do you think the omnipod would work for my 2 1/2 year old? i love the idea of - but want to make sure it would really work in reality. would he be able to keep it on? would he have enough fat to use for insertion sites? does anyone have experience with the omnipod and a little one like mine?
I have seen it on little ones… Does the Endo think he is too young? I could see using a Pod and it working better than dealing w/tubing on a little one his age. With Skin tac wipes that hold it on and Unisolve wipes that help take it off…my son…(16 active teen) has good luck with it staying on. You could use is back above the waist line…he might not even be able to pull it off there. Also… before looking into pumps… make sure they give small enough doses… not sure what your son uses…but mine is almost up to 100 Units a day!.. I bet that would be a month for your son. There are a lot of good people here on the Omnipod forum that have little ones… hope they get back to you.
thank you so much for getting back to me! its not that our endocrin office isn’t supportive of us trying it- they just have the usual concerns that i mentioned. i think you are right - the tubing and having to wear the pump on his person would be more trouble than the potential challenges of the pod. thanks for the feedback on the site prep and removal wipes. i plan on using those during our saline trial to make sure its as real life as possible. the dosage is a question, but i am not sure what his basal dosage will be. omnipod only goes as low as .05 where the ping doses .025. this could make a difference but then again he is growing so quickly it could not as well. he is currently on 2.5U of lantus a day- i know not much 
does your son ever experience rashes from the site preps or bruising from the insertions? i hust hope holden has enough fat to do the insertions without them hurting too much! thanks again for your feedback, i really appreciate it!
I have heard of people that have both those troubles… my son gets rashes from regular bandaids…but NOT the Omnipod… so it seems gentle enough. As far as scars from it… no none… bruises… Only if he was really really hard on the site… so really not a problem. W/the wipes I mentioned… , for him, he has only knocked a pod or two off… really majorly rough housing w/his brother… and the cloth adhieve stayed put… the plastic pod part… ripped off from the force! I guess…you won’t know for sure how your son’s skin will react until you try it…the same stuff hooks on the other pumps too…just less of an area…
I wish you the best of luck with what ever you do… my son has been on the Pods since April 20 of 2010… had a short break off for a few weeks due to craziness of leaving the Honeymoon period…and a Docs that didn’t understand the Pods…now he is back on… doing the best he has done since diagnosed… feeling great and we have a new doctor that alows my Omnipod Pump Instructor to participate in his care and decisions made for the pump. Do you have an Omnipod Pump Instructor lined up…USE them if you do… they really know how to understand the data that is downloaded and what it means… Good luck! Wow… 2 and a 1/2… Wowza…you have your hands full!
My 4 yr old has been using it since she was 2 yr 11 months - the major issue I have with it is the insulin on board calculations do not include food bolus ( it becomes an issue in daycare - if she is acting strange and they test her off schedule - I have them call me and I figure out what the bolus should be and we correct what the Omnipod recommends). We usually have to use some Medical tape to help hold it on (especially in short sleeve weather). She has been wearing it almost exclusively on her arms for the last 9 months - we found that with her lower back we had to give an extra bolus when changing the pod - bit not with the arms.
Pros
Automatic insertion!!!
pod rarely bothers her - most times she does not remember which arm it is on
Does not have the PDM attached to her
Cons
IOB calculation
pod failures(avg 1or 2 a month)
I think no matter which pump you go on - it will help you tremendously - mealtimes are so much less stressful (don’t have to beg her to eat) - can delay her eating (she likes to sleep in - now she can) and if we are out to eat - she can have more carbs than when she was on MDI. Also, I can stop delivering insulin if she is low or if she becomes active. A word of warning - it took us about 4 weeks to get the basal program set up correctly - so be prepared for a few weeks of frustration.
Good Luck
Celeste
Yes… there is most def. a period at first of frustration… even… more pod fails or fall offs at first…not sure why… they hardly ever occur now… occasional OCCLUSIONS but that is a site problem not a pod problem…
I started my little guy on the Omnipod when he was five. I wanted to wait until he asked for a pump before putting him on one. (he was diagnosed at age one) And then he chose to go on the Omnipod instead of tubing. We have had our share of frustrations. It is really hard at first when you are trying to get basals worked out, and then the pod falls off, occludes, etc. And then you start over again! I think that would be the case with any pump, though - at first, it is just plain tough. You don’t need much fat for a site to be a good site. We use his stomach, lower back and arms. He likes his arms best. We tape every pod to give it extra support, because my little guy is PURE BOY. (He’s sporting an arm cast as I write…) The pros and cons from Celeste are right on. Tyler has gone low a few times at school because he has been corrected while his breakfast bolus is still working. Even with the auto insertion, at first he cried whenever he needed a pod change. He doesn’t cry any more, but if he is tired, he will still give us a hard time. I try to remind him what it was like getting shots all day long, and being much more restricted with his carbs. Overall, it is working for us. When it works, it works great! When we are having a hard time with pod failures, bad sites, PDM’s acting up, it is not fun. But not much about diabetes is!
My son is 6, been on the omnipod for a year now. (dx at 4). We love the pod. We wanted the pump because I didn’t want to give him 4 shots a day. I knew that wasn’t the only choice. Will is small and slender. He wears the pod on his arms, thighs and buttocks. He doesn’t have enough fat on his belly and we tend to get into the muscle. He would only use his arms if I let him but we rotate through all the spot before going back to the arm. His butt is his least favorite place, but I think it works the best. The freedom has been huge. If Will doesn’t feel like eating then, we just wait. If he wants an extra piece of pizza he can have it. If he’s getting low in the night I can turn his insuling down or just turn it off for a little bit rather than try and wake him and feed in the middle of the night. We also chose the pod because Will couldn’t see the needle. We watched a friend change his animas site and he covered his eyes and wouldn’t even look. There was anxiety in the beginning with pod changes, but that got better with time. We had some trouble with the pod coming loose, so I just use a water proof tape by nexcare and wrap it a couple of times and that has helped. The occasional pod failure or occlusion, but I think that comes with any equipment. Omnipod is supposed to be coming out with pods that are 40%smaller, which will be really nice for the little ones. For us the good outweighs the bad.