Hi TuDiabetes community 
Parent of a newly diagnosed T1D daughter here 
I’m having trouble inserting steel sets - quite a few attempts have ended up not penetrating the skin.
Experienced steel set users, what are your top tips on how you go about inserting your sites for a newbie?
Cheers, Jannah
I’m surprised you are having problems as the needle is so, so sharp. What I do is clean the site, apply a little Mastasol dripped onto a new alcohol swab and allow a few seconds to get tacky. I then apply a tegaderm without touching the center where I’m going to put the needle. I then take the needle guard off, (you are taking that off right?) I place the needle on the tegaderm and push. I don’t fold back the little ears they give you to hold it as I find that awkward. I push hard and fast enough to insert the needle in a split second. Avoid hesitating. Easy for me to say and do because I’ve been doing injections on myself for 50 years and I’m a Nurse Anesthetist so I poke people all the time with big pointy things.
That tiny needle is so thin and sharp I never feel it. BTW, the Mastasol/tegaderm trick allows the infusion set to stay secure for weeks - not that I’m recommending that mind you.
I’ve had trouble inserting them in the past. Sometimes, they just seem to push the skin away or only go halfway in which can lead to bad absorption. Recently I’ve been pinching the skin and that seems to help.
So, you grab some flesh, pinch it up and push the needle into the top.
I disagree about being quick. Sometimes, I start on a spot and it just seems painful and a bad spot, like hitting a nerve. If that’s the case, I pull back and try a different spot. That might not work with a child, though. If it were my (non-diabetic) daughter, I kind of think she would say that every spot hurt.
Kids often have thicker more dense skin.
I agree with pinching the skin because it spreads it out and makes it a little thinner and also won’t move.
I also use a tape before I poke through it makes the skin more stable.
Hi Jannah
Sorry to hear that you are struggling with the insertion of your infusion kits … I use the Sure T with a 6mm steel cannula …
my method for insertion is simply …
prepare and clean the skin … when the steel infusion kit is ready ( drips of insulin have been noted) … I just hold the tubing near the infusion insert ( Sure t ) … Hoover it just above where I am going to insert it and “POP” it … (quickly tap down on it ) with my index finger … No need to fold or hold Or pull up on the wings … Voila … Done !
I cover mine with tegaderm to prevent pull outs and if it is uncomfortable … I carefully remove and re-apply in another spot …
Hope this helps
I have never used Mastasol, so please forgive my question if it sounds ignorant. Is Mastasol hard to remove once you need to change infusion sites? I would like to find something to keep the edges of the TruSteel adhesive in place.
I find it totally easy to remove. I never need to remove it specifically but alcohol dissolves it completely. There is a Mastisol remover which I have but regular alcohol works better and is much cheaper.