Lifting 18 month old up by hands no support

[AyaIsh]

Hi
My Mother in Law has voiced her concern about us lifting our very strong 18-month old boy up by the hands and swinging him for a 'jump'. She says this is not acceptable and we should support his arms. Any comments whether this is a valid point.

AyaIsh

My friends little girl got a dislocated shoulder whilst being swung like this, she was about 2 iirc.

Having said that, I've certainly swung mine about like that on occasion, and DP does it quite a bit with me hopping and fretting in the background.

I think I read somewhere that you shouldn't do that to a child under 2 yrs.

Sorry but agree with MIL. Very young children can get something called a pulled elbow where a section of the joint becomes dislocated. Typically it is swinging by the hands! The elbow is painful, the child doesnt use use and the history is usually the swinging bit! I used to work in A&E and we saw loads of pulled elbows in summer. Its easily 'clicked' back into place, but the child needs an XRay and can get upset. So, def no to swinging by hands.

my sis lifted ds1 up like this once, not to swing him she just lifted him up and we heard a huge crack and he was screeching. i thought something was broken but a visit to my mum ( a nurse) confirmed he was fine. i was very angry with sis though, she had been warned lots not to do it.

i agree with the MIL for once!

my uncle did this to my cousin and it dislocated her shoulder.

not recommended

Yep, Tom had a pulled elbow as he fell over whilst walking with PIL and FIL grabbed his wrist to break his fall. Several x-rays later, he hadn't broke it, just wouldn't move it and he wasn't talking at the time either. They did say not to lift them by the hands. Tom had to have his arm in a sling for 2 weeks, then was back at the hospital for his tonsils out, bless.