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11-month-old with broken arm, no clear cause: anyone had similar?

4 replies

Asja · 17/03/2026 19:26

I’m absolutely mortified and devastated to even be writing this - my little girl has a broken arm and currently in a cast she’s only 11 months old.

The worst thing is I’ve no idea what caused this and it’s causing me so much stress, night beforehand she was crawling around happy no problems at all went to bed as normal in her sleeping bag in her cot, she has been a bit upset with teething recently and woke up around 1am but settled and went back to sleep after giving her dummy. Then at 2am she was up again crying this time she didn’t settle and so I took her through into my bed. She was up a lot in the night crying in her sleep in pain but then would settle again. I feel so guilty as I put it down to teething (she’s had similar nights where it really bothers her). Anyway next morning when I’m getting her changed I noticed she was screaming when I was moving her arm to get her dressed, I kept an eye in the morning she wasn’t using that arm or putting any weight on it and wouldn’t hold anything in that arm. I gently felt down her arm and it seemed it was her forearm that was the sore area. I decided to take her to a&e to get checked out as I was worried and wanted her checked out.

we went through and the nurse asked the usual questions if she’d hurt herself / if I’d been swinging her around when playing etc etc none of this had happened and I really was at my wits end trying to even think of any tumbles she’d had when crawling but she hadn’t had any even the past week - she is a very careful little girl and I’ve been with her all week she hasn’t been anywhere else or in anyone else’s care. The nurse said it wasn’t anything broken as there was no swelling, no marks, no bruising she thought it might be her elbow even though I’d showed her the area that seemed sore.

she didn’t tell me what she was doing then started twisting and squeezing her arm it looked absolutely awful I had to look away; she done this TWICE! My daughter was absolutely screaming. Then said hmm it’s not that, when I’ve looked it up she’s done something called a nursemaids elbow. She then sent her for a xray and it came back she had a broken arm!!! I was absolutely heartbroken of course I also got questions as to ‘did I get angry with her’ as I didn’t have any reason as to why this may have happened I was so emotional over it. My mum was with me throughout this and she wondered if she could have got her arm caught in the night between cot rails however a consultant very abruptly said a baby wouldn’t keep twisting her arm to make it break although I do wonder if she could have as how are babies to know in the dark how to release their arm if it was stuck?

im not sure I’m so overwhelmed and heartbroken for my little girl thankfully she really doesn’t seem fazed about the plaster etc and still happy and smiley my poor baby :(

my question is has anyone had similar ? Especially with cot rails? I also wonder was her arm sore from something and the nurse twisting and squeezing made it even worse / break ? I’m not blaming anyone but it just seems so strange she had no swelling or bruising and I really am at a loss as to what’s happened. I asked if they could tell if this was a recent break they said yes it was so likely something that happened that night in her cot. :((

OP posts:
QuantumPanic · 17/03/2026 21:59

Sorry about your baby. Well done on trusting your instincts and getting her seen to.

I would guess cot rails. I have seen my baby trap her arm between the rails and the wall. She yelled for me to get her out, but if she was half asleep then she might have yanked her arm and done some damage.

I think it's surprisingly easy for a baby to break an arm. I've read several Reddit posts where just rolling a baby over has broken an arm!

https://www.reddit.com/r/daddit/comments/1do12zz/baby_broke_his_arm_and_now_we_are_on_a_list/

Newlysinglemumma · 17/03/2026 22:04

Can’t say about the broken bone but the twisting and squeezing is normal if they suspect pulled elbow. Both my sons has had pulled elbow and it is horrible they scream and cry and resist any movement but as soon as they click it into place the pain is gone and it’s very common my youngest wasn’t even 1 when it happened the first time for him now he’s 5 and it happens a lot and he n can fix it himself.

TurtleGroove · 17/03/2026 22:12

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annaspanner18 · 17/03/2026 22:36

My son broke his leg on his first birthday. He’s a twin and they were both at that crawling/pulling up against furniture age

Similarly I had no idea what happened just that he was inconsolable. I ended up taking his baby grow off and his leg was warm and red so we took him to A&E. They called it a greenstick fracture, I think he
must have just fallen awkwardly. I felt awful because I genuinely had no idea what he’d done or how he’d got hurt so of course you feel responsible. Please don’t beat yourself up x

I will say he has since broken his arm when he
was about 7 - the end parts near the wrist are where the growth happens and bone is more
like cartilage in some growth phases, and prone to buckle with impact (is how the doctor explained it to me). And yes, again I felt awful (he fell off a trampoline at a family party but I still felt responsible!)

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