Tummy IS easy access,
But too much stuff in the region which her butt, arms, leg do not in terms of the ouch factor.
.
Tummy is one of many places to use for sure, but not where I’d start Were you standing in front of her giving her the shot or behind her when using the tummy? . Curious how’d you pick there first to use?
I haven’t done her stomach. She still complains with stomach pain so I’m going to skip that. I did butt is morning she hates it more than her leg. She doesn’t like it if she can’t see it but at same time seeing it freaks her out. But I did bring it to room temp and roll it around so it wasn’t so much of a sting
She is so little. My son was diagnosed shortly before his fourth birthday. Maybe this won’t apply to a two year old, but it helped a great deal with Caleb. We looked for any opportunity to give him a choice. He had no choice about getting an injection, but where we delivered the injection, whether mom or dad gave it, what room he was in - anything we could give him control over seemed to help him deal and accept and things became much smoother - not always perfect, but for the most part smooth.
Here’s the accessory kit for American Girl dolls that have diabetes
http://www.americangirl.com/shop/diabetes-care-kit-for-dolls-dhv55
Weighing in a bit late here, but my 18 month old has no problems with injections. (Thank goodness) We do humalog / levemir MDI so usually about 8 shots a day (levemir morning and night and a shot for meals and snacks). My biggest worry on diagnosis was him not liking shots. My second biggest was us giving insulin and him not eating all the food.
I offer similar advice to others but here is my list:
Do NOT keep the pen in the fridge or at least inject with room temperature insulin. I usually mark when the cartridges are first used and then toss them 28 days later.
When injecting throw the pen fast like a dart. Don’t touch the skin and go slow.
Make giving shots feel normal and don’t show any stress when doing it 
I did say we have no problems with injections but the first few times in the hospital there was some screaming. After a few days it was normal and we then had no problems. I am a Type 1 so having him watch dad give shots was probably helpful. It also helps do give praise when doing the shots like saying you are great at this. I would avoid saying things like you are brave because it implies that there is something to fear.
We use backs of arms, sides of legs, and top of butt where there is baby fat. Abdomen is not something we have tried yet.
This is a long thread so if someone mentioned this already, I apologize in advance. One thing that may not have been considered is the Lantus itself. Not all insulins are created equal, and Lantus has a reputation for stinging more, and more often, than the others. Levemir does the same job, the differences are very minor, and it does not sting nearly so much. You might discuss that with your doc.
I thought Levemir needs to be dosed 2x a day, whereas Lantus varies (I know many people like myself needed it 2x a day, but some people do 1x a day fine). Seems like fewer injections might be better if possible, though I agree about Lantus being more prone to stinging. I’m guessing Tresiba isn’t approved yet for toddlers?
My daughter was on 1 shot of Levemir per day for several months. There are no hard & fast rules.
As has been said, it varies. My initial Levemir regime was once a day, and the results were quite good. When I split it in two, they got even better. But the discussions here make it clear that there is no one rule for everyone. As with most things diabetic, trial and error is the only way to work out what gives the best possible results.
My toddler was diagnosed at 3 i only gave her shots in her butt she hates arms and thighs. Stomach is not something i feel comfortable with yet. Shes 5 now. My daughter had stomach issues in the beginning she was very constipated to the point wherw she could barely eat her endo said it was normal. What i did was gave her veggies high in fiber to combat my little one fav is broccoli and ranch . The older shes gotten she also loves saute spinach. I will encourage you to do your own research because every child is different with their experiences. In my daughters case shes currently on and off insulin she only requires high dosages of insulin when shes sick . Whsn shes not sick 1 to 2 units of basaglar at night. No day insulin. At first the endo said honeymoon period because she hadnt been on any insulin for a year and a half but now because shes on insulin but a small amount and all her lab works has reversed. Id encourage you to be careful what you feed her it wasnt easy but its made my daughter life and mine easier because she screamed everytime she got a shot. We would sing her abcs to help ease her a little bit and make sure its not cold. And probiotics have been a lifesaver .
