My son is about to turn 4 here next month. He was diagnosed in December with T1D and has handled everything mostly really well. He doesn’t mind his blood sugar checks and was doing his injections really well. However he’s becoming more reluctant to do his injections. He only wants to do them in his arms and puts up quite a fight if anywhere else. Also he keeps saying they “hurt.”
This is leading us to getting a pump and/or CGM. We went in and talked with an educator who showed us pumps. My husband and I are leaning towards the Omnipod but the t-slim has advantages too, The hard part is he’s getting such small amounts of his Lantus (2 units) so I’m a bit concerned about the constant insulin drip he’ll be getting with a pump that this will make him more apt to get low or have other issues. He’s such an active little boy I feel the Omnipod would be best with no tubing but wondering if people feel the pod is too big or is it an issue you can’t give half units for a bolus.
This is all new to us and a LOT of info so any help would be awesome. Also hearing a lot of positive thoughts on the Dexcom 6. I feel this could be good but it’s another “thing” on his little body but not having to do checks would be kinda awesome. I know it doesn’t talk or work with omnipod like it does right now with the t-slim. I think our educator said they think eventually it will as Omnipod is coming out with a new version soon.
@HeatherBlues hi Heather. All pumps are essentially the same pick the one you like.
Regarding the 2 units of Lantus, this situation will surely change in the future but even if it doesn’t, a pump offers the ability to deliver basal insulin rates to the tenth of a unit, per day, with far greater accuracy and reliability than a pen or syringe. Don’t let a misunderstanding of how the pump basal rates work deter you. Please consider buying the book “Pumping Insulin” for every bit of current pump operation information.
We have used both. We love how user friendly the Tslim is and that it simply clips on to his waistband with nothing else to carry so he can roam free. With omnipod you have to carry around the PDM, which is fine but it’s one more thing to carry and my kid didn’t like that. The Tslim has smaller basal delivery increments which matter when your kid is little. The omnipod is waterproof, Tslim is water resistant. Meet with both pump reps and see which features matter most to you, then decide!
My 5 year old started with T:Slim X2 in November. We love it. Her Dexcom sends her blood sugar to the pump. And later this month Tandem will be releasing a software update that will automatically suspend insulin if it predicts she will drop low. It is supposed to resume insulin when she goes up to a safe range.
At first we worried about the tubing but have had no problem with it. She wrestles with her brothers, runs everywhere and has never had the tubing pulled off. The tape has never came loss, even with all the swimming this summer. I highly recommend this pump.
I will add that she never had a problem with shots, but when we first started the pump she complained about the site changes every three days. I try telling her one poke every three days is better than 6 shots a day.
She wears it in a spandex running type belt.
My daughter currently uses the animas ping which is no longer in production. However, I wanted to share how much easier it has been for her to have a pump versus injections. She is almost 5 and has been on a pump with a tube since she was 3. We really never had an issue with her tubing and when we’re ready for a new pump we will be getting the tslim because it works with the Dexcom G6 and most importantly the basal rates are small increments which is essential for her. To help her have some control over her diabetes we give her the choice of where to put her pump sites on her abdomen and she holds our hand during insertion. That might help some of your child’s seeming anxiety. A little control can go a long way.
Hi Heather,
My son is also 4 years old. We just got the Dexcom G6 last month and started using the T Slim X2 pump we like that when it senses he is going to have low BG it stops insulin. I think the one thing the educators did not explain well enough was about the “Constant drip of insulin”, in the settings you and the doctor set up all of the times that he will receive a small increment of insulin like .125 units of insulin and it only gives insulin at those times all the other times you have to bolus him when you give them a meal or snack unless he is low then you would not enter in any carbs you only enter in carbs if you give him more than just that 15 g of carbs to bring his blood sugar up, but do not include the 15 g of carbs that is helping bring a sugar up. We’re still trying to get used to having the pump in the CGM overall this week has been difficult only because my little one hasn’t been feeling well so he’s had key tones and high blood sugar and many many calls to the endocrinologist, but we finally got the key tones under control and he starting to feel better. He tells us that when we insert his cannula for the pump he said it hurts and he’s a really slim little guy so the only place that we can place his pump is on his butt. His decks calm on the other hand we can place on the back of his arm. With the Dexcom he doesn’t even notice that we could inserted the sensor. I’m always here if you have any questions And would be more than happy to help answer them. We’ve been on this journey for three years February 14.
@TeamLogan2016 HI Pearl Ann, what you describe above is called a “Basal Rate”. it is programmable and takes a very long time to get right. All pumps have a basal rate, because everyone needs a very small amount of insulin all day long. The first year with a pump, tweaks are made to program that rate (x amount during certain hours) until they are correct. With a growing child, those rates will change year-to-year. Many pump/CGM integrations will stop insulin if you get too low. There is only 1 pump on the market today that will increase basal rates on high blood sugar and that’s the Medtronic 670G… and I might add, when it’s working right.
all pumps require you to put in what carbs you are eating, called a meal “Bolus”.
There is a great book called “Pumping Insulin” which has everything about pumping in it. good luck.