It’s an A&E one…

[LawyeredUp]

I genuinely never thought I’d start one of these threads, but here I am!

I don’t think it needs a trip to A&E, but could do with the reassurance.

DS is 2 (27 months). He was picked up from nursery by his nanny and got the bus home. Unfortunately the bus was packed so when getting off, she went forwards with the pushchair rather than backwards. And the pushchair fell off the bus with DS in it.

He cried for a couple of hours and couldn’t put any weight on his legs. Once I got home, he calmed down with me after around half an hour, but was still upset at times. He started to cheer up a bit, and I gave him some calpol, after which he was back to himself.

Except he can’t put weight on his legs. He can move them and as we were playing whilst he was lying down, he was happily and easily kicking them around (calpol would have kicked in). I’ve bent them both in different angles and there’s no issue, but he’s not standing. I think his legs are simply sore, as surely it would be obvious if it was a break right?

No obvious head injury (told there were no marks on him right after) and once he calmed down and the calpol kicked in, he had food. He’s still up now (I’ve wanted to keep an eye on him) and for all intents and purposes, he’s himself, apart from not being able to stand properly. It’s a big pushchair and he was buckled in, but I think the shock together with hurting his legs was hugely distressing for him and also he needed his mum, hence why he was upset for so long.

I don’t think it needs A&E, as I’m not too worried about his legs. Maybe see how he is in the morning?

I'm gobsmacked you haven't at least taken him to a minor injury clinic. Shocking 😔

I’m afraid IMO you’ve not only been remiss with the A&E issue but you don’t seem hugely concerned / interested as to EXACTLY what went on with the nanny / accident.

In your position I’d be immediately asking for a full & complete account of exactly what happened / why / what she saw / how DC fell. Did she not think to take to A&E? When did she give calpol, or if not why not? Etc etc….I’d ask her to go away & write this all down for you; so that you can come back to it together after all the immediate hospital concerns are seen to.

Once home from A&E and with more headspace you can then ascertain if there were errors made and I’d you feel safe keeping her on, or need to sack her and/or report to whatever body regulates nannies.

Just to add: I’m the LEAST confrontational person ever, very forgiving etc, but I’d be ALL OVER THIS with a tooth comb if it my child had been hurt. With respect OP, your approach seems a bit vague and lax.

Jesus, get him to a&e if he can’t stand

Oh, and I think a safeguarding is warranted in this case. I’m v relaxed with stuff like this & have been known to overlook a broken finger until the day later (oops) but if my toddler had an accident in traffic & couldn’t WEIGHT BEAR I’d be ringing a bloody ambulance FFS! 😤

do you "really hope" that because you sound almost salaciously thrilled that something distressing, painful and incredibly unlikely might have happened

@MuckyPlucky totally agree. It's nigh on neglect to let a child, after a fall like that, cry for hours and not be able to weight bear rather than take a quick trip to A&E. The poor lad could've fallen face first from a height of, what, 2-3 feet, with a heavy buggy on top of him? Just because he didn't have any bumps / bruises on the outside of his head / body does not mean that he didn't have any internal injuries. I know the NHS is overstretched (and I work in the NHS!) but, at times like this, this is exactly what A&E is for - ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES.

That would have been an immediate A&E trip. For anyone else reading this, delaying seeking help from A&E post a big accident is what gets a bonus SS referral.
Being able to manually move a limb doesn’t exclude a fracture, unfortunately or X-rays would never have been invented if all fractures broke through the skin and made a funny leg angle!

Omfg like seriously your child couldn't stand and you decided it wasn't worth an a&e visit as you would rather sleep???
First things first I wouldn't let the nanny have my child again and second it could be anything and several of them need to be treated ASAP!

Bleed on the brain, concussion, spinal fracture, pelvic fracture, he's only little and in some distress, even if he's seriously hurt he is not going to be able to tell you what is wrong. I hope for your sake it's nothing serious.

For the love of god, someone tell me this is not standard behaviour?!?!?!? The nanny should have immediately taken this child to the hospital and the mother, after seeing that the child can’t bear weight on his legs, decides to sleep on it too? WHAT? I’m lost for words, I really hope people don’t think this is normal or ok.

My friend is a hospital consultant and her daughter fell off a swing. No swelling and my friend was pretty sure she was fine but she was still complaining it hurt about 6 days later. She eventually took her to A and E and it was broke. Because of circumstances she had to keep her daughter with her at work for a hour or so and was thoroughly embarrassed by her telling anyone who would listen "Mummy said my arm wasn't broken but it was!"
I don't think anyone said anything about safeguarding!

