Preschoolers with Pumps

I've only got experience of using my own pump..

Pumps come with the ability to lock the programs, so the pump can be locked so that children can't acidently give them themselves a extra bouls etc..

As to placement of the pump, this will be dependant on a certain extent to where the child is comfortable with, but I have seen vests on the internet that has a pocet on the back to put a pump in for young kids, but one can easily adapt a vest, t-shirt etc, as baby socks make a good holder when sewen into clothing...

I've found it to be very difficult to acidently pull out the infusion set, I've actually hand a dog caught up in my tubing at work, pump didn't come uncliped from my waistband, nor didn't pull out the infusion set, it did though stretch the tubing My pump in the 18 months that I've been using it has taken a bit of a bashing at times but so far no damage or problems with it..

Hi there. My daughter was diagnosed T1 just after her 2nd birthday last year (she turned 3 on Tuesday), she has been on a pump from day one. We are stationed in Germany with the army so were referred to a German children's hospital in Hanover where pumps are the norm rather than the exception. The army didn't want to pay for it but thanks to the British liasion officers and the German consultants Grace was allowed the pump. She was curious about the pump but I must admit she has never tried to pull it out and now almost a year down the line she doesn't bother about it at all, in fact she hates having the pump off for more than 30 minutes. Depending on the make of pump (Grace uses a medtronic paradigm pump) you can get skins for them, at the moment she's sporting jelly beans but we have ducks, Lennie the lion, strawberries all sorts. We use the block function so Grace can press the buttons and she won't be able to activate the pump in any way.

As for pre-school, obviously British schools are slightly different to back home but we have a meeting with the school, diabetic nurse and her key worker in a couple of weeks so we can formulate a care plan for Grace when she starts after Easter. Having friends who's children inject I know that we are lucky although we have to do more finger prick tests and she has quite a lot of highs if you don't stick to the regime that the hospital sets out (something I learnt the hard way) although this is only my experience from a German hospital, I don't know what things are like in the UK. Hope all goes well when your daughter gets her pump. Helena x

Hello Sharon
I was wondering how you were getting on with your daughter and the insulin pump. My daughter has recently turned 2 and is due to go on a pump in 10 days time. She has been on injections for over a year now, she has no problem with the injections but we need to move on to a pump to stabilise her numbers. I am so worried about what her reaction is going to be to it and was wondering what happened with your daughter and also what do you use to hold the pump in place? Not sure how old your daughter is but mine is still a bit too young for a bag as would worry about the strap constantly.
Thanks in advance. Anyone else been through this??

Hi Teresa,

Grace has done really well with her pump but she has had it from day one almost. There are various ways you can secure the pump, we use a belt with a removable pump pouch that is shower proof and washable, there aren't many manufacturers in the UK but I have bought some lovely ones from America at really reasonable price, the latest being Tinkerbell which Gracie loves! Although the pump skin is a combat pattern (my husband is in the army) which Gracie picked! You can also buy clothes with special pockets on them for the pump, you can can also get a harness a bit like toddler reigns where the pump sits in the middle of her back, Grace really didn't like it so we went back to a belt.

Gracie has never once pulled her tubing out nor has anyone else in the family although she is going to nursery on Tuesday and I am concerned about someone trying to pull on the tubing or how the nursery will cope with her and her pump (although I will be going in for as long as they need me). I feel incredibly lucky that the British Army medical services agreed to fund the pump for Grace as I am convinced that she would not have put up with all the injections, I admire you and your little girl because i am sure I would not have coped, we have had it easy compared to many a fact which I recognise every single day. The one thing with the pump is the extra testing, we test every two hours except from 2am until 6am when I finally get four hours sleep! Anyway is monsters lunch here in Germany so I'm off for a blood test. Take Care to both you and Sharon and I hope it all works out for you. If you ever want to chat just pm me. Helena xxx

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Another idea which may or may not work is to use two disposable nappies and simply sandwich the pump at the back in between the inner and outer nappy. That way the pump will be fairly secure and if your little girl falls down and lands on her backside, she won't feel the pump at all. I'm sure you will be able to find some sort of waterproof bag to put the pump in to stop it being damaged by urine. If it's secured at the top part of the nappy there shouldn't be too much of a problem with it being affected by anything anyway. Of course it is going to be difficult to get to the pump buttons but with using a remote, everything should be ok.

I can tell you my experiencec with my little niece. She is four years old and she is on pump since two years. Her mother assembled the pump on the nappy and it worked very well. The little girl learned to take care of the pump from the beginning and she got used to the pump very soon and it never was a big deal for her to have the pump. Her mother also locked the pump to avoid unintentionally applied doses. It all worked very well.

Hi there,

My daughter, Keiki, is 4 years old and moved to the insulin pump just before Christmas (she was diagnosed just over a year ago and we managed her condition with injections for the first 9 months but her levels were ridiculously irratic...although her Hba1C was actually quite good at 7.2) In addition to the pump she has a continuous blood sugar monitor, this means that just by pushing a button we can see what Keiki's blood sugar level is and the pump will alert us if Keiki's levels are rising rapidly or falling rapidly. If you can get funding for this I would HIGHLY recommend, we find it invaluable for tracking trends and responding quickly to highs and lows.

The pump and monitor are sophisticated technology and they offer some fabulous benefits, I'm certain it allows us to control Keiki's condition more effectively and, also, it frees us from the regimented eating routine that injection therapy required (which I consider is just a nightmare for a toddler, it simply does not suit their natural eating patterns OR allow them to be 'normal'). However, it is a lot of work. Really a lot of work and quite a steep learning curve. And, of course, being technology, it does fail from time to time. However, 4 months in, we are 100% certain it was the right decision for us and Keiki is a big fan of her 'Mr Pumpy'.

Keiki has had no problems with pulling out the infusion sets. I too was quite worried about this initially, but it has really proved not to be a problem. I was also very concerned that if she was to pull it out it would be painful. This proved to be unfounded, removing the infusion set causes no more pain than removing a plaster.

Keiki, at first, found the insertions traumatic. But after a few weeks she became much more relaxed (as did I!) about them. Now I can get them done in a matter of couple of minutes with minimal fuss.

I've not bought Keiki any special clothes, I simply clip the pump to her vest or waist band of trousers or skirt.

Keiki's nursery have responded very well to the pump. They have been happy to enter carbs into pump to deliver insulin when she eats. But I do get a lot of phone calls and have to run up and down to the nursery quite a bit to resolve problems. The nursery have recently said to me that it's taking them a lot of time to manage Keiki's condition and they are applying for additional funding for her.

Keiki starts school in September and I have a meeting scheduled with the school later this week to discuss how her condition will be managed then. The nursery have expressed to me that they consider the school will really struggle to cope without additional help.

Hope that's useful.
Best wishes,
Sarah.

Thank you all so much for your posts. Amy has had her pump now for about 5/6 months and i would never go back to the dark days of injections! The pump is amazing, Amy accepted it immediatley without question (unbelievable!) and is even quite protective of it now. It doesnt bother her in the slightest and does not change the way she plays or messes about, she is a normal 2 year old in that respect!. The pump is amazing for control, especially when she wants to eat, eat and eat and also during times of illness when she will not eat.
Nightimes can be difficult as i also test up until about 1.30am but thats the price you pay for better management of the condition.