Hi All!
Well, We are ready to move forward to a pump with our 2 year old, I was sent home with loads of pamphlets, so now I read through, and I’ve narrowed it down to two…I think, but would like opinions of others with toddlers on the pump. I would really like to say our choice is the omnipod, no tubing or complications there, plus the PDM, or choice two, the animas…
I feel like the omnipod would be better, but I’ve read some reviews that say it comes off easily, and other reviews that say the opposite. ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
Attend a pump class if available in your area (or find comparison videos on you tube) we thought we had chosen the omnipod until we found out it didn’t have a cgm option, and again thought we had chosen the dexcom cgm without realizing that it needs to be near its “remote control”
Anything that you need to keep on their skin can be secured with tegaderm patches. These saved our lives. We put them over everything, including tubing and nothing has fallen off with it. Also, look into unisolve glue remover (not needed with the tegaderm but helpful for the products stuck on under it). We use right before shower so it doesn’t sit on skin for long. We get both from Amazon. It helps with delicate skin
There will be a long period of adjustment no matter what you choose. Longer than we thought… It’s kind of like parenthood. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, you get a curve ball. I’ve found this forum very helpful for finding out if pump issues are truly issues with the product (the company likes to say otherwise), my technique, the numbers, or other. The only way to know seems to be to sample other pump users.
Though we get frustrated by the technology, our daughter dreads the shots we sometimes give. I don’t think it’s because the shots hurt more, it’s just whatever they are used to. So site changes will surely take time
Include as many people as possible. It takes quite a bit of extra training beyond the basics to fully operate even a simple pump. To us parents it’s a small thing but someone (or several someone’s) should be trained to work it or you find yourself in a sticky situation of never being able to be away, even in an emergency. We were blessed to have my mother with us during the initial training process at our home. I have since trained about 5 other adults to use the pump. They came to a group presentation that I created at our house for basics and pump training
My son is 3, diagnosed almost a year ago and started the pump near the beginning of May. I did a lot of research and ended up going with the medtronic minimed with the continuous glucose monitoring option. We chose this as it is the only option with threshold suspend – meaning that it has the capability to suspend insulin delivery automatically if you fail to respond to a low bg alarm – and fully integrated CGM. Considering that toddlers are notorious for nighttime lows and alarms aren’t always audible if they’re laying on the pump, etc., this was a big plus for us. So far, I think the minimed has served us fairly well and the company has been AMAZING to deal with. We have yet to start the CGM as my little one is still in the honeymoon period and numbers are still fairly regular and predictable, so no comment on that aspect.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about the pump, period. On one hand, the ability to let him snack and be a bit more like other kids, the lack of needles and constant jabs and the convenience are amazing. On the other, his numbers were actually better and more reliable when I was doing mdi and the infusion sets have been a bit of a nightmare. Bent cannulas, issues with placement and pain at set change – he’s pretty much terrified of set changes, by comparison he had gotten used to injections and, though he didn’t like them (who would), he wasn’t really afraid. I think, too, that it’s just hard to have this device connected to him all the time, to not have those moments where we can both forget about this awful disease. But, I suppose that’s more my own struggle than anything related to the pump. I expected to be in a more accepting space by now, but I’m honestly still in such horror that he has to deal with this, the reminder of his mortality and how little control/power I really have and that this is the best I can do for my little boy. Furthermore, I think the level of technology with all of these devices is ridiculous. Considering what my bloody phone is capable of, there’s no reason these things should be as clunky, archaic and painful as they are.
in my opinion all pumps do the same thing, so you could also weigh choices on other factors, such as: which one has the reps/customer service you like better, which one will be most economical when your insurance company gets done with you, which one has best options for tech upgrades about every 2-3 years.
@jbyerly yeah, the 2nd half of your response resonated with me. I think you are spot-on with your critique of the current status of technology. despite the horrible tools we have now (or had, for example, in the 1970’s) life is resilient, and parents are tougher than they think they are.
I currently run the Omnipod and Dexcom G4 on my 14 month old daughter. I CAN NOT speak highly enough about either one of these devices. That being said, these are the only two I’ve ever used - so I’m not going to bash anything else out there, on a basic level I agree, these devices all do the same thing - but I will tell you what I love about the Omnipod.
Small and discrete. Many people have no idea Olivia is even wearing a pump - this includes Olivia herself - she has no idea it’s even there.
Easy to use, the PDM (Personal Diabetes Manager) is very user friendly, walks you through pump set ups quickly and easily.
True continuous insulin delivery. - this is a big one. All of the pumps are going to replace the need of your Levemir or what ever long acting insulin you are currently using. They do this by using a basal insulin rate which is a small amount of novolog or humolog that is given to you throughout the day automatically. Every other pump on the market will require you to disconnect from the infusion site when encountering water… showering, swimming, ect. when you do this…you are not receiving your basal insulin. With the Omnipod it is completely water proof, so you are never disconnecting except for the 2-3 minutes it takes to change out the pod.
This last one might not seem like a huge deal - but if you are talking about a child or a young toddler that disconnection from the basal can definitely cause spikes in glucose levels - with the Omnipod there is no need to pull them out of the pool - and no worries about additional correction dosages because they were disconnected for an extended period be it for a bath or other water sports.
@jbyerly and @joe I can see your point about the technology… I mean… looking at the PDM itself it really just looks like something out of an Atari game… So I know what you mean about the technology when compared to our smartphones… but relatively speaking these devices are really new - especially CGM technology… I’m confident within the next 5 years the options are going to look completely different than what we have now. I mean look at what was out there 5 or 10 years ago alone. We landed on the moon with complex computer systems that even combined were less powerful then what everyone of us carries around in our pockets everyday. The rate at which these technologies are evolving and improving is increasing exponentially…we’ll be talking about complete bionic pancreases before we know it.
My son and I both use the Animas Ping. The remote bolus feature is awesome. After many shots, it has been nice not to have to put our hands on him when bolusing. Also, it is waterproof so swimming/water play is a non-issue. We do remove it at shower time but that is only due to the ambient heat issue related to the insulin, not the water. I have used a Medtronic before and didn’t have any issues. We chose Animas because of the features above and that at the time it had the smallest increments for adjustment. Not sure where other manufacturers are with that now. Good luck. It is a game changer.