I do know that there are a lot of kids using the OMni Pod - if you are still interetested in it. I would check out http://forums.childrenwithdiabetes.com/search.php?searchid=705888 Here are many threads about the omnipod and most are from parents whose kids use them. I am not trying to sway your opinion in anyway - we LOVE our animas Ping - but I know that as Willow gets older - she is going to want the tube free system so I am almost sure that in 4 years when our warranty is up and we can get another pump covered we will go with a tubeless one. My DH loves his and would not have ever even considered a tubed system. I can already see how the tubing is going to get in the way with swimsuits and as Willow gets older and gets more conscious about herself - I can see how the discretion of the OmniPod can be a plus.
All that said - I think all the companies make really good pumps. You can order a demopod that your son could wear and see how he likes or dislikes the way it feels on his body. . .
We do not to a CGM. Emma wouldn't tolerate it. It is another bulky thing that also cuses scar tiddue and she hardly has any space on her belly to begin with. I wore it for a while and it is much more uncomfortable than the site for the pump. Also with a good HGBA1C truly no need to have them wear another device. It also beeps alot and is alot for the school to manage as a 7 year old cannot manae this by themselves. If you have a high HGBA1C or severe lows I would then recommend it. If you are concerned with swimming the minimed is the way to go. The site isn't visible on the abdomen and you can detach for the swim lesson which works out wonderfully.
My girls were able to try out each pump before we chose animas. The omnipod rep came to our house and the other two we tried at a sort of "pump fair" seminar thru All Children's in Sarasota,FL. Yet, there should be a rep in your area who should be able to come to your home or give you a time/place for a seminar such as what we did.
The girls were able to try on the ports and my 19 yo actually wore the omnipodw/saline for several days.
I like the ease of the animas port--and the girls loved the pink. The port is tiny, yet does have tubing that goes to the pump. My 19yo wears her pump in her pocket or on her waist band. Yet, for a small 7yo the weight of the pump is cumbersome, so we have a belt from the running store w/a lycra type zipper pouch that fits around her waist and keeps the pump nice and snug and out of the way. We got our pumps for the girls in December. My 7yo has pulled out about 3 or 4 by accident. She is very active! Yet, it is like a band-aid coming off--it doesn't "hurt" her. It is just time consuming to put another port in etc.
The animas also has a handheld wireless glucose meter that you can use to bolus. The meter has a huge list of foods and you can download complete menus etc from the internet so that you know how many carbs there are immediately w/out consulting any other reference---this is very handy---and one of the reasons we liked the animas system. Yet, the meter is trickier to use than the freestyle---it requires more blood--and it doesn't have a light like my freestyle. So, if you are testing at night you have to use a flashlight or turn on a light. I also find w/my aging eyes I have to put on my glasses to read it. The animas pump is much easier to read and bolus with than the meter--yet you have to insert the carbs yourself.
My next choice would be the omnipod--and in a few years we may go to that.
With little kids it is hard to find a good fatty place for the port. My 19yo will wear her port until her insulin runs out. She has hips and a little more fat on her tummy etc. We have to change the skinny 7yo's port every 48 hours or she will get an infection or her insulin will saturate the area too much and not be as effective moving into her system. We've learned to find the fattiest area. And we have learned to be really, really sterile when applying so she doesn't get a little infection. This is like a little ball where the port went in that blood and puss come out of. Yep---freaky. The first time we freaked and called the doctor on call! We no longer get this so we may be choosing better spots--and we rarely let her go to 3 days.
