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5 year old daughterStarted on the 'pump' today
- Thread starter lee76
- Start date
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Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Lee, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm very sorry to hear this. I hope that someone can help calm her fears. We do have members of very young pumpers here, so hopefully someone can offer some words of wisdom soon.
Poor little thing & poor you too, must be heart wrenching. Was the canula sore, or was she objecting to being attached to it? I know personally sometime I can have a canula in that's quite uncomfortable if I'm unlucky & I'm the wrong side of cuddly, so i imagine it might be harder to get comfy sited on a little un...what kind of canulas are you using? (mine are at 90 degrees but I understand there are different types & some people get on better with different types...).
Has she bought into the idea of the pump? At her age I was on jabs, but I wonder if something as daft as getting her to give it a name, choosing a funky accessory cover etc might help create a positive interest another day when she's a bit calmer? Adrienne will hopefullt be along soon & give some good advice, her daughter's been pumping since she was tiny. Are you on the Children With Diabetes email list? I'm not sure but there might be a link in the links section??
Don't panic, & don't despair...hopefully she'll feel better about it in the morning, although i guess (if she's anything like my 5 yr old), you might need to resort to bribery to get things going again... 🙂. Best of luck. X
Has she bought into the idea of the pump? At her age I was on jabs, but I wonder if something as daft as getting her to give it a name, choosing a funky accessory cover etc might help create a positive interest another day when she's a bit calmer? Adrienne will hopefullt be along soon & give some good advice, her daughter's been pumping since she was tiny. Are you on the Children With Diabetes email list? I'm not sure but there might be a link in the links section??
Don't panic, & don't despair...hopefully she'll feel better about it in the morning, although i guess (if she's anything like my 5 yr old), you might need to resort to bribery to get things going again... 🙂. Best of luck. X
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi lee76,
Do you have a 'pump pouch' for it? You can buy all sorts of these cases that keep the pump safe and also stop it touching the skin which might be what is upsetting your little girl. I probably wouldnt have taken it off - but I know its difficult when they are upset - but if it were me I would attach it as soon as you can and show her some pump cases. I will have a quick look and give you a link if it helps. 🙂Bev
http://www.funkypumpers.com/
Here is the link - it might be worth investing in one as it makes it a bit more fun.
Do you have a 'pump pouch' for it? You can buy all sorts of these cases that keep the pump safe and also stop it touching the skin which might be what is upsetting your little girl. I probably wouldnt have taken it off - but I know its difficult when they are upset - but if it were me I would attach it as soon as you can and show her some pump cases. I will have a quick look and give you a link if it helps. 🙂Bev
http://www.funkypumpers.com/
Here is the link - it might be worth investing in one as it makes it a bit more fun.
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Hi I;m not sure what she was objecting to the most the fact that its attached or the canular was ;itchy' she was fine with it all day and was only when I completed a bolus at tea time to match her jag she said it was sore when it was delivering the water!! although she did have it on her tummy - not sure if it would be better on her backside/thigh, got 'Lenny; the lion for her to carry it in at night and she's been cuddling him all day so dont think its the idea of the pump or just too overwhelming for her - she was sobbing saying she wanted to keep her jags so was obviously really upsetting her - just not sure why!
Hmm. If it was 'itchy' all day maybe she's either had a reaction to the sticky stuff / plaster bit (is it still red now?) or maybe it was just an unlucky insertion & was a bit sore...was it hand inserted by a nurse or you guys, or using an insertion device? If it's a 90 deg canula sometimes it can be tricky to get them in without kinking without the device (but I'm on an accucheck combo, with flex-link cannulas, haven't experience of medtronic).
I know sometimes if i have a bigish bolus & the canula happens to be in a less than comfy position it can actually be quite sore...I wonder if you could adjust delivery rates on your pump or split the dose down a bit?....maybe wprth a chat with your pump nurse if you feel she's helpful?
All thr best, hope today's a better day...
I know sometimes if i have a bigish bolus & the canula happens to be in a less than comfy position it can actually be quite sore...I wonder if you could adjust delivery rates on your pump or split the dose down a bit?....maybe wprth a chat with your pump nurse if you feel she's helpful?
All thr best, hope today's a better day...
Pumper_Sue
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Lee,
it sounds to me as if something is hurting her.
Do you have the spray Cavilon? This will stop the itching from the cannula.
Also have a look to see if you can slow the delivery of the salin/insulin down. Also look at a different cannula as this might be hurting her for some reason.
I know many have problems with the quicksets, so perhaps talk to her dsn and try another type/sort.
Hope things work out ok for her.
it sounds to me as if something is hurting her.
