Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jerodsmom on March 15, 2011 at 3:30pm

This is what I am afraid of. My son should be getting the pump in May and like your son he is very active and plays sports. I know why he wants it, but I just dont know if he realizes that this means he will be attached to it 24 hours a day.....I am sure it takes getting use to.....but....getting an 11 year old (or mine will be 13 when he gets his) to have patience is not always the easiest thing to do! Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say!

Permalink Reply by MsShelly on March 15, 2011 at 3:31pm

My son who is 9 has had his ping almost a year now. When we first got the pump he wore it in a spibelt but now he uses the clip and clips it on the waist of his pants then tucks the bulk of the tube in the waistband as well. The spibelt might be nice for sports. I am sure it took some getting used to, he was just so happy to be free of the shots that he never complained. I hope your son will also get used to the feel of it and after seeing how much freedom it gives from shots I think he will soon love it.

Permalink Reply by Karen on March 15, 2011 at 3:58pm

My heart just breaks for him. One of those days where you feel completely useless and powerless as a mom. He was looking forward to this day for so long and instead of it being a great experience, he is just defeated and sad. I think he just realised again that it doesn't matter what fancy "toys" you have - at the end of the day you still have diabetes.

Permalink Reply by Jerodsmom on March 15, 2011 at 4:05pm

Awww Karen....my heart breaks for you. I know exactly what you mean. I watched my son get so excited over the pen and kept thinking....why? But being a new toy, for whatever reason, it excited him. So I was happy for him. But after a couple weeks, it was just another way of getting a dreaded shot. I know the same thing will happen with the pump. I feel that useless and powerless feeling you have every day. I hate that I cant make it all better. That is my job. I am the mom and moms fix things. I hate that part of my sons childhood has been taken from him and its not something he can ever get back. I hate diabetes!

Permalink Reply by kmd on March 15, 2011 at 4:07pm

My active 11 year old wears her Animas pump on her waist band with the metal clip it came with and a pump skin. She finds this works fine for most sports situations. Where she is worried the pump could fall off and be damaged or the site pull out due to the pump coming loose (rock climbing for example) she will wear it in a Spibelt around her waist or over her shoulder under her shirt for extra protection. She has found that loose shorts/pants or those with a soft elastic waist bands don't work well (pump bounces around too much) - she wants something sturdy to clip her pump to. She does find that she sometimes has to shift the pump around on her waist band depending on the activity and does find this to be a hassle.

She ripped out a site only once - in gym class while getting changed. Forgot that her site was on her leg and when she pulled on her shorts, she caught them on the site and pulled it out.

At night she clips it to the front of her pajama pants and doesn't have a problem.

As for tubing, she uses the shortest (24 inches) that she can get for her infusion sets (Cleo 90) but I think other sets have 18" tubing options which might work for your son.

Took about a week to get used to I'd say.

Permalink Reply by Karen on March 15, 2011 at 4:47pm

Can you wear the Spibelt over the shoulder or around the waist? Is the kids size big enough?

Permalink Reply by MsShelly on March 15, 2011 at 5:16pm

My 9 year old son needs adult size, just measure I am sure they have the waist size on their website. Thay also adjust somewhat. I am not sure about wearing it around the shoulder, I assume just around the waist . I hope your son adjusts well to his pump. Learning to wear the pump will have them prepared for the artificial pancreas which I hear may only be a couple of years away. Its no cure but it will be a heck of a lot better and I feel sure a cure will be next. I know diabetes stinks in lots of ways.

Permalink Reply by kmd on March 16, 2011 at 2:50pm

I bought the adult size for my daughter when she was 9. It's very adjustable. When she wears a climbing harness she puts the Spibelt around her shoulder like a handbag, under her shirt, to keep it away from rock, ropes and the like. Of course it wears best around the waist or even hips (I borrow it to run with and wear it low). Maybe your son will find another kind of pump holder that he likes. The Spibelt can look very subtle which can be nice.
The only time she takes her pump off is when swimming - I know, the pump is supposed to be waterproof and all but I just don't want to take the chance. It's not like I have another one kicking around the house if this one fails. And, I think the tubing could be an issue in the water when horsing around.

Permalink Reply by jb on April 28, 2011 at 10:22pm

I am a regular rock climber; I have a camera bag (with a sturdy plastic clip) which I have permanently affixed to the back of my harness. I can then slip my pump in it and snap it closed. This has worked very well for me as it keeps it completely out of my way. (I can provide more details if anyone wants.)

The rest of the time I typically use the clip and attach it to my pants; to keep the tubing out of the way I wrap it around the pump (and through the clip) so that there is not a lot of excess tubing, I then tuck a small amount of it into the top of my pants so that if it gets tugged the pressure is not immediately on the pump. I have been wearing my pump like this for 18 years and it has worked great for me, even during various types of exercise.

My daughter is 6 and on a pump, she likes using the clip (and has a much shorter length of tubing than me). She also likes wearing various waist belts and shirts that have built in pockets for pumps (we've tried a few different brands, they have all seemed pretty good). She is using the Sure-T infusion sets (for the medtronic pump), which have an extra point of attachment to the skin to help avoid being tugged out accidentally (although I find that accidentally getting tugged out happens to me less than once a year; a bigger problem for me is when it is hot and I am exercising then the tape can start to peel off).

Permalink Reply by matilda on March 15, 2011 at 5:07pm

my son will be starting his thursday ... ugh.. but anyways - we have the spibelt for him - we'll see about that and then we also found a company called tummietote and got one of those as well
both these companies have childrens sizes

i feel for you and hope he gets used to it

i think he will :)

the tummietote was designed by a diabetic mom with an active child - my son says he likes the tummietote better mind you he's only tried them on

Permalink Reply by Natalie on March 15, 2011 at 5:38pm

My son is much younger, he is 4, so I often wonder how this will affect him as he gets older. Right now he has his sites in the buttocks and we run the tubing up under a t-shirt and tuck it in the pocket sewn onto the back of the t-shirt. My mom makes the shirts for him and they work really well keeping everything tucked away. He even wears it at night and since he often sleeps on his belly it works well and is easy to access as needed without having to move him around much. I feel bad during the summer though, since he usually has an extra shirt on., or we just use a little belt pouch. When he wears it with the belt pouch the tubing is harder to manage.

I hope in time things work better for your son. I can see Rory being the active type in the future. I wonder if trying the tubefree kind would help? I know the omnipod looks kind of bulky but the thought of not having the tubing hanging around is a nice thought.

Permalink Reply by Ursela on March 15, 2011 at 5:55pm

My daughter has a golla pouch that she wears around her waist. There are a bunch of styles, most for girls, but here is a link for one that is a boys style. http://golla.com/#/en/products/info/G977

He can also wrap the tube loosely and tuck it into the pouch. My daughter absolutely loves her pouch.

My daughter just takes her pump off for sports/PE like the doctor/cde recommended.

Sometimes it just takes getting used to having the pump around. Before long, I bet he will forget that he even has it on him. The key is to get him to wear it for a while. Good luck. :)

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