T:Slim or Omnipod for 12/13 year old boy in 2025

Type 1 & LADA
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Hello all!

This is my first post here. I know this has probably been covered quite a few times before.

My son is 12, nearly 13, and was diagnosed at the beginning of August. We are using MDI and Dexcom G7.

He would love to have some more normalcy – where we live, kids walk to get pizza together after school (well, he might not be able to do pizza!) – and he’s really frustrated having to go to the school nurse every lunch and afterschool before musical rehearsal for shots. Or, if the nurse isn’t there, I have to come give them.

Which pump is best in 2025? He seems to think Omnipod – he’s a little clumsy and is worried the tubing of t:slim will catch.

Thanks for any support!

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Hi @CatBirdDog. Welcome to FUD!

A pump can definitely help. You can control your basal rates and take insulin with the push of a few buttons.

Which one?!?

If you ask an OmniPod user, they will tell you…OmniPod!

And as you might guess - if you ask a Tandem user, they will tell you Tandem!

We have a lot of users of each of those here on FUD. It’s very much a personal choice.

Depending on insurance, you can get a 30 day supply of OmniPod and try it out. And if he doesn’t like it, you are only out the cost of the 30 day supply. There is no long-term commitment.

With Tandem it’s a bit more tricky. I think they have a 30 day trial, but I am not sure. But if you get it and use is for a long enough time, then you have to stay with it for 4 years, I believe.

With Tandem, it’s a durable medical supply rather than a disposable pump, so you are committed to it once you have used it for a certain amount of time.

And again, I am not 100% sure, but I think they have a 30 day trial.

For initial steps, I suggest looking at both of them closely. Schedule meetings with reps from both companies to get a demo.

Keep in mind, they are sales people! They will try to sell you on using their product! So you need to be able to resist it, and just get the information and look at them both. Ask questions. Look at them both. But don’t be swayed by a sales pitch. Some of the reps can be ridiculous.

When you have met with reps from both pump companies, talk to the people here who use the pumps.

(You can do that before you meet with the reps too, but definitely ask around here after you have seen the pumps up close!)

Nobody here is selling pumps. So the opinions you get here are actual pump users with diabetes. You will get honest opinions here.

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Well, Eric got it in one, the companies favor their own product and we users do as well. Even though I use a T:Slim I’m going to suggest OmniPod. If I’m correct if they don’t work out it is fairly easy to change to Tandem, less so the other way.
The Tandem Mobi is a patch pump that’s reusable. It can be used with a long or very short tube. With the long attached to belt, the short adhered to skin like pods.

I chose the T:Slim over pods because I thought I would clumsily scrape them off on doorways🤪
After school pizza , there’s thi thing called the “pizza effect”. A delayed rise that maybe the high fat content. I use an extended bolus for pizza of 4 hours.

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I would suggest researching the difference between Omnipod 5s algorithm and Tandems to see which is a better fit.

I don’t know much about Tandems so I’ll tell ya a bit about OP5s.

On Omnipod 5 you really only truly control carb boluses and correction boluses(if you choose to use them). Oh and setting activity mode. Unless you go into manual mode. I’ve found the basal extremely safe. Only issue would be not giving me a high enough basal if I’ve eaten a high fat or late night meal.

This is something I love about it. I’m fine going into manual if needed but I do not want to set my basal rates. I like that OP5 takes that off my mind - well most of the time.

I think Omnipod 5s unadjustable algorithm would bug a lot of advanced insulin pump users.

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One add.to @Eric ‘s excellent summary. Tandem does have the Mobi if you have an Apple phone, and I hear through the grapevine that the Mobi pump will work with Android in early Q1 of 2026. Also Tandem is starting to go through pharmacy just like Omnipod, depending on your insurance.

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@CatBirdDog The folks before me here have covered the answers pretty well. Do your own research for pros and cons you find worthy, try them out and see what works best for you (him). It takes time and effort, but well worth it! At the risk of overwhelming you, I’ll throw in another thought of trying out DIY AID programs that take CGM data and tell the pumps what to do. They can be individual or remotely operated. The most well known are AAPS (Android phone), Loop and Trio (iPhone operated). You may also want to checkout Nightscout and LoopFollow for providing you monitoring capability and remote control. Just do a Google or Facebook search of the names to find the sites so you can read about them. It may be a bit daunting at first, with thoughts that you might need to be a be programmer, you don’t need to be, just capable of following instructions with plenty of help available online or via Zoom/teleconference if your willing to ask questions!

