My 11 yr old son was diagnosed 6 months ago and started on the pump (Animas Ping) today. He was so excited to get the pump, but after a few hours he is ready to give it up. He does not like the weight of it and feels the tubing gets in his way. He is very active and plays a lot of sports. Right now he wears the pump with the clip that came with it. Does anyone have any advice?
This is what I am afraid of. My son should be getting the pump in May and like your son he is very active and plays sports. I know why he wants it, but I just dont know if he realizes that this means he will be attached to it 24 hours a day…I am sure it takes getting use to…but…getting an 11 year old (or mine will be 13 when he gets his) to have patience is not always the easiest thing to do! Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say!
My son who is 9 has had his ping almost a year now. When we first got the pump he wore it in a spibelt but now he uses the clip and clips it on the waist of his pants then tucks the bulk of the tube in the waistband as well. The spibelt might be nice for sports. I am sure it took some getting used to, he was just so happy to be free of the shots that he never complained. I hope your son will also get used to the feel of it and after seeing how much freedom it gives from shots I think he will soon love it.
My heart just breaks for him. One of those days where you feel completely useless and powerless as a mom. He was looking forward to this day for so long and instead of it being a great experience, he is just defeated and sad. I think he just realised again that it doesn’t matter what fancy “toys” you have - at the end of the day you still have diabetes.
Awww Karen…my heart breaks for you. I know exactly what you mean. I watched my son get so excited over the pen and kept thinking…why? But being a new toy, for whatever reason, it excited him. So I was happy for him. But after a couple weeks, it was just another way of getting a dreaded shot. I know the same thing will happen with the pump. I feel that useless and powerless feeling you have every day. I hate that I cant make it all better. That is my job. I am the mom and moms fix things. I hate that part of my sons childhood has been taken from him and its not something he can ever get back. I hate diabetes!
My active 11 year old wears her Animas pump on her waist band with the metal clip it came with and a pump skin. She finds this works fine for most sports situations. Where she is worried the pump could fall off and be damaged or the site pull out due to the pump coming loose (rock climbing for example) she will wear it in a Spibelt around her waist or over her shoulder under her shirt for extra protection. She has found that loose shorts/pants or those with a soft elastic waist bands don’t work well (pump bounces around too much) - she wants something sturdy to clip her pump to. She does find that she sometimes has to shift the pump around on her waist band depending on the activity and does find this to be a hassle.
She ripped out a site only once - in gym class while getting changed. Forgot that her site was on her leg and when she pulled on her shorts, she caught them on the site and pulled it out.
At night she clips it to the front of her pajama pants and doesn’t have a problem.
As for tubing, she uses the shortest (24 inches) that she can get for her infusion sets (Cleo 90) but I think other sets have 18" tubing options which might work for your son.
Took about a week to get used to I’d say.
Can you wear the Spibelt over the shoulder or around the waist? Is the kids size big enough?
my son will be starting his thursday … ugh… but anyways - we have the spibelt for him - we’ll see about that and then we also found a company called tummietote and got one of those as well
both these companies have childrens sizes
i feel for you and hope he gets used to it
i think he will 
the tummietote was designed by a diabetic mom with an active child - my son says he likes the tummietote better mind you he’s only tried them on
My 9 year old son needs adult size, just measure I am sure they have the waist size on their website. Thay also adjust somewhat. I am not sure about wearing it around the shoulder, I assume just around the waist . I hope your son adjusts well to his pump. Learning to wear the pump will have them prepared for the artificial pancreas which I hear may only be a couple of years away. Its no cure but it will be a heck of a lot better and I feel sure a cure will be next. I know diabetes stinks in lots of ways.
My son is much younger, he is 4, so I often wonder how this will affect him as he gets older. Right now he has his sites in the buttocks and we run the tubing up under a t-shirt and tuck it in the pocket sewn onto the back of the t-shirt. My mom makes the shirts for him and they work really well keeping everything tucked away. He even wears it at night and since he often sleeps on his belly it works well and is easy to access as needed without having to move him around much. I feel bad during the summer though, since he usually has an extra shirt on., or we just use a little belt pouch. When he wears it with the belt pouch the tubing is harder to manage.
