2 year old broken arm

[sophiajanexx]

Hello. My 2.5 year old (3 in July) broke her arm last sunday whilst playing at the farm. It was a complete shock and as parents, are riddled with guilt and heartache that we weren't vigilant enough while she was playing. We took her to A&E immediately where x-ray showed greenstick fracture of radius. Dr seemed to think it would heal nicely and fast and wasn't too worried (he said around 3 weeks should be enough). Since we got home it has been tough with her in a cast. She is miserable as her function is reduced and she is snapping at us at everything. We have given her regular painkillers but now we are on day 6 and she is so challenging to please. Me and my husband feel helpless and overwhelmed. Juggling work responsibilities, sending her to nursery (feel guilty for this, but we have no choice or any family help) and home tasks, I am exhausted. Has anyone been in a similar situation? How long did their little one take to heal. I feel like I am going to be counting down the days at this point, and figuring out how we will cope.

I think you need to shift your thinking, being ‘riddled with guilt and heartache’ over a normal childhood accident is odd.

Go gently on yourself OP. As already said, this is normal. Children heal quickly at this age and from what you said it sounds like the doctor is confident she’ll make a full recovery. You might have a grouchy few weeks ahead of you, but in a couple of months all this will be forgotten. And in twenty years you’ll probably have to remind DD she ever broke a bone at all!

It’s a minor fracture of her arm, that will heal well. It was an accident. They happen. You’ve blown it completely out of proportion.

Accidents happen - and children heal quickly and usually bounce back very quickly. They're also very adaptable. A friend's 3yo broke his leg falling off a slide and was pottering around on his cast fine straight away. Equally small children can't always fully understand things and can't always communicate what their problems are, so may feel uncomfortable or restricted and express that in being grumpy so-and-sos! I'd look at things like is she finding putting clothes on uncomfortable, would things like cardigans be better than jumpers, etc. Is sitting in a regular armchair awkward, would a beanbag or propping up with V-shaped pillows help.

Fractures are very common injuries in children and unless you were being actively neglectful you shouldn't blame yourselves. I've come across toddlers who have broken their leg literally tripping over their own feet. It happens. You'd have to literally wrap them in cotton wool and never let them do anything to fully remove the risks.

Our eldest was still crawling when he broke his arm on holiday.
We didn’t realise until it became apparent he was crawling using one arm.
Think it happened when my dh was swinging him around playing 🥴

He had the cast for just over a month ( about 6 wks ) then all was fine. We kept it as a keepsake and it’s so tiny….don now 24

It’s worth taking her in for a checkup, the cast may need to be redone or trimmed if she’s still in serious discomfort.

My 18mo broke his arm, I’d forgotten to shut the stair gate at the bottom and he crawled up and fell down from about half way up, I felt like hell. Think I had a thread on here. He’s now about to turn 3 and his arm looks so normal, you’d forget that it had happened - sometimes I mix up/can’t remember which arm it was and have to look back at pictures of him in the cast!

My son broke his femur when he was 2.
I felt so guilty. He spent 3.5 weeks in traction in hospital and then he was sent home, no cast etc and he didn't walk for a while but he has healed completely.
He needed regular pain relief and a muscle relaxant so his leg didn't go I to spasm when he was asleep for about a week.
The first few days were awful but he was soon on the mend and pain free. Their bones heal really well and really quickly at this age.
Sending love to you x I know how you feel but it'll all be fine

My 5 year old had a greenstick... she only had a sling support rather than cast but within 3 weeks she could comfortably take her arm out and within 4 weeks no longer needed a sling

It's hard especially when they sleep on it but keep up the pain killers and cuddles. They do heal quickly.

I also agree with a check up after 6 days I won’t expect her to have so much pain.

Yes. A couple of mine have had greensticks and by the time they were through the fracture clinic and in soft plaster they were unbothered by them. Definitely worth having her seen again

My son broke his arm when he was 3 months old ! How does a 3 month old break his arm you ask ?!? Well due to gestational diabetes I had my son at 36 weeks and 8lb 7 oz he had doubled his weight and was just over 18lb by 3 months and was beginning to roll over during tummy time but was getting his arm stuck underneath him and due to this and his “poppy arm syndrome” his soft bone above his elbow was bending without my knowledge and eventually snapped under his weight, he went for his first cast which was a straight cast and there was lots of nurses coming in and out cooing because they hadn’t ever seen such a young baby with such a tiny cast on their arm , a few days later we were waking through the park baby happily flinging his arms about as babies do and something went flying out the pram my mum ran over picked up and said it’s his cast 😳 so we had to go back up and have another one fitted but this time with his arm bent so it couldn’t come off again , but I get the mum guilt I felt so bad he was so young and I knew he had issues with his arms popping out of joint so was extra careful putting his clothes on so the guilt crushed me for while so I should have known not to let him lay on his arm too long to try and figure out how to do it himself but these things happen all we can do is do our best in the moment . When the swelling and pressure goes down the pain will subside a little for the little one 💜 lots of love to you all and hope little one recovers quickly 💐

Yes or maybe less guilt ridden faffing over her. It's a minor thing, it's not something to chew over to this extent.

Get it checked, it shouldn't be hurting that much now and maybe treat her more normally.

My child broke both arms at different times jumping off playground equipment and falling awkwardly. It healed really well, eill be a distant memory soon. It actually grows back together stronger apparently, so she will have super strong arms :)

Hi, unfortunately I have more experience with this than I would like. My little girl (she’s 3 at the start of August) has brittle bone disease and has had 3 fractures in the last year. After the first week I found that it seems to get better. Especially if they think it should be a 3 week period. Just keep her topped up with pain relief. They are very resilient so she will be okay. And don’t feel guilty! These things happen even with eyes on them constantly!