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Good luck on this new part of the journey! :four_leaf_clover:

One of my very favorite things about pumping is the extended bolus! :partying_face: Pizza is still hard, but not as impossible when you can continuously deliver insulin over a long period of time!

If you have an endocrinologist and/or certified diabetes educator, they can be a good resource too! In my endo’s office, the CDEs regularly help patients learn to use their new pumps. I’m sure they can go over pros and cons with you, based on other patients’ feedback!

I use the Tandem t:slimX2. I like it overall! I’m on my third Tandem pump. I like that you can update the pump’s software without having to get a new pump altogether (until your warranty expires). However, it’s slower to come out with cutting-edge features than DIY AID programs, simply because it’s a commercial AID program that needs FDA approval.

The tubing isn’t an issue for me, even though I am certified clumsy. 9/10 times it’s my infusion site itself that catches on something (a doorframe like CarlosLuis, my waistband, a desk… just last week…). :joy: I make sure to tuck as much tubing into my clothing as possible regardless!

You might see if you can get an insurance cost comparison of pumps and pump supplies for different brands too. Here’s a breakdown of the costs to buy my most recent pump: Pump options? - #7 by RachelMaraii Once the Tandem warranty expires you can keep the pump – but you won’t have access to customer service and updates anymore.

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Hello @CatBirdDog ! I’m also father of a young son with T1D…diagnosed at 2 years old, he’s now 11 years old and we do G6 with Omnipod Dash. We can’t speak much to any of the other systems because we moved directly from MDI into Omnipod Dash (first Eros pods, then Dash pods) and never looked back….we also use the “Omniloop” system (Facebook group is “Looped”) which has been a lifesaver for us. Liam (my son’s name - @Liam-M) usually has between a 5.7 and a 6.1 A1C with 1% low/severe lows.

We didn’t consider any insulin delivery system that had tubes because we just didn’t want to risk them getting hung up…Omnipod is super easy, fast and Liam has maybe ripped off 5 in the nearly 10 years he’s had T1D.

Happy to help answer any questions you may have regarding Omnipod, Looped or anything if you PM me or ask here!

Nice to have you!

ClaudandDaye

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I’ll chime in with a recommendation for Omnipod. At his age it will not be a big deal to put on a new pod if/when a pod gets knocked off. I can’t speak to Tandem (I’ve only ever used Omnipods) but I speculate that the tubing would be a hassle for a 13 year old. Why not avoid the hassle?

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Thank you all so much for your input! We have also been reaching out to people we know in our personal network and asking what has worked for them. I hadn’t thought of talking to the sales reps.

I truly appreciate all of your insights and the time you have taken to answer my questions.

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As a clumsy adult, I’ve found I catch and pull off my pods more often than I used to catch Medtronic tubes and pull off the infusion set. Both can definitely catch.

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I used tubed pumps on and off for 36 years. I had issues with them, or possibly it was vice versa. Then I switched to Omnipod. Now I am evangelistic about the Omnipod, but you don’t have four hours to listen to me. For the record, though, I caught tubes on an awful lot of doorknobs and chair arms and my own limbs in the past, whereas I have knocked off only two or three pods in eight years. Then again, I’m no longer 12 years old.

One thing: If you have a cat, cats have been known to chew through pump tubes while their owners sleep. No cat is interested in chewing on a pod.

There’s no need to give up pizza. Use the extended bolus. Find the equation that works. It may change over time, and with the type of pizza. For me, if eating more than two medium slices, it started out 50% bolus up front, 50% delivered over 5 hours. For a while it was 40/60 and later 70/30. Nowadays it’s the whole bolus over 5 hours. For one or two slices, I just bolus normally, no extended.

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I would like to add that I have cats and yes they are perfectly capable of chewing through a tube. When I first began using a pump I bought some mildly elastic invisible belts that I wore under a shirt. This way the pump and tubing are completely covered by clothing. My go to infusion sites are the tops and sides of the outer thighs.

As to what @Beacher wrote, I believe my furry friends would likely think chewing on a pod on my outer arm would be just the thing to do. “Why does our man have this thing stuck to him?” So far they have ignored or don’t know about the Dexcom on the back of my arm.

Cats, they get under your skin in more ways than one. :laughing:

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