I have to chime in about the shots getting to be too much pain when the child changes to fast acting insulin for food. This got to be a hard thing for the 7yo--the pump allows her to eat w/out pain being inflicted--yet she still doesn't like to test and bolus--but is getting better as far as attitude. When I shared w/her that there were children on this list her age who did this themselves she began to desire to bolus herself and has a better attitude when she is in "control". It also helped her when I described her pump as her "pancreas". It helped her understand the cumbersome device was replacing a part of her body--
We also use the Animas and LOVE it. With my DH using the OmniPod - I can say that the Omnipod is really EASY to use and very straightforward. But it just was not right for our daughter. Although - like Collene said - we may go to it in the future. I LOVE the NO Tubing! We have NOT had any problems with infections and we leave the site in for sometimes up to 5 days. (Usually more like 3) but by mistake one time it was 5 days and we had NO problems. We have had only 1 pulled site and now that she uses a belly band with pockets it is much easier to keep the tubing hidden from snatching on doors, or while playing. [View:http://juvenation.org/themes/jdrf/utility/
Here are pics of her holding her Ping just days after she got it. The second pic is of the belly band that I made. It keeps the pump snug and against her body - it keeps it from flopping around, keeps the tubing hidden too.
My son Christopher who just turned 9 started saline in his pump today. He has an Animas Ping. The trainer that we have worked with is wonderful. Christopher was nervous about inserting the set and jerked when the needle popped out. He got upset and said he didn't want to have the pump. We got him calmed down. Then he let me insert the set and everything was okay once he got over the initial insertion. Later he forgot he was even wearing the pump and while he was doing his homework tried to brush it off! He realized it was the infusion set and started laughing about what he had done. He is hopefully asleep now. He was a little worried about what to do with the pump while he sleeps. Anyway to make a long story short, when you get a pump for your son don't let him get discouraged by the change to the pump. Prepare him for the fact that things are going to be a little different at first. Everyone tells me it is well worth the effort.
This was almost our exact story on her first few infusion changes. In fact on about the 3rd site change - she again started saying send it back - please I don;t really want this - and then when it was over - she told me how silly she realized she was being - but to be prepared that in 3 days she was going to ask me to send it back again! Even now that we have been doing this for a month - she still gets squirmy with the site changes. I try to make it as quick as possible!
It gets easier! And YES it is well worth all the effort and learning curve in the beginning! Her BG average for the past 7 days is 158 and she has not had a bg over 248. and nothing lower than 76. It feels really great to see that she is for the most part within her target range . . . It is wonderful!
We had the same experience. For several weeks my daughter who is 7 wanted to send the pump back. Yet, my 19yo loved it and never regretted the change.
It is a big change. Yet, getting shots so often during the day is painful and causes lots of scar tissue as well. Sometimes mom has to just give the pep talk and keep the child going with it until they get used to it. It also helps w/the animas or meditronic to get a really good supportive, comfortable holder for the pump itself. The port is no problem for Ocean--it is lugging around the pump. For the omnipod I believe you still have a handheld that has to be close to the body as well. I'm not sure if it is lighter?
We have been on the Omnipod for about 1 year. My son is 4 and will be going to school in the fall. So far it has been great for him. When we were on shots - he was so stressed out that he grind his teeth - he now has one less tooth!!! Now he is free with the pods! I can bolus him a meals and he doesnt get 10+ shots a day. He eats many meals a day! I would reccommend the pump and the Omnipod to anyone and everyone. It is alot of work to get it going but its great.
We went to omnipod seminar and, in two weeks, a rep. will show and train us how to use the pump. Was there ever a time when your child gets site rashes from the adhesive? And also, that needle from the canula, does your child feel it every each bolus? From what I was told, that needle does not stay within the skin but instead goes in and out/ retracts every each bolus. Would that feel like getting multiple shots each day without the hassle of using a syringe? Just curious.
The pod when activated - the needle goes in and leaves behind a plastic tube where the insulin can go in. Its like an IV. Your son would get one "poke" very three days. We have had no problems with the adhesive at all. If you do I would recommend IV3000 under the pod to protect the skin. The pods are amazing.
