Insulin Pumps/CGM

[Sarah]

ODD was just diagnosed with T1D. Right now she is on multiple daily injections and many blood glucose checks.We have already started to talk about pumps and cgm,but we don't know anybody with a child that uses them.
How reliable are they?
How much more painful are site insertions
Do you use them all the time,or take breaks
How old was your DC when you started
How hard are they to program

[Amanda L]

Hello!

Not sure how old your ODD is, but we have a four year old (diagnosed right before he was two) that is still on injections while we wade through the red tape to get him a pump. I don't know what I would have done without this site - http://forums.childrenwithdiabetes.com/ - when he was first diagnosed! The parents on there are experts at answering questions like you have.

[lanwenyi]

My niece is on a pump now. She was on a pen from dx (4yo) until she got the pump at 7yo. It took a while to get approval for a pump (her ins req that she have stable bg's/hba1c's on injectable insulin/pens before approving a pump) and then longer to find the right pump for her (she reacted to the adhesive for several pumps).

In general, she prefers the pump. She has more freedom to go back for seconds (easy to add additional insulin), it is easier for school to deal with (she's in 3rd grade now) b/c its just carb counting, and then the meter does everything else, and she has fewer pokes. Each poke does hurt more. She describes it as about the same amount of pain as 5 of the pokes from her pen. Since she got that many injections every day anyway, a site change every 3 days is less pain in total. Every now and then she decides she doesn't want to put her pump back on when she needs a site change, so they do a day on pens, but by the end of 1 day, she wants the pump back.

On a side note, her wardrobe had to change too. No more dresses, she always wears shorts/pants/skirts and a top b/c she needs a place to attach the pump that is accessible to both her and adults.

I'm sure this must be overwhelming. I know it was for my sis. Hang in there. It will all work out.