Accu check combo for 3 year old

[emmamadi]

Hi all!
My 3 year old is going on this pump on the 2nd April after we decided that although it may be more work I'm hoping that it will suit a little boy better than him having 8 or more injections a day due to him being a grazer with his eating! I was just wondering if anyone had any hints or useful tips that we could take on board? He has had a trial with a pump and we have a belt for the pump to go in around his waist when he gets it. Any information would be gratefully received though !.
He has only been diagnosed for 8 months since he was 2 and a half but is doing so well and coping very positively with everything he has been through so that's great. I just wanted to be aware of anything that could happen that we should be aware of. Thanks for any advice and responses.
Emma and Jac

 

[CarbsRok]

Hello Emma and Jac,
Advice...... make sure you have plenty of match sticks to prop eyes open as will be needed to start with as a lot of testing night and day until basals are right. :lol:
Buy yourself the book pumping insulin by John walsh.(Amazon) this book is known as the pumpers Bible and worth it's weight in gold.
The biggest thing you will notice is how much happier Jac will seem on a pump due to feeling healthier. The normal things that can go wrong but are easy to put right are sites coming out, sticky tape over the cannula works wonders to stop this. Some people itch from the sticky so use a barier spray (Cavilon) sometimes the cannula or tubing with block. Pump will alarm to tell you all about it. Again easy to fix.
It will feel rather overwelming to start with but don't worry just take one day at a time and you will be fine and before you know it you will be a pro.

Happy pumping :thumbup:

 

[sub]

Only just come across your post - how is your son getting on?
My 3 year old daughter went onto the combo pump in March. She's doing really well on it.

If you want to compare notes or discuss anything as we're in the same situation, I'm more than happy to help if I can.

Are you using the d link 6mm cannula's?

 

[Susie-Q]

Hi all,
Our three year old son also went on this pump at the end of March....after a tough first couple of weeks with LOADS of hypos, he's doing really well on it and I hope your children are too. The best thing for him and us has been the flexibility around eating - I nearly cried at the pump induction when half way through he asked me for a snack and wanted some hula hoops......and I realised I wasn't going to have to take his pants down and give him an injection if he wanted to eat more than half the packet. I love that he can eat to appetite rather than be ruled by the clock and the amount of insulin I've given him before his meal. However, we're still adjusting the basal rates quite a lot and I'd be really interested to hear about anyone else's experiences with a child of a similar age. Since late last year we have had a problem with late night highs, including when he was on MDI. These occur at around 10.30pm, hours after any carbs have been consumed. Clearly he needs a much higher basal rate in the evening and we are working with his DSNs to increase with some effect - typical bedtime level is now about 13 as opposed to 19. However, they have decided to fund a CGM for a few days to work out why this happens. Just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience? His daytime levels are really good apart from that and we just had his first Hba1c since the pump - 7.0 which is the best since diagnosis.
Susie

 

[emmamadi]

Hi! Jac has now been on his pump for about 3 weeks. We are still doing a lot of adjusting. Overall I can see that it is a lot better for him, especially as he is a grazer with his food so much easier to give small amounts of insulin whenever he wants to eat. One thing I have found is that the tubing/ cannula is not lasting and he gets random highs with blocks. The pump has not once alarmed for a block until after he has had the highs and we have taken it off to prime it. His nurse thinks its because he is on such small amounts that it isn't really noticing the small tiny bubbles or slower flow? Is this a problem anyone else has? We use the Cleo 90 sets. I like that you just click them on.
Overall though it is a big improvement for Jac, less highs and lows than on injections, and hopefully in a few more weeks it will be more settled.
Emma

 

[SophiaW]

My daughter is older than your children here but I just wanted to mention, as I'm sure this applies to all growing children, that I am regularly making small adjustments to her basal rates. I believe this is due to her growing and hormonal levels changing during these periods of growth. So although you will get the numbers settled after the initial pump setup (which for us took a few weeks) you still need to keep a close eye on readings and tweak basal levels according to the results you are getting.

 

[Susie-Q]

Thanks Sophie, I'm starting to see that's very true. We recently went on a Diabetes UK weekend and one of the organisers compared diabetes to a never ending jigsaw puzzle - when a problem arises, to solve you have to concentrate on just that piece of the puzzle to find the missing piece...but then by the time you've solved that, something else has come up and it's time to move on to the next one! Just a lifetime's work basically ;-)
Emma, we did have that problem a few times in the first couple of weeks, some random highs with no possible explanation apart from a blockage in the cannula but it does seem to have calmed down now. And no, the alarm never went off for us either so that's interesting what you say about the pump not noticing because the amounts are so small. Something to be aware of if it happens again I guess.
Things are settling for us a bit now so although we have highs at night, it is easier to see patterns emerging and hopefully to find ways to tackle them.
I also wondered have either of your children tried using different sites for their cannulas or do you use the same one? We are alternating buttocks for Daniel but I'm thinking of trying it in his thigh as firstly he never likes anything happening behind him because he can't see it, also I guess it would be good to have a couple of other sites to give those ones a break. Have either of you tried any where else on their body? And are you using numbing cream? We were but stopped as Daniel hates the cold feeling and wearing a dressing to cover it for an hour. So if either of you have any other tips to make insertions less painful without anything a three year old might deem cold or sticky, I'd be grateful!
Good to hear of other little ones doing so well on their pumps though