Knicko's mom--we have the animas--so this is our experience w/that pump and port
Ocean usually feels the first bolus when we first put on her new port, yet does not feel the others over the next couple days. If she does feel it at some point over the next 48 hours, it is unusual and we woner if the site needs to be changed. Ocean just told me it "Just feels like you are standing there. it doesn't feel like anything." On the other hand, your pump which you can hold in your hand or are wearing will vibrate to signal that the insulin is being delivered. If the pump didn't vibrate and beep the person would not know if they just got a bolus.
With Ocean, she has more sensitive skin and is prone to infections sucn as UTI. We were having a little trouble w/irritation when we started. Now we usually change her port after she showers and I have to be very careful to clean the site with alcohol and make sure I put the port "right" where I cleaned it. With a moving child sometimes I take my eyes off the site and will re-clean to make sure I am inserting it in the sterilized area. We do need to make sure her site is changed every two days, her body doesn't go three days well. She will get a little infection or the site will not work as well. As a child, she has less fat for the insulin to seep into so the area gets too saturated with insulin after more than 48 hours. My daughter who is older wears her pump for days at a time and has no problem w/any irritation. There have been a couple times recently where Ocean has gone 3 days without irritation---we must have had it in a fattier area!
The little plastic "catheter" that is stuck in the skin does not move in and out with each bolus. It is in there until you pull the adhesive pad that holds it in. It is rather long when you look at it--it stays put. Yet, very thin--kind of like the plastic that holds tags on clothes at the store. The child does not feel this.
My son started on the pump in August of 2008 at the beginning of his second grade year. We love it!! It takes some getting used to, like everything else, but the freedom to eat whenever (pretty much) and feeling like a normal person is worth it. My son weighs about 64 pounds now as a third grader and is very skinny. In the beginning he wore the insulin site on his stomach. After many months of trying to get him to try his bottom, he loves it!! He has not gone back to the stomach. Also, the pump as an active insuling feature which helps on stacking insulin. He wears a medtronic pump and his active insulin is set for three hours. I love the way it calulates different ratios for different times of the day based on his settings. It figures the insulin amount for you with the correction factor programed for his needs. I also love the website where we can go and download information from his pump and get graphs and charts with all kinds of information to make adjustments to his settings. Ask any other questions and I will try to help more.
With Minimed , animas and omnipod can you shower/bathe with the pump? Would the warm water temp. affect the insulin that is within the pump? Are this pumps waterproof?
You can wear the animas pump and the omnipod in the water and ocean. My daughter wore the omnipod to teach swim lessons when she was "trying it out" for a few days w/saline. She kept it on in the shower. The Animas pump is a pump and handheld device in one and is worth a lot of money, so I prefer the girls do not wear it in the rough waves. I wouldn't care if they wore it in the pool, yet they like to take it off to swim. You can set it for different activities--so there is no need to take it off while swimming or exercising. The Animas also has graphs and charts right on the screen of the pump that you can immediately access anytime to see the child's levels etc.
Though the animas pump can go in the water--even under water a great depth, the girls prefer to disconnect from the pump when they swim and just keep the port in. You can put the pump on "suspend" whenever you do this. When they are done they put it back on. At this point, if we were at the beach we would put the pump in a shady spot.
My daughters also like to disconnect when they shower.
I really like the ease of disconnecting and connecting to the port w/the animas. The Animas clips in and out very easily. Ocean who is 7 can do it very easily. The Meditronic has to be twisted on to connect which is much more complicated, and I feel a little flaw in the design. We tried putting on a Meditronic port and connecting, and we tried putting on an Animas port and connecting. The Animas design was much easier for us to use. Every family at our seminar chose the Animas over the Meditronic. I think mainly over ease of use and the cute, bright colors.
The one flaw I see is the glucose monitor--one touch ping that goes with the pump---we can test and bolus from the meter itself which also has the list of foods carbs etc. What I don't like is using the arrow pad to go up and down for numbers. It is timed too fast when you hold it down, so I have to just keep pressing arrows until I get to my number. The Animas pump's arrow pad works as it should--you can hold it down and get to your number. It is like using a channel remote to get to the right channel for carbs or insulin---
Another thing--you can set the rate of speed that the insulin enters the body. And Ocean's is set on slow. This may be why she doesn't feel it. It boluses over the course of about 15-30 seconds little by little rather than one huge bolus.