I hope in time things work better for your son. I can see Rory being the active type in the future. I wonder if trying the tubefree kind would help? I know the omnipod looks kind of bulky but the thought of not having the tubing hanging around is a nice thought.
My daughter has a golla pouch that she wears around her waist. There are a bunch of styles, most for girls, but here is a link for one that is a boys style. http://golla.com/#/en/products/info/G977
He can also wrap the tube loosely and tuck it into the pouch. My daughter absolutely loves her pouch.
My daughter just takes her pump off for sports/PE like the doctor/cde recommended.
Sometimes it just takes getting used to having the pump around. Before long, I bet he will forget that he even has it on him. The key is to get him to wear it for a while. Good luck. 
Just out of curiosity, did you consider the Omnipod? My 10 year old started on it when he turned 9, and we love it. He told me the day he started wearing it that he finally felt “free,” and that was good enough for me. My son plays basketball and soccer, as well as “touch” football with his friends that always ends up in tackling . . . There are no tubes if that’s a major issue for you. He tried the Animas first and wouldn’t even wear it for 15 minutes. He told us he would never pump but then when he put the Omnipod on everything changed. Not that there aren’t issues with it just like with any pump but there is nothing that would convince him to try a pump with tubes.
No matter what you go with though, I definitely agree with the Spibelt recommendation. My son wears his Dexcom receiver in the spibelt and it doesn’t bother him in sports at all. We got the adult size, but have it tightened all the way. We had to put safety pins in the strap so it doesn’t loosen as he runs, but it’s a great tool.
My daughter wears her Ping with the clip at her waistband most of the time. The tubing is tucked inside the waistband. She doesn’t wear it swimming because she likes to jump and dive a lot. For most activities, or under certain clothing, she wears a spibelt, which we bought at a local running store. http://www.spibelt.com/
I was just thinking that a lot of boys like to wear somewhat baggy, elastic waist shorts. Those would be hard to managed with a pump because the weight would tend to pull them down. Is this his preferred attire?
My son wears his ping in his pant pocket. He uses the shortest tubing we can get and just tucks it all into his pocket. He did not like using the clip. Hugs I hope it gets better for him. There are so many adjustments with diabetes, my son looked forward to his ping day like it was the answer to all his diabetes troubles. I think he was disappointed to find that the pump makes things better but it has its own drawbacks. Jacob will be 11 on Saturday and was diagnosed 6/10. My heart goes out to you both. Hugs Amber
You have to check out Pumpwear http://pumpwearinc.com they have a number of pump holding devices that will keep the pump safe, out of the way, or fashionable if you want it to be. My daughter age 10 has several pump pouches, one even has a picture of her cat on it, they will custom make.
I bought the adult size for my daughter when she was 9. It’s very adjustable. When she wears a climbing harness she puts the Spibelt around her shoulder like a handbag, under her shirt, to keep it away from rock, ropes and the like. Of course it wears best around the waist or even hips (I borrow it to run with and wear it low). Maybe your son will find another kind of pump holder that he likes. The Spibelt can look very subtle which can be nice.
The only time she takes her pump off is when swimming - I know, the pump is supposed to be waterproof and all but I just don’t want to take the chance. It’s not like I have another one kicking around the house if this one fails. And, I think the tubing could be an issue in the water when horsing around.
Thank you for all the great advice - it helps just to know that we are not alone in this. We ordered a Spibelt - will see how he likes it. He is going into his teenage years where he just want to blend in and be no different than his friends. He wants to “hide” the pump as well as he can. Will let you know how it works out.
That is exactly the problem. He wears only elastic waist sport shorts and the weight of the pump pulls it down. We are going to give the Spibelt a try. Fingers crossed!!
My son was 10 when we got his Omnipod and that’s the exact reason we chose it… no wires!! It’s also waterproof so you don’t have to take it off when swimming. John loves it, although sometimes it deactivates for no reason. It’s just one downside to many positives of Omnipod.
both my sons (15 and 13, five years on animas) have pretty much given up on the clip. they just slide it in their pocket. yes, it gets scratched up, but it is easier for them. Also, during intense sport, they disconnect and test regularly. Do not give up, I do not think we would be surviving the growth spurts and the huge amount of food ingested during those without the pump. I shudder to think of an injection to cover the 200 grams of carbs my oldest ate yesterday.