11 yo DD has had multiple breaks - check bone density?

[PiaHall]

Hi all. During this year my 11yo DD has broken the little finger on both hands, the end metetarsal on one foot and yesterday hurt the other foot and now has suspected fracture of last 3 metetarsals.

Much of this relates to the size of her feet (6 same as me!), which have grown really quickly over the last year and she seems to trip over them and injure herself.

My sister and MiL have both said that they think she needs a bone density test because she seems to break/fracture bones frequently. She fractured her arma a couple of years ago as well.

Personally I think she is a bit dreamy and lumbering around with her big feet causes her to injure herself but I would hate for something serious to go undetected.

I have made her an appointment at the GP for next week as she has a persistant cough (asthmatic) so I could bring up the bone issue then.

What do you think? Is it likely to be a bone density problem? She has a good diet and takes regular exercise.

By all means, ask about it while at the GPs, but if you want the opinion of another mother who has had some experience of this, I would say there is unlikely to be a problem with your dd's bones.

My ds1 broke his arm 3 times in the space of about 18 months, and also broke his nose shortly afterwards. Each time, with his arm, it was a different bone: left radius totally snapped, left ulna, right humerus, and as far as I can understand, you are saying your dd broke different bones too.

Also, my ds's breaks seemed to occur after the most insignificant falls which worried me. I don't know if this is concerning you too?

Anyway, the upshot is, I mentioned this to the orthopaedic surgeon we saw after his third break, and he wasn't concerned at all. Apparently, a child with brittle bones has far more breaks than the number my son had, in much quicker succession. So I imagine the same would be true of your dd.

Looking back (all this was some years ago now) I think my ds just had a series of unfortunate accidents. They occurred between the ages of 7 and 9. Maybe your dd is experiencing the same thing. She is after all probably growing quite rapidly at the moment, and this could be affecting her.

But, all that said, by all means, mention it to your GP because my experience may well not be relevant to your dd!