Hello!
My 11 y/o daughter, diagnosed 11 months ago, is ready for a pump. She wants the Omnipod, but is this a good pump for kids? The other choice is a tubed pump; animus, Medtronic or t-slim. What have your experiences been? Does your child like his/her pump? Thanks so much.
My son is 4 and he uses the omnipod. We stared hi on a pump when he was 3 and I chose this one because it wasn’t tubed and I thought he’d be less likely to take it off. Now that the pods are smaller, it is even better. I like that he doesn’t need to take it off when bathing or swimming. It’s also great because they can still wear it during sports activities too. I’m honestly not sure how it compares with the others feature wise, but I am very happy with it, in general. Sometimes the pods fail, but I think each version has nuances. Good luck. Either choice you make, I think you will be amazed at how pumping improves regulation. It takes a lot of learning and tweaking, but it is amazing technology!
My daughter just turned 5 (as in today!) and she's been on the pod for 13 months now. We went with it because it's tubeless, and it's great that she can wear it while she swims, bathes, goes to the beach, etc. And we love the pod even more now that it's smaller and uses carbs in its IOB calculations. It's so easy to insert - you just put it on and the cannula automatically deploys - one little click and pop and you're done. Doesn't even phase my daughter at all. She wears hers on her arms and legs, so I think you have a few more options than you do with a tubed pump. Good luck with your decision!
My son is 13 and started on the Omnipod on his 9th birthday (also 11 months after diagnosis.) He immediately sounded like an Omnipod commercial and so now I do too. He tried a tubed pump for about 15 minutes and hated it, so I know he will never go that route. Once we had a frustrating batch of pods - about three years ago - and almost went back to shots, but other than that it's been a wonderful experience for us. He plays hard in basketball, soccer and any other opportunity to wrestle his brother to the ground, play football on the playground etc. We have had very few issues with sports and we prefer it to having a pump that has to be disconnected. It also does fine in the pool and the beach which we love.
We have the animus ping.We chose it because insurance covered part of it, and decided on it over the Medtronic because 1. It is more waterproof and 2.they are about to come out with a new version (the “vibe”- how did that pass focus group name trials?) that communicates with the dexcom platinum sensor, which is a great cgm (continuous glucose monitor) we hear.
Insertions are not bad (I tried it) and other than a super archaic hand-held monitor (think Palm pilot in 2001 or so) and endless scrolling to enter doses, it has been a good choice.
My son, 12, is thrilled to be on a pump. He wouldn’t have it any other way. I do find it makes the immediacy of insulin close to home-with no lantus/long acting on board you go high faster when there is an issue.
Message me if you want to talk about what the adjustment period was like. We have only been on since last spring, and tomorrow he will be at the 1 year mark.
My son is now 12 yrs and on the Animus ping. It's been almost 3 years. He loves the freedom he gets with it. I love it because if he's having high blood sugars for some reason then I can test him say like in the middle of the night and give him a correction from up to 10 feet away with the meter which is programed to the pump.. The only down fall is the insurance doesn't give us much coverage towards the supplies.
My 14 yr old son has been on the Medtronic paradigm. We love it! He has been pumping for a year now. We have no Cons. The software is easy to use and we also use the Medtronic Carelink program. We download his pump/meter once a week and get tons of data. We are waiting for the FDA to approve the Medtronic VEO. Closest thing to the artificial pancreas so far!
My daughter is super active too! Basketball, cross country, swimming… How does the omnipod hold up when the kids are in and out of the pool all day or at the beach? It says it’s only waterproof for an hour.
If they are going to swim for a long time, it’s a good idea to put something like tegaderm over the pod. When we go on vacation where I know he will be in the water a lot, I bring extra pods.
We use both Skin Tac wipes and Mastisol spray on the site before we put the pod on, then I put a 2" x 4" CVS Heavy Duty Waterproof bandage over the top of the pod. I know it sounds extreme, but it's what works for us. And the CVS-brand bandage is truly super waterproof! We've recently been to a couple of water parks where my daughter was in and out of the water for hours and it holds up every time - including going down the slides!
We are good at the pool - although my son does wear a swim shirt, and sometimes we do wrap it with coban tape also. If we are at the beach we definitely wrap it just because of the sand. I think the pod itself is fine in the water, it's the adhesive or the waves that cause the problems - but if it comes off it's not a big deal to put a new one on. We have found swimming to be the activity that brings his blood sugar down the most so I'm not really worried about it coming off either.
My daughter's first pump was the Omnipod. I chose it because it was tubeless, however her insurance company switched to Medicaid and Omnipod would not accept Medicaid. We had to switch. At first I was devastated but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
We chose the Medtronic minimed. I was worried about the tubes at first but after the first
try - my worries dissipated. With Omnipod we did have issues with pod failures and her skin developed allergic reactions every time she wore the pods. She is also very thin and
needed to go with a much smaller canula - which was such a blessing to find so many options with Minimed.
Another plus I liked about the minimed is that you can pinpoint those basal rates with smaller increments @.025. That made a big difference for her in her A1C's.
I know it can be very confusing but you everyone has different needs and activity levels.
You have to choose what is best for your child.
No matter which one you choose CONGRATS on choosing to pump!! It is soooooo much better than shots.
God bless and best wishes to you and your daughter
p.s. my daughter is 11 years old too!
Hi, so we chose the omnipod and she’s been on it for three days and we are have a little trouble. She can’t seem to get the pod to stay on her arm. She wrapped it but decided she didn’t like the wrap and took it off. She tried the other arm and that fell off too. I’m worried that she may only be able to use her belly and back side as pod sites.
I’m also worried that she will leave her PDM at school or at a friends house, etc. what do kids do with their PDMs at school?
I remember going through this the first time too! 2 things: Don't wrap the pod
fully around her arm (near where you see the clear window) I tried it and it fogged up the window that I could not see the canula and there was condensation in side the window.
Are you putting the pod on vertically? The best fit that worked for my daughter was on her backside, horizontally.
Trying a different angle/site is going to be the key on proper fitting.
If you are still having difficulty - contact the Omnipod Rep that deals with her doctor's office - that's what they are there for. My rep came to my house and worked with my daughter to get that proper way to fit it for her.
Best of luck to you.
Congrats on choosing the pod! Honestly, if you put the big waterproof bandage over the pod like I mentioned in an earlier post, it will NOT come off! They are about $4 for a box of 10 from CVS and they often have buy one get one half off sales (I bought 18 boxes last time they did this!) Also, have you tried Skin Tac or Mastisol? The first couple of months were also pretty frustrating for us, but once we found a combination of things that worked for us, it's been great ever since!