Micro-Dosing Constraints
A toddler may have a Total Daily Dose (TDD) of only 5 units. A typical commercial AID struggles at this scale because standard U-100 insulin is too concentrated.
| Pump | Minimum Basal | Suitability for Toddlers |
|---|---|---|
| Tandem t:slim X2 | 0.001 U/hr | High. Excellent micro-motor precision. |
| Omnipod 5 | 0.05 U/hr | Low. Minimum dose is often too high for infants. |
| Dana-i (DIY) | 0.01 U/hr | High. Used heavily in open source. |
Insulin Dilution (U-10 or U-50)
Because hardware has mechanical limits, clinicians sometimes instruct parents to dilute insulin with a sterile diluent. If you dilute U-100 down to U-10, the pump thinks it is delivering 1.0 unit, but physiologically it is only 0.1 units. This drastically improves the resolution of the motor, but requires recalculating every parameter using our calculators.
Algorithm Tuning for Growth Hormones
Children experience massive, unpredictable insulin resistance spikes due to Growth Hormone release, particularly overnight. Systems like CamAPS FX were designed specifically for this, adapting aggressively to diurnal variations that rigid PID controllers (like Control-IQ) fail to catch.
FAQ
- How do I handle remote monitoring?
- Dexcom Follow is standard, but many parents build a Nightscout server to pull data to smartwatches and school nurses' desktops simultaneously.
- Which infusion sets are best?
- 30-degree angled sets or 6mm steel cannulas, as small children have very little subcutaneous fat, leading to frequent kinked cannulas.