Pump for a swimmer

I am a mother of a 14 year old high school freshman with T1D. Diagnosed about 4 years ago . We have been using dexcom G5 and MDI. She is a swimmer, high school swim team in the fall and training in the summer . Looking to switch to an insulin pump for better control. I need advice on pumps that work well for this . Thanks in advance

Hi, I have a young son with T1D. We use Omni Pod. It’s a non tube pump. We use Skin tac as the barrier and then we put a tegaderm over lay over that. Seems to hold pretty good. My son swims a lot int he ocean and in pools. The Omni Pod seems to hold up well under water for short periods of time. But the skin Tac and the tegaderm overlay is a must.

Hi, my teenage son is on swim team using the Omnipod system, too. He’s been good (fingers crossed) with just the pod - no covering - on his upper legs / thighs. He did have problems when it was on the back of his arm because he kept bumping it on the lane lines and ended up knocking it lose a few times, even if he had a covering over it. When he had a Medtronic pump (3 - 4 years ago), he did need to use the tagaderm, though, regardless of where it was to keep it on.
You could probably get a handful of the Omnipod demo pods (just the pod with no insulin delivery) to see how well the Omnipod holds on for her while she’s swimming.
Also, whatever pump you get, make sure you’re familiar with the Temp Basal feature. We will reduce his basal rate by 30% using the temp basal when he gets into the pool to keep him from going low.

@jbhag69 hi Jane welcome to Type One Nation.

yes some pumps are water proof, & totally awesome. Swim Team is such vigorous exercise that your daughter may like to shut off pumping during a swim, maybe for hours. If this is the case, then it doesn’t matter what kind of pump she has because… well… off is off. Pods may be really great and all, for a variety of reasons, but a Tslim or MM pump come off completely and really easily and leave behind only a small unobtrusive (to swimming) infusion system site. just a thought. good luck to you both.

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Thanks . I have been leaning towards the Tslimx2 . Wasn’t sure about the disconnecting for an hour or so to swim 5 days a week. Is the port site going to stay clean ? Is there an infection risk from the pool water ?

@jbhag69 Jane, When the exercise is very intense, such as competitive swimming it is common to not need insulin for hours. Since there’s a lot of time between heats, she has ample time to test and adjust (either insulin or carbs).

Yes the site will be fine. I swim all the time and have never had a problem. I also swim in salt and untreated lake water… and have even fallen into a swamp or 2. nothing bad has happened in 19 years of pumping. I’ll go knock on wood now.

Hi Jane @jbhag69, as @Joe says, it may be better for your daughter NOT to wear a pump while competing in swimming matches and, in my opinion, more importantly during her extended training sessions.

As for the infusion port, caps come with infusion sets to place on the port whenever the pump is disconnected, and in the case of Tandem infusion sets each tube comes with a fitted plastic stopper which should be placed on the disconnected pump tubing. I’m not a competitive swimmer, but I always [except for one time when I had a memory lapse] disconnect my pump whenever I swim - ocean, pool, lake or hot-tub on lanai - and place the ‘stopper’ over the exposed connection points to keep them as clean as possible.