys are truly warriors for going through this!

@arodric5002 hello Alexa, the apple watch would be so great for kids to have but that also gets so pricey. At this point thought I’d be willing to go broke just to know my baby girl was ok and most importantly comfortable doing what all the other kids are doing. I didn’t realize with just the receiver she won’t be able to have people follow her BS levels and that’s what I need most of all. She does have an old iPhone that only works when connected to WiFi so looks like I may have to get that hooked up with its own service so she can be monitored by myself and others. I also ordered some fun patches my daughter will love that go around the transmitter to make sure it stays in place since I read that could be one of the biggest issues. I’m just trying to get her to stay positiveabout anything dealing with her diabetes and she loves new things especially with unicorns and rainbows. Thank you for your response I appreciate you taking the time to help😊

@srozelle This makes me feel happy. I love knowing kids eventually can get back to being their old selves again. Right now I feel like my daughter can’t play for longer then 20 minutes without getting tired and almost overheating. She’s always ran pretty hot but it’s happening much quicker since being diagnosed. The Dr’s said to get her active asap out of the hospital and she will be able to do anything other kids can do. She wants to be but sometimes I just can’t picture her being able to play for hours like before. I hope it’s just her body recovering but that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t shining for me yet. I think I will test the receiver out and if that doesn’t work as much as I want it to then I’ll hook up the cell phone she has that currently only works when connected to WiFi. Skin prep and skin tac, noted! Going to look those up now. My daughter loves to swim and definitely moves so much in her sleep so that has me feeling much better about those 2 things. Thank you for your time! It’s so nice to have a place to come to that’s all T1d related because I’ve felt pretty lost and alone since we left the hospital!

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@joe I had no idea that’s how you would check Bs before all the technology we have now. I’m curious to see what pros and cons you may have once you get the g6. Sounds like you and my daughter will be starting around the same time!

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Hi @Mygirl_Meez - glad to help. FWIW I was diagnosed when I was 3 and by the time I was 5 or 6 I was able to tell my parents I felt funny even if I couldn’t describe how I felt. We assumed that meant I was low and a snack did the trick. As she learns to recognize “new sensations” she’ll be able to let you know something is happening, even in a very simple level. Having the CGM gives huge peace of mind. I sometimes stayed home when the family went on trips (enjoyed the time to myself) and always set my alarm clock to go off every couple of hours ago I could see how I was feeling and get a snack if I needed one. Now I can sleep through the night unless I get an alert, and with good settings in place those are minimal. You’ll are worry as a mom but the tools will help, as will sing your little one grow into managing her diabetes on her own over time.
BTW, much depends on COVID but there are diabetes camps you might look into. I went over several summers and I think my mom felt some relief at getting a break with her child having a blast with other kids, and in the hands of medical professionals if anything came up. It’s never too soon to stay researching.

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I remember that the test tube would get red hot!!!.

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Happy to help! Your daughter can absolutely live life to the fullest with this disease: there are athletes and rock stars with T1D, former UK Prime Minister Theresa May has it, and so does U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
And so many posters on this forum are an inspiration and a comfort, too. They’ve been where you are, and they’re kind and supportive, and so generous with their perspective and insights!

And as Dorie suggested, camps are great resource, too. Most of the camp counselors have T1D themselves — former campers who loved camp and want to give back. Those young adults are incredible role models, and we love the directors and members of the medical team at our local camps. They’ve gone virtual during the pandemic, but they’re still operating. Your local JDRF chapter can hook you up, if you didn’t get the word from the endo’s office.

You really, really, really aren’t alone. I hope we can help you feel that. :sunflower:

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I’ll be happy to report. Oh yes, in the dark and even renaissance ages, you could only go off urine sugar (if present your blood sugar could be above 120 mg/dl to 190 mg/dl depending on how your kidneys worked). So a negative result just means, generally below 120. We HAD to be able to recognize hypos, by feel, because that’s all there was. The big joke was “a urine test would tell you iof you were crazy high or ridiculously high, 45 minutes ago”. We lived.

