pumps for children (benita)
Benita,
My daughter saw her endo again on october 30th, mind you she is 6, will be 7 nov 28th and was diagnosed with diabetes at age 5 on nov 26th 2000. I asked about the pump or even lantus for her, and they upped her nph by 1 unit each morning. They threw out the lantus idea by saying they didnt think she was “stable” enough for it yet, and they threw out the idea of the pump by saying that it is recommended that children be at least 10 years old to be on the pump so they are more independantly in control of their diabetes, and can handle it better. Although I know of a 2 year old on it. Keep in mind though, it’s a needle in you all the time, and I dont know of a kid who would choose it if they had the choice. Stay strong. Take care!
Angela
August 12th, 2003 at 9:11 pm
thanks, Angela.
It’s sure good to know there are others out there like us.
Benita
August 13th, 2003 at 9:25 pm
Hi, Angela,
First, I disagree totally with your doctors’ suggestion that a child
should be over 10 before using a pump. A child can wear a
pump long before he or she is the one actually pushing the
buttons on it.
The idea that a diabetic needs to be “stable” before switching
from NPH to lantus is even more bizarre. That’s like saying,
“She’s not stable yet, so let’s keep her on the less stable form of
insulin.”
It is not a needle which is in the skin all the time when someone
wears a pump. It is a plastic canula, a thin tube. There are pros
and cons to wearing a pump, but I think that if you explained the
differences to most children, they would preder the pump. They
would rather adjusst their insulin around their lives than adjust
their lives to their insulin. They would rather not get an injection
several times a day.
Just my opinion.
Jerry
August 14th, 2003 at 9:30 am
Well, right now my son only has one injection a day in the morning, so the rest of the day we can forget about that, just have to do the testing. Plus he’s only on one kind, the cloudy kind. So I just have to worry about his highs and lows and counting his carbs. He’s in the honeymoon period.
Benita
hey would rather not get an injection
several times a day.