Children can't break their noses, can they?

[LynetteScavo]

DS (6) had a tumble at school the other day, and bumped his nose really hard. I had to collect him form school. Lots of blood, lots of swelling, and now lots of bruising.

People have asked me if it's broken. I presume not - we didnt' go to A&E as I didn't think there was anything they could do.

So can a child break their nose?

hmm i don't ssee why not!

Please tell me they only have cartilage and no bone.

Will he end up looking like an aged boxer when the swelling's gone?

yes they can dd1 broke hers bout 3 months ago if it looks straight don't worry if not ask gp for referral to hospital to get double checked

Of course they can break their nose!
I would take him to GP in the morning.

I think they can break their nose, but there might not be a lot they can do to fix it.
It'd be worth checking it out though.

At some point the cartilage turns to bone, think I broke mine aged 7 or 8. Also cartilage damage still needs to be assessed.

yep..ds2 broke his about a year ago when ds1 dropped him on his face...poor sod looked like he'd done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. It looked completely flat and puffy but when the swelling had gone down and the black eyes you couldn't really tell. It took ages to recover though

My ds broke his when he was 7. I probably wouldn't have known, but it was noticed as part of the assessment of all the other broken bits of him! The hopital said to keep an eye on hjt but it was very unlikely not to heal perfectly on its own. And it did.

There's not much you can do about a broken nose anyway.

Now I feel like a crappy mum. Should I take him to the GP? How can they tell if it's broken?

School kept him in during ply and lunch today, so they were obviously concerned about him.

If he's alright in himself, breathing ok and everything still looks in place then they are unlikely to do anything apart from tell you to treat soreness and swollen bits with an ice-pack.

DD (3) looked like she was turning into unicorn with the swelling at the bridge of her nose and bruising moved slowly down so she ended up with two black eyes. We weren't going to take her to A&E except she also had a bruised line round her eye-socket which could have indicated a break. Hospital said if she were older she would probably have broken her nose such was the force of impact but it was just soft tissue swelling and the socket badly bruised.

take him and get it checked but don't beat yourself up about it when dd broke hers my friend who is a&e nurse told me it was fine as did hospital it only when I took her back cos she had double vision it was diagnosed they can't do anything till swelling goes anyway

But if school were really concerned they would have called an ambulance or called you. I take back what I said earlier about getting him checked out, as long as he's ok in himself & nose still straight/in once place, since who wants to sit in A&E at this time of night to be told it's bruising and even if it is broken what will they do?

The school did call me straight away! He was haveing a hug from a TA when i got there, an two others were hovering.

DS says he's fine, DH thinks he's fine. It's still quite swollen, so I've just sent him to school. (He was quite happy to do his swimming lesson yesterday, although he says it feels horrid)

Is this a serious question?
Why on Earth would you think that children can't break their noses?
No, you simply can't be serious, it would be just too ... stupid.

Why do you think Stephen Fry has such lopsided nose? Fell down the steps and broke it around the same age.

My little brother fell down the stairs when he was little probably about 2 or 3.

The doc told my mum that his nose hadn't broken as it was still soft cartlidge.

I think the OP is wondering at what age does it harden, not simply being "stupid"

Well, Rollmops, I once spent rather a long time with my sister, and 3 year old niece in A&E, only to be told children can't break their noses, as the cartilage is too soft to break.

Yes, my nice was much younger, maybe I should have asked at what age can a child break thier nose. I do realise my 11 year old could. I'm unsure about my 6yo.