I got into trouble over a year ago, I sort of missed a low. I was OK but it was scary. I’ve used gen 1 CGM and they were not worth the effort in calibrations especially calibrating a device with a device that was +/- 15% accurate. made little more sense then “urine testing”. G6 from the tech specs and from the user feedback, has the minimum acceptable accuracy for me. Getting my sugar on my phone or smartwatch is a plus too.

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if you had the “clinitest” pill, it was copper sulfate and it reacted strongly to water, making heat to react the benedict’s solution. If you were earlier than “clinitest” you had to hold the test tube over a heat source to boil the benedict’s solution. Oh like I was going to actually do that! Need a sugar, now where is my bunsen burner?

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You could actually use an iphone 5s or later with just wifi for the receiver and that would enable you to use the follow app to see her g6. Some parents also use a 6th gen ipod for the same reason. As long as she is within bluetooth range of that device and that device is connected to wifi, you can see her readings on your phone…HTH

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Others have things covered. You need to use a phone rather than the Dexcom receiver if you want to be able to share data. As long as the phone is within 20 feet or so, it’ll pick up readings. If it’s out of range for a while, the transmitter will fill in the data it missed from the last 3 hours. The only thing to worry about is making sure you and she are alerted to lows when she’s running around a lot. So for that it’s better to keep it close by.

So how best to do that? Depends on what’s comfortable for her. Sugar Medical (for example) makes a waist pack for kids. It’s just a slim pocket on an elastic band that she can wear either over or under her shirt as suits her. That should allow it to stay on her without getting in her way and still be accessible when she needs to check it.

As for sharing the data: If the phone is wi-fi only, that should still work. It can upload the data when she’s home. Or you can turn your phone into a mobile wi-fi hotspot so that her phone can use your data when you’re nearby. (And you can see about setting that up with whoever else watches her.)

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@wadawabbit hearing your story of growing up definitely makes me feel at ease and I know the day will come where this won’t be so hard and scary. We received the g6 tonight and hoping to put it on tomorrow. She seems very excited about it and I know already I am. My sleepless nights are my only free time at the moment that’s why I respond so much later but I know now one day she will get all this and be able to do most with just some guidance and one day it will be all her. Even then I’m sure I’ll worry but that’s mom’s😂 I’ve heard about these camps and wish it wasn’t covid times so I could get her involved. Tonight she was talking about when she is all better from her diabetes all the things she wants to do again and I reminded her this is her life every day for the rest of her life. She looked really upset but I told her things will become more normal and we just have to stay positive about all of it. A part of me can actually say that and mean it Now after stories like yours and being on this forum for the help and support. One thing with all your experience I want to ask is I read that you should never take a shower right after a insulin shot, is this true? And if so could you please explain why?

@WearsHats thank you for responding! Yea the out of range isn’t an option for me, makes me nervous. Ever since I was pregnant I developed anxiety and panick attacks(mild) but enough to keep my mind going and not letting me at ease. In fact today I traded my phone in since the educator said the apps work better for iPhones and with me upgrading to one I got a free smaller iPhone which will now be hers(obviously with major limitations) but I want it as her medical device and that’s it. It will be fully connected and I will be able to see her as well as the others I have following which is what I needed. I’m going to look up Sugar Medical now because I think that may be the best option to hold it for her. I wasn’t able to find something like that in kid sizes and she’s not much of a jeans wearing girl so hardly ever has pockets. Thank.you for that recommendation. Checking that out as soon as I log out of here!

@joe I don’t know how your parents did that so long ago. I would be a mess. But you have taught me that even with the delayed reports then you guys do live and just managed it like any other thing of course I know how serious T1d can be but for the most part you guys are strong and will pull through. I was never a “helicopter mom” and don’t want my child living in a bubble. Before this forum I felt like that was the only way she would survive, now I know! Best tof luck with your g6 joe! We got ours in tonight and hoping to have that bad boy up and running tomorrow!:raised_hands:

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