Hello AllyJ:
Pens in the fridge make sense on a couple levels. You wont use all of them at once, right? If it takes 4 months to get through a couple pens probably don’t want them all sitting on the counter the entire time.
Other factor is temperature wherever we live.
Very hot/very cold living will destroy the insulin, rendering it useless. So if you live in Arizona , Utah, Alaska, Antarctica, etc., etc. High temp, low temp locations, might maybe want to keep the stuff stored where temps are constant, and not changing very much ie fridge.
Preaching to the choir I’m sure…
Hello Christina:
Couple other things occurred to me, apologies if others have mentioned it. Are you getting a small handful of skin when you are doing the injection? Not pinching, simply raising the skin of her arm up, the skin on her leg up just a little bit?
Are you using ALCOHOL swabs in some manner???
Are you getting any insulin coming back out after you inject her?
Hi Stuart, the only pen I leave out of the fridge is the one I’m currently using which for me would have lasted a couple of weeks, which was why I suggested dating it when opened so it never goes more than a month out of fridge, given that a newly diagnosed child would be on such low doses most likely. Nor would I leave it sitting on a counter in direct sunlight, it would be in a pouch in my bag. I take your point on climate though, not something I usually have to think about, we get plenty of rain here but not typically temperature extremes.
I do clean the spot with swab and make sure it’s dry before I inject. I was told to inject hold for 10 seconds. No insulin back out. I do no pinch the skin I just kinda bring it up so to speak.
Our temps tend to be super hot as we aren’t in the very south part of Georgia. I keep all pens in the fridge. Even the one we are using. I take it out about hour before injection to bring t to room temp. Then back in the fridge she is only on 3 units so pharmacy said that pen would last a while if kept cold.
Hello Christina:
DRY makes all the difference. If the alcohol is not dry whether using it for an injection site… or used for testing… both potentially cause OUCH.
With some test strips using alcohol/swabs CAN skew the readings, and alter the numbers. Dont have the data directly in front of me, but alcohols been “off the list” since the early 90’s if I recall correctly.
With a young child, I do get it and remember well just wanting to dunk em for a second or two under soapy water just to get arms, hands, clothes, whatever/wherever clean if for only a second or two, until the next mess happened… Alcohol swabs definately get it…
And yeah I know what you mean re: a small handful. If I think of anything else that might help, well jump back in. Hows it going, anything easier? Hope your partner is helping do it too. My mom did it for a long time, but dad always got credit because he did my shots only once in a while…
She was never the “bad guy”, but she gave me my shot until I did it myself (watched obviously).
We always make sure it’s dry the shot bad enough I don’t want the sting of ach with it. But yes! I did some research after posting that on testing in it’s self and they found that the swabs were not removing all sugary substances espidaly fruit related. But others to which made people’s readings appear higher. The said the best method was warm water. No smelly soaps. We have since only used swabs for testing when we are out and about. Around the house we use warm water scrub and rinse and a clean napkin to dry. And yes I had tons of help my husband is out of town durning the week for work but is full force pitched in on weekends. During week my mom helps me a lot with her and my other 2 kids. We finally figured out a way so she doesn’t cry as much. Wel actually her older sister who is 5 did. She did “magic” on her leg before and after her shot. And tada! Not near as much screaming. She is one big hearted 5 year old. After shots are done she takes her sister to couch and sits with her until she feels like playing. They are so sweet together.
I actually just finger stick test without any preparation, unless I’d been eating / preparing food, in which case I wash hands with water and/or soap and water.
I also don’t do any skin preparation before injecting (unless I’d been actually doing something dirty).
I think that is true for many people with diabetes… in 9 years I’ve never had a problem with this method.
We always have to prep she 3 lol always something sticky or dirty 
Suppressed Chuckling…
Can she send some magic this way. Pleeeeease!!!