My daughter broke her leg when she was 18 months old. She could move her leg, let me touch it but couldn't bear weight on it. In A & E at first they didn't believe me as she was sat on my lap happy and smiling as soon as they x rayed they took me seriously!! She was only in plaster 3 weeks as their bones mend so fast at that age. Hope your LO is ok x

I'm dyspraxic so I have a lifelong history of injuring myself in ridiculous ways. My mum's constant refrain was "if you can move it, it's not broken" and I took that as gospel until I was about 26 and I walked around on a fractured ankle for a MONTH. I could move my foot and (just about) walk so I assumed it would get better by itself.

It did not. In fact, it has never been the same and I have re-injured it so many times I actually bought my own moon boot from a physio.

I'm not judging you for delaying an A&E visit but I really hope you're having him checked today.

I guess it depends on the circumstances. If she was just complaining of it hurting her and was able to go about her every day activities then understandably it’s much easier to mistake a broken arm for a hurting one. I’m pretty sure if it was an obvious break then with your friend being a consultant, she would have had the sense to take her daughter to a&e straight away. Broken bones aren’t always that obvious.

However op has said that her DS was crying for 2 hours and still cannot put any weight on his legs. Surely this would be immediately be a cause for concern. I would not hesitate to take my toddler to a&e if this happened.

How is your little one doing today?

My son is currently sitting next to me in a full leg cast from what seemed a very innocuous fall, he has a spiral fracture caused by an awkward landing out of a cartwheel. We went directly to A&E when it happened and he was xrayed, given strong pain relief and into the cast within an hour no messing about. He's not allowed to weight bear on it at all for at least 6 weeks. I really hope you've taken this child to A&E.

You must go to A/E now.
There is no grey area here.
An absolute necessity.
I hope your DC is not seriously injured.

I understand that it can be hard to assess whether or not to attend in some cases- the nurse you are talking about sounds incredibly unprofessional. However, screaming for hours and being unable to weightbear absolutely indicates a&e attendance. Without any shadow of a doubt.

@LawyeredUp any update?

I understand the reluctance to go to A&E, you could be there for 10+ hours and if you don't live close or drive etc it can be a pain. But seriously if a child cannot walk after an accident I'd be going straight to A&E. Bare minimum calling 111 or GP for urgent for advice.

Do what now? I’ve genuinely no idea what you’re on about, nor why my message was deleted. I was saying I genuinely hope the the OP & child are at A&E and find there’s nothing wrong. Or the other alternative is, if there’s something wrong with the poor DC and they should’ve been taken earlier then the parents will be being spoken to (rightly so) by the relevant authorities. In line with safeguarding measures which are there to protect all young children, not just to sift the “typical” neglectful parents from those who appear unlikely candidates.

When young children are involved, if adults have made errors or bad judgements there should be some checks and balances in place.

No idea why my comment was deleted 🤷🏼‍♀️. It’s a weird place these days, MN.

Also @Handsnotwands where the actual heck did I sound ‘salaciously thriller’ something bad might have happened to OP’s little one?! That’s truly an insane projection on your part.

I’m a senior health professional, and a mum of two young ones. Why on earth would I want that child to have come to harm?! My strong emotion in my removed post was aimed at the lackadaisical parent’s weak decision-making, delay, and lack of grasping of the severity of the scenario including an apparently light-touch grasp of how it actually happened.

It’s a shame you mistook my concern and strong feelings about this as being ‘salacious’. Very odd.

A Health Visitor is the wrong person to advise on this. You need someone with experience dealing with injuries - and those people work in A&E. I’m a nurse but I wouldn’t try to assess an injury like this because I work in a completely different area so am not qualified to do so.

I appreciate I may be lucky but I’ve never been made to feel silly by a healthcare professional when it came to my son. For me that’s a different story, but not my son. I can’t see any healthcare professional making a parent feel stupid over a toddler whose had an accident and can’t bear weight on his legs.

@Kingsparkle Agreed. I once ended up in out of hours with my son (then a baby a few months old) because he had had a temperature and seemed overly drowsy. Phoned 111 because I was worried and they sent me in. By the time I got there he had perked right up and I felt a bit embarrassed walking into the consulting room with a happy, smiling baby! The doctor was lovely though. Said he’d far rather see babies in that situation than have a parent wait too long and end up with a critically ill child. Always trust your instincts and err on the side of caution with kids. Ultimately, does it really matter if you end up feeling a bit daft?!