Where are the graphs and charts right on the screen? We have the ping and we have not used that feature yet. I would love to see that - I did not realize that it was available on the animas. So far when she showers she disconnnects and lays it on the counter and reconnects a few minutes later when she gets out of the shower. I am hoping to make a water/belly band that she can wear around her waist to hold the pump in the summer while at the pool - although disconnecting would not bother me as she will likely go low more this summer with all the swimming and activity . . . since this is our first summer with diabetes it is all trial and error!
I just found by accident earlier how to access the graphs on the meter remote for the Ping. Select meter home then Fast Facts. Then scroll down to Glucose Analysis and select that. The next screen will give choices for six different graphs.
My son is 17 and he was diagnosed when he was 10, we have gone through syringes, pens and now insulin pump but as you may notice he will be off to college with in a year and a half so I would love for him to be using the continuous glucose monitor device when he goes off to college because this device has an alarm and let him knows he is going low when this happens specially at night while he sleeps.
So as you can see we have moved on with technology and diabetes and he has always been ready for the change like all of the new generations do.
There are only 2 things I can share with you now:
1- what ever he chooses to go with make sure it will not be discontinued in the near future by the manufacturer and
2- by the time your son goes to college technology will be better and more developed for your son to take advantage of.
Hi our son just turned 10 years old and was diagnosed two years ago. He has been on the Omnipod for 1 1/2 years and it has changed our lives. There is no tubing involved which is great because our son loves to play sports and is very active. In addition, there is no need to disconnect. We go to the beach many weekends in the summer and we don't have any issues with it even though he boogie boards in the ocean a good portion of each day. It allows him to go to friends' homes for sleepovers, out to dinner with other families, ect. It gives him the freedom to have more food if he wants it. He just takes his athletic bag w/him when he goes out to dinner and the device is so kid friendly it is easy to use. It has given us such freedom and we would highly recommend it.
Hi there! My 2 year-old has been type 1 for 1.5 years now. We did shots, Novolog and Lantus for one year and have been on the Animas Ping for over 6 months now. She is only 28 pounds so the OMnipod for us was not an option b/c with her little body, the pod was too big for her, and I didn't like that big of a device having to adhere to her skin.
Even though the Animas pump indeed has tubing, the tubing is not that big of a deal at all. Plus, we tuck it away under her clothes and never have to get to it b/c the Animas Ping is just like the Omnipod in the sense that your blood sugar meter IS your remote control for the pump. So, it speaks to the pump and you don't ever have to push buttons throughout the day on the pump itself. So, your son could simply tuck it away, or wear it under his t-shirt on a soft little belt pouch, very discreetly, and the only thing that is actually stuck to his skin is the tiny flat quarter-size little port. The port or infusion set we use is painless. We use the "Inset." We change them out every 3 days and we only put them at the top of her bottom (below her waist where there's a little fat). She never even flinches. My 5 year-old daughter that often gets jealous of my daughter's diabetes (the attention she gets) -- she often wants to have a "diabetes sticker" too, and doesn't think the ports hurt at all. Of course we don't hook anything up to it, it just makes her feel a part of the attention.
Anyway, Animas is a great company, a great pump, www.animascorp.com and the Ping is fantastic. The fact that your blood sugar meter is also the remote is a huge benefit and allows you to administer little bits or lots of insulin here and there throughout the day depending on carb amount and situation.
The biggest benefit to the pump is the ability to customize basal rates, however. You can never customize your Lantus to really match his physiologic needs like a pump can do. The background basal can be sped up, slowed down, turned off if need, be, etc. You can have a program for school days, weekend days, days when he has lots of after school activities, whatever. Basal customizing is so great. And in addition, you can give little bits of of insulin here and there all the time, more like a normal pancreas.