We are new to the Omnipod for our (as of yesterday) 2 year old. We had to actually take the pods off and have an appointment with the sales person from Omnipod on Friday. We had two successful pod experiences (the first two), of which the first was with the Diabetes educator watching as I did the filling of the pod and placement. The second we did ourselves and placed it on the other side of her stomach. Both had fairly consistant levels, and things were progressing quite nicely.
Since then we have had three failed attempts:
The first was a new location on her lower back (right above the diaper line), and it looks like that one had some blood in the cannula. She didn't appear to get ANY insulin.
The second, we tried the front of her stomach this time, and the readings were very erratic. Some times of the day she was pretty good, and other times she was high. She never ran low. Overnight she woke up high. I suspect that there was possibly air in the reservoir, since she would sometimes get the insulin.
The third was another stomach placement, and this time I made SURE there was no air in the reservoir. I had my wife hold her while we placed it "perfectly" on her stomach. Everything seemed to be good, but this time she was crying and pointing to the pod. I have a feeling that when I stuck it on her stomach, the skin was either stretched out or creased, and the stickiness of the pod was what was making her uncomfortable.
Anyway, does anyone have any insights that might help us with some successful pod "deployments"? The doctor suggested upper outer arm, and/or thigh's. Should we experiment with other places on her body? Maybe her tummy is too sensitive?
Don't stretch her skin. Just lay it on her tummy and smooth the adhesive down. Then either 'pinch up' the skin under the front of her pod or press down on the tip while you 'start'. Good luck. Can't imagine how hard it must be to have such a teeny person w/Big D. Love my pods.
Our daughter started using the pod when she was 4 and she wears them on her bum. Our endo told us it is one of the only places where she has enough "padding." We just switch sides every 3 days. This has always worked for us. Wishing you luck! :)
Exactly. So, she doesn't sit on them, but they are below the elastic of her undies and pants, etc. This has been a great spot for us. Hope it helps you! :)
I absolutely admire you! I just cant imagine what you (people with diabetic children) go through EVERY DAY. i would encourage you to join another group here on TU....called "momnipods and popnipods" set up for parents of children on the pod pump.
Since it's only been a few days - you may also be having issues with getting the basals set?? I know for my little guy (5 yo when he started on Omnipod, and 6 yo now) - he can rise to 300-400 VERY quickly if his basals are off just a bit! I am also on the Omnipod and I don't react like that at all. So, it could be that you just need to tweak the basals a bit. (and if your basals are already "set" at 6 days, that is amazing) Also, I have found that for both my son & I we have different basal "needs" depending on the site. I have three basals set for both of us - upper arm, lower back & stomach. I know it is so much to figure out, hang in there, you are not alone. Try not to panic when you see those high numbers.
Another bit to add - when we first put my son on the Omnipod he went into the "HIGH" readings the first weekend. It was so scary. We changed the pod, and he eventually came down (never thought I would be happy to see a 450 on his machine) The hardest part when getting basals set is you only have a day or two and then you need to switch pods and assess all your data again. It can take awhile to get your insulin needs figured out. It took me about a month to get my son stable.
Quick update. We're back on the Pod now and have put it on her "tush". It seems to be working much better, and we're not getting as many highs at all (she was actually a little low, high 70's) at 2:00 in the morning. We did have a high just before bedtime, but there were enough variables that we're not going to make any changes just yet. We're going to give it one more day and see how things turn out.
At least we know that she's getting the Basil, which (I think) was the problem before.
Yay....good deal! Just breaks my heart that she has to go through all this in the first place. But, thank God for modern technology. She sure is a cutie!
