So we are starting the journey to pump. Idk if it is the right thing, but we want to give it a try (and I mean put in good effort 6months is the goal). My daughter is only 3 years old and she is rather petite for her age (30lbs). So step one is picking a pump... The endo's office is suggesting either Omnipod, Medtronic's Revel, or Animas Ping. I have read and read all the brochures, talked to the reps, snooped on all the boards here but still there is no clear winner for us. Please could you all give it to me real? Do you use any of these pumps? What are the pros or cons of them for you? Will one hurt less upon insertion?
The Omnipod sounds great b/c it is tubeless, but I read in one post that it hurts more and has a larger fail rate? Plus as small as it looks on an adult it looks huge on my little girl.
The Medtronic seems impressive with all its features and CGM integration, but it is not waterproof at all, just water resistant thus disconnecting it for every swimming and bathing activity seems like it would be a pain?
The Ping is waterproof, but looks like a lot for a little girl to carry, and I am not sure if it has the most impressive information available i.e. carb counts on board, and more button pushing.
When I read what I wrote I feel like I am missing the big picture and what is important when it comes to picking a pump. Please Help!
Have you had the reps come to you so you could touch, feel and play with each pump? Once you do that you will have a better idea of which pump will work for your child and family. barbi - kid with D = Malcolm dx@2 1996 - pumping 1998.
Hi, I'm sure with any pump you choose, you will have better control and be satisfied. I think most people you talk to will have great things to say about the pump they started with and continue to use- like me- Medtronic. Love it. Yes, there's tubing, and I did feel sad about that before I actually hooked him up, but seeing it in use, I realize tubing isn't that big of an issue. You can see a post I wrote about starting out on the pump here: http://type1tot.com/2011/09/21/starting-out-on-the-pump/ Just faster. As for disconnecting for baths or trips to the pool or beach, it's not that big of a deal. Whatever pump you choose, be prepared to start your learning curve over and be frustrated for a few weeks while you work out the details. The reward is great in the end. Good luck.
My son is 3 and 34 lbs. He is on the Omnipod. Pros: it has no tubing. Easy to use. Don’t physically have to carry anything on your body (PDM). Con: occasionally have a string of malfunctioning pods. Since the child is so small, you have more limited application sites. ( I would think this could be true with all pumps though) overall, we love the pod. Good luck with your decision.
We use the Medtronic Paradigm, which is probably a precursor to the Revel -- Eric has been on it 2 years now and the Revel is more recent than that (I think). I don't know enough about the other pumps to give you a good pro & con assessment, but the Medtronic pump has been good to us. I *CAN* speak knowledgeably about the swimming/ bathing aspect of disconnecting it -- it is not really a big deal. You unclip the connector, slip in a plastic clip to cover it, and off the child goes for as long as a couple of hours. The only thing you really need to watch out for is the possibility of the site's adhesive coming loose if the exposure to water is constant for the duration. Eric can usually do a half-hour swimming lesson without losing a site, but if he's in the water longer than that, we generally have to add another layer of tape over the site to keep it from "washing out". What I learned to do during the months he was actively taking lessons each week was to get him to eat breakfast about an hour before the lesson (which was at 9:45), bolus it immediately AFTER eating (instead of before), and then by the time he got in the pool, his BG would be a little bit on the high side so that the exercise would not bring him low, but would put him into the mid point of his range by the time he left the pool... but he'd still have plenty of insulin in his system for the duration of the lesson, AND there would be enough to keep him from developing ketones should the pump site need replacing when he left the pool. If the site had pulled out, I just put a patch of EMLA cream on him while he was dressing and let it do its work while we were waiting for his brother's lesson to finish, which would put me in a position to change the site once we got home. On the other hand, if he still had his site intact after being without the pump for 30-45 minutes, I'd just hook him up and give him a small snack, maybe reducing the bolus a little if his BG had dropped more than I expected.
So if the waterproof aspect is your biggest concern, then go with the Revel.
BTW if you sew, I can set you up with a template for a pocket that you can sew on the back of your daughter's clothes. It keeps the tubing and the pump away from busy hands. Have a look at the photos on my page, there's one in there showing Eric sitting at the computer with his back to the camera, and you can see the pocket I sewed on his shirt. It's a LOT cheaper than buying pump clothing and the quality of the clothes/pockets is as good as you want to make it (better than some of the $25 rip-off t-shirts I bought when we started on the pump!). So if you have a sewing machine and want to try this, just friend and PM me with your email address and I'll send it to you.
My daughter uses the Animas Ping and it's been great so far. My friends daughter who is 4 yrs. old also uses the Animas Ping and her mom considers it great too, because after injecting 8 times a day anything else is better. We looked into the Pod but it was too complicated for a kid, so we went with Animas. The Pod is good for adults but not for kids it has an advantage no tubbing but too bulky. Medtronics and Animas pumps both have buttons and need carb counting for bolusing insulin. You choose what you feel confortable handling, Medtrinics are not water proof and Animas Ping's are. My daughter swims and showers with it, and gets wet in sprinklers too. But ultamately the choice is yours. Good Luck and keep me posted.
I agree, my mom sews and made my daughter pouches out of fabric that I bought cheap in the store. They also sell running gear pouches at Sports Authority for cheap.
