Hi Julieann,
My 12 year old son has been on a pump since he was 7, and I had a long fight to get him one! These are a few of the issues he was having on MDI which the pump helped address:
* His Lantus did not have a smooth 24 hour action in him. He would have to go to bed with a BG of 16+ to avoid being hypo before morning. Then around 4pm he would have no basal insulin left, and any exercise (such as after-school football or swimming lessons) made his BG soar into the stratosphere. On the pump you have no long-acting insulin, just a programmed trickle of novorapid (or humalog), and you can tailor a personal basal profile. My son has 8 different basal rates throughout the day, so he gets more or less background insulin at times he needs it. This is the closest approximation to a healthy pancreas!
* On MDI, he was having an average 7 injections per day. He is very slender, so injection sites such as arms and thighs suffered terrible bruising. Tummy and bottom injection sites were becoming lumpy. With the pump, the 7 injections a day were replaced by one needle (to introduce the cannula) every 2-3 days.
* He was diagnosed aged 4, and had relatively small insulin needs, yet his insulin pen could only deliver in increments of 0.5U, and his Lantus in whole units. On the pump, basal increments are 0.025U (1/40th), and bolus increments are 0.05U, so we can really fine tune his doseage.
* For foods such as pasta, we were finding that bolusing all in one go would send him hypo within an hour of eating, then high a couple of hours later, so on MDI we had to do 2injections a few hours apart. With the pump you can programme an insulin bolus for foods like this which delivers part of the insulin straight away and part over a few hours.
* Eating out and parties! On MDI this was a nightmare. Kids parties are often in mid-afternoon, between "normal" mealtimes. Buffets are hard because of "grazing" over a long time period. But bothe of these became SO much easier to handle on the pump, where you can just add a bit more insulin at the touch of a button rather than yet another injection.
* Insulin on Board is tracked by the pump so when you do a correction you take into account any insulin still circulating in your body from a previous bolus.
* Illness - you can imagine how many bugs a 4 year old picks up! On injections trying to manage feverish illness or vomiting bugs was a Nightmare! On the pump, you can easily reduce or increase the basal rate on a temporary basis to help control levels.
* Exercise - again, basal can be altered whenever suits you. My son has a combination of snacks and reduced basal for sport, and may also run a reduced basal for a few hours overnight to prevent post-exercise hypos.
* Different basal needs at weekends. He is more active on schooldays, plus it's a routine schedule. At weekends he is lazier, so now we have the pump we can have a completely different basal pattern for weekends.
There is lots more I could say but if I haven't bored you into submission yet I would just say "go for it!" You won't regret it. His a1c went down from the high 8's to the low 7's with the occasional 6.9. He feels much better in himself without the swinging levels he had on MDI - rarely goes above 14 on the pump.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 Pumps rock!!!!
no matter how hard i try they just don't want to be in controlled. so after i have spoke to the diabetic nurses they have suggested the pump as they think i will befit from it and will help me gain more control. The problem is im not 100 % sure about it i did the ice course that our diabetic center holds and i was lucky enough to meet a women who was on the pump because she was having the same problem as me and she said its best think she ever did. just wondered if i could here from more ppl who have been in the same situation as me and if they changed to them pump how are you coping now? 
