We have decided on an Animas Ping pump for my just-turned 4yo son. Does anyone have recommendations regarding the Contact Detach, Inset, or Inset 30? Which is the least painful on insertion? Which is the most comfortable for the duration? Are plastic cannulas all that likely to get kinked? Are straight cannulas all that likely to get pulled out? Which would be the easiest insertion to do with a small child? Any other considerations I'm missing? Thank you! This forum is always a wealth of information!
Our daughter uses Inset and in the 10 months we've been pumping we've had one kinked cannula and one site pull out, so I don't think it's a huge issue. We tried the Inset 30's because Animas included one to try, but Katie didn't like it so we've stuck with Inset. I find them very easy to insert and she seems happy with them.
Thank you for your feedback! So your daughter has never used the steel cannula? That's the one our CDE is recommending, but I am concerned about comfort.
We use the inset 30 and are happy enough with them but we haven't tried anything else yet. I have a couple boxes of the steel cannula ones that i keep meaning to try on my husband for practice but haven't gotten around to yet. It took awhile for my daughter to be ok with the insertion of them so i wonder if the contact detach would be better in that regard.
DS is 9, very lean, and has been pumping about 2.5 months (Animas Vibe). In that time we've mostly used 6mm Contact-Detach. If Emla is used for an hour beforehand, insertion is painless. With the steel cannula there's no worry about any bending, so from a "reliability" perspective, it's probably one of the better choices. But nothing is perfect. When we use the Contact Detach on the tummy or lower back or hip area, it tends to hurt for the duration the set is in, and insulin delivery is painful. We're probably hitting muscle in those areas. If we move the Contact Detach to the upper bum, all pain is gone. But you'll need to tape over the set to keep it from pulling out when pants are pulled up/down. We also tried Insets. Worked OK, but that auto-inserter is awfully strong, and despite Emla, hurt on the way in. But once it was in, it was very comfortable (even on lower back). We also tried Inset 30. Same insertion issues. So we tried Comfort Shorts (like Inset 30, but manual insertion). That was better than the auto-inserter Inset 30, but still painful, and he was a bit freaked out that he could see the cannula going under his skin. End of the day, he's chosen the Contact Detach as his top choice. I'm quite OK with it too. One thing I find a bit strange with all infusion sets though: why do they make them with *white* adhesive parts? They stick out like a sore thumb. Why not make them with band-aid colored adhesive parts?
Thank you. This comparison is very helpful. Does your son not run out of real estate too quickly with the Contact Detach sets only being able to be used on the upper buttocks? My son is on the small side, but has a little baby fat layer still, so maybe he wouldn't find it uncomfortable on the tummy.
What did she not like about the Inset 30 insertion? Was it more that it was painful or that the inserter unnerved her? Does she find the Inset 30's comfortable once they are in?
No, we haven't though I have a couple here that our CDE gave us. Honestly I found our CDE really heavy on the worst case scenarios, and pushed steel cannulas too but my personal approach was that we would start with the Inset (which seemed the simplest to me and which my daughter preferred based on her youtube viewing) and then if we had problems we could explore other options.
My 4 year old has been on the pump since she turned 3. We use the Ping with the 6mm contact detach and have little to no issues. We also use the bum, but we switch it every 2-3 days, so it works great. Insertion is almost painless, sometimes totally painless. I actually thinks the removal causes her more pain that insertion, but she deals with it pretty well!
I think its the inserter itself, which she calls the "clicky thing." Once or twice she's complained about the insertion being painful, but she says it only hurt for a minute. It must be comfortable once it is in- she has never complained about it bothering her.
My daughter is 5 and we use the contact detach on her bottom. We tried a few different ones, but like the reliability of the steel and she likes that it does not have an inserted. I think the noise made it seem worse to her, plus the steel was similar to injections in her mind so there was less "fear of the unknown" I guess?
I don't know if they are available in the US but i think so. There are infusion sets from Sooil (DANA) with 4,5mm steel cannula. DANA Superline ST (not detachable) and DANA Easy-Release (detachable). They are working well with DANA, Animas and Accu Chek Spirit pumps. They do not work with Medtronic Paradigm pumps with the ADR (Orbit) reservoir (luer adapter). Regards Joa
I am late to this conversation, but I wanted to add our experience. My daughter has been on the ping since she began pumping. At the endo, we tried many types of sets on us as well as her. She absolutely hated the steel (Push Pin type) that the endo recommended was better for kids due to the easy insertion. After trying it myself, I could see why she hated it. With the metal, you felt it with every move. There was no give in it at all. After 15 minutes, I could still feel it every breath I took. We tried the inset 30's and it was better after a few seconds. Does it hurt when it goes in? Absolutely! But it goes away after a few minutes at the most. Perhaps you endo can let you and your child try out different kinds?
Contact detach is completely comfortable. I've tried all 3 that you're considering. I did like the regular inset the best (Ok, maybeeee because it was pink lol) but my daughter had issues with the cannula clogging and kinking. She's been using contact detach for awhile now with no issues related to the site. ETA: I personally didn't think any hurt while going in except for comforts which I definitely don't recommend.
We have been using contact detach since we started on my lean 8 year old. We can only use them on her butt though or they hurt her. In the front, she can constantly feel it. She plays soccer and would hold her site as she was running. The insertion is easy enough. She does it herself. So far, switching from side to side every two days has not presented an issue. We would like to have more real estate to work with so we talked with our endo and CDE at our appointment last week and got some insets and inset 30's. We plan on trying them this week. The insertion process seems way worse to me than just the littel poke with the contact detach. If I were a kid, it would probably scare me to death. Our endo let us take the samples, but did not seem all that excited about us using anything other than contact detach. I think he likes the reliability in kids. He spent some time making suggestions where to try the contact detach that ought to be comfortable.