In all honesty it sounds like OP is assuming she’s in pain when in fact she’s not, having broken bones myself as a child and some of my kids, majority, especially round toddler age, isn’t in any pain typically by time cast is on or next day! I think they’re pondering to her out of unnecessary guilt as it was a simple childhood accident. Quite possibly first and only child and being OTT towards her and being miserable around her which is rubbing off on her. She’s bored and annoyed with the cast and sounds like she’s doing a lot of whinging. OP be better distracting her with something fun when she’s cranky

At 2.5 my son jumped off the sofa and broke his leg. Cast up to his thigh for 4 weeks.
The first week was the hardest lots of regular pain relief to keep him comfortable but he struggled to get comfy at nighttime. Then he was shuffling around and carrying on as normal in second week.

After that he was up and walking on the cast, when it was removed he limped for a little while but all was good after that.

Don’t be hard on yourself OP, the first week was the hardest for us and soon it became quite normal and my son carried on doing his usual things.
You will always be get through this no worse for wear, it’s just one of those things.

You’re 100% right. I saw the other comments about taking her to the hospital for check up, I don’t think it’s pain. Yesterday we had a check up anyway and she got her permanent cast put on. I can see by her demeanour that it’s frustration and feeling bored because she is not using the arm at all. Nonetheless difficult, because she is getting so upset about it and I can’t do much to help. But yes, first and only child and very loved and doted on - probably too much, so she takes it out on us which is normal. Will try act more relaxed and normal around her.

Bless you OP. It’s hard - I remember having a sob when 18m DS broke his arm and I think I snotty cried on DH and said “I grew that bloody arm, and now it’s broken 😭😭😭”

There’s a weird sort of extension of the body thing when it’s your kid. Look at the post today about the mum losing it because her 17yo got a nose piercing. So long as we realise it’s about us, not them, then we just have to sit with the trauma…

what’s the phrase? About having kids is letting your heart walk around outside your body forever? That, I guess. 💕

My eldest broke her arm aged three. It healed really quickly and after a few days she forgot about it really. She fell off a climbing frame. A few years later she was a year 6 at school, helping the reception children use the play equipment when she fell and broke the other arm!
Then a couple of years later she was at a roller disco and she fell and ruptured her knee. Had to be operated on.
Fixed that and then the following year she was kicked badly at ju jitsu and broke her ankle requiring pins and plates. Every limb has been damaged!
Dont feel guilty, these things happen x

We were all first time parents once ☺️ Don’t be stressing yourself, try to shake the guilt, you’ve honestly done nothing wrong, you’ll find it pretty hard to find a parent of at least one kid with no breaks and if you do they just haven’t happened yet 😂 Just keep her distracted if she’s focused on the cast and being upset about it. Instead of asking if she wants this or that or saying ah poor baby etc (which we all do lol) do something funny to direct her away from thinking about the cast, pick her up into your arms, do a little dance with her smile and laugh and cheer her up, show her something out the window, tickle her or whatever little things you know will make her happy and move her focus away from the cast and feeling miserable over it. Don’t be trying not to touch or move it or trying to make sure she’s careful with her arm, that’ll just put the focus back on that it’s an actual issue when it doesn’t really have to be, try encouraging her to use it as much as physically possible, it’s safe and secure and healing inside the protective cast anyway, maybe even make it fun by painting colours on her cast if she wants to do that. I don’t know if you’ve to go back up to get it removed but I was just told to take my sons off his wrist myself after 3 weeks. They won’t even care if it’s coloured in, when it’s toddlers or even older kids they be filthy in no time anyway x

My DD broke her leg at 2 and a half. I also felt really guilty that I hadn't been able to prevent it. She was playing and jumping and I told her to be careful. 2 seconds later - broken leg. ☹️

It was just a childhood accident. I'm sure it was the same for your child. You can't stop children being active. That would be worse than the broken bones.

I think DD needed regular painkillers for the first week and then things quickly improved. Hopefully if you're on day 6 you're nearly through the worst.

I can't see how a broken arm is limiting her too much. We got DD a couple of toys that she could play with whilst being still. DD started to rather enjoy the attention. She was walking on yer cast pretty quickly. If it's still really painful after a week it would be worth getting it checked.

Dd3 broke her collarbone and a couple of ribs when she was 2 and a half falling off my bed! I felt really guilty and it was a very difficult time because she kept 'forgetting' and then was in a lot of pain. I just gave her calpol. It was in the summer holidays so I did have my other 3 dc at home and the oldest were 16 and 17 so they were able to help. I just felt really sorry for her as she didn't really understand.

I fell as a teen and gave myself a greenstick fracture in the arm. It hurt quite a bit at first, but don't remember having any pain relief at all. I think you might be a bit too emotional about this, and could concentrate on relaxing. Your child will be poorly often and each time will need more of your attention than normal.

At 3yrs old, I had my youngest in a hip spica cast (full plaster cast from chest down, both legs in cast at a 45o angle to ankles)- planned operation . You do cope, you do feel guilty. Same child went on to break her elbow a year leter- she was watching tv and fell off the sofa! She was back in school the next day. Same child broke her wrist at the park at 7yrs old, back at school the following day. Same child
broke other elbow during pe in school when 11. You adjust, let them be lazier than usual and keep them busy. Kids have accidents, some more than others..They are resilient xx