Do you have the spray Cavilon? This will stop the itching from the cannula.
Also have a look to see if you can slow the delivery of the salin/insulin down. Also look at a different cannula as this might be hurting her for some reason.
I know many have problems with the quicksets, so perhaps talk to her dsn and try another type/sort.
Hope things work out ok for her.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I can fully sympathise with your daughter. My first few sets were quite painful (I was on the longer 90 degree ones on my saline week and several seemed to just irritate something in the skin layers). Sometimes they itched/hurt right from the off, other times just become itchy later... Sometimes it seemed to just come and go in waves, and other times didn't go so I swapped the set out.
I know I was also hyper-aware of the sets/cannulas in the early days and part of me wonders if it was just the presence of the thing on the skin. A few weeks in and that hyper-awareness subsided and a month or two later I rarely thought about it.
What helped me most was going onto shorter cannula-length sets.
For a 5 year old I suspect you might not have many locations with enough padding for a 6mm 90 degree one. Might be worth asking about silhouettes (angled)?
I know I was also hyper-aware of the sets/cannulas in the early days and part of me wonders if it was just the presence of the thing on the skin. A few weeks in and that hyper-awareness subsided and a month or two later I rarely thought about it.
What helped me most was going onto shorter cannula-length sets.
For a 5 year old I suspect you might not have many locations with enough padding for a 6mm 90 degree one. Might be worth asking about silhouettes (angled)?
Monica
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent
Hi Lee
If your girl said it's only "sore" when bolusing, it's because the water isn't just water. It's saline, so it also has other things in it.
We've been told that the saline stings when bolused. And Yes, my daughter Carol said it was true.
As it is only saline and not insulin, you could just bolus 1 unit. Carol absolutely hated bolusing saline, so we came to the compromise of doing all the right things to calculate the correct amount of saline, but then reducing it to 2 units. We told clinic that's what we did and they were quite happy about that.
The insulin won't sting 🙂
If your girl said it's only "sore" when bolusing, it's because the water isn't just water. It's saline, so it also has other things in it.
We've been told that the saline stings when bolused. And Yes, my daughter Carol said it was true.
As it is only saline and not insulin, you could just bolus 1 unit. Carol absolutely hated bolusing saline, so we came to the compromise of doing all the right things to calculate the correct amount of saline, but then reducing it to 2 units. We told clinic that's what we did and they were quite happy about that.
The insulin won't sting 🙂
Hanmillmum
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent
Sorry to hear your little one was so upset 
It was bitter sweet that Millie had her pump at 23 months, she was not overly aware of it,being so young, but I do recall her initially wanting it taking off at night. Lenny was a good selling point - and being confident and upbeat in your approach too rubs off on them (I believe, even though you feel like crying too )
Might be worth trying the buttocks, my daughter's tum is very sensitive as she is very lean here, never been problematic on the bum and we started off pumping with this area so she wouldn't fiddle with it too much. We have moved onto the angled cannulas for her tum just recently as Everyday has suggested.
Any chance it is the saline irritating as Monica suggests ? Would you feel confident to move forward to the insulin rather than wait the week out? we did this.
I have shown my daughter footage of another little one having her cannual changed which she liked to watch, (sorry haven't kept it to forward it on), and she likes having a peppa pig pouch for it (especially when friends were oohing and aahing over it -lol)
We call the pump "pumpy" (v original), when it bleeps with it's little alarms she says "mummy, pumpy's singing!!" so it has it's own little character for her. I think she would be lost without it - I know I would.
Hope you can find a solution and the upset is short lived 🙂
It was bitter sweet that Millie had her pump at 23 months, she was not overly aware of it,being so young, but I do recall her initially wanting it taking off at night. Lenny was a good selling point - and being confident and upbeat in your approach too rubs off on them (I believe, even though you feel like crying too )
Might be worth trying the buttocks, my daughter's tum is very sensitive as she is very lean here, never been problematic on the bum and we started off pumping with this area so she wouldn't fiddle with it too much. We have moved onto the angled cannulas for her tum just recently as Everyday has suggested.
Any chance it is the saline irritating as Monica suggests ? Would you feel confident to move forward to the insulin rather than wait the week out? we did this.
I have shown my daughter footage of another little one having her cannual changed which she liked to watch, (sorry haven't kept it to forward it on), and she likes having a peppa pig pouch for it (especially when friends were oohing and aahing over it -lol)
We call the pump "pumpy" (v original), when it bleeps with it's little alarms she says "mummy, pumpy's singing!!"
so it has it's own little character for her. I think she would be lost without it - I know I would.Hope you can find a solution and the upset is short lived 🙂
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