Has Your Child Ever Broken a Bone?

That happened to me as a kid - someone tripped me while we were playing basketball at recess, I landed wrong, and snapped both bones in my right arm. I was in a cast for 8 weeks. It was a bummer. But nowadays, they have those rubber sleeves that can go right over the cast, so you can still bathe/shower, maybe even sit on a floatie in the pool on a hot day, etc. Just try to put her in sleeveless tops if you can, so you don't have to wrestle her shirts over her cast too much.

A girl at my daughter's ballet studio broke her arm recently and is in a cast all the way from her wrist to above her elbow. She is still dancing, even with that big cast on her arm! Kids find a way to manage, they really do. :)

my older boy broke the same wrist TWICE, once on a trampoline and once in a go-kart accident. we had ourselves a big time imagining what the ER staff were thinking about us........
but he wasn't 2. that would be a big challenge!
i'll bet in a week you've got it down, though. sponge baths, extra time for dressing, finger foods that can be dealt with the non-dominant hand and so forth. before you know it this grrrrrrr time will be relegated to 'charming family tales.' keep your sense of humor handy!
:) khairete
S.

I have 5 kiddos. 4 of whom have never broken anything. Then I have my now 9 year old. She needs a bubble. Lol she is so accident prone and fearless! She she's a challenge and she just has to try. She has broken her arm in 2 places by her elbow, broke ribs had her leg by her knee fractured, her ankle in 2 places and just recently her collar bone. She is generally a danger to herself! She is very tiny. At 9 she weighs in at 40 pounds. My best advice for you is find an orthopedic you like. I always went to children's hospital!

Casting is awful. They do make a waterproof bag noe that you can purchase pretty inexpensively. I suggest doing this. The orthopedic told me when she got really itchy in the cast to put my hair dryer on cool and blow down her cast to relieve the itch. Good luck with everything!

My dancer daughter (at the competitive level) broke her foot last fall. Oh it was a fun four months waiting for that sucker to heal!

She had to keep off of it mostly, but had a walking boot as well. She was allowed to use the wheelchair at school, and we gave her things to do at home that didn't require her to be up and around.

Fortunately she was never casted, but she went through four different kinds of boots/wraps/wedges before we found what worked best to heal her foot. Keeping her off of it?? Ha! It worked best when she overdid it and wanted to sit. As active as she is, she never sits down, so it was hard for her...but like any other kid, she had to test the limits.

I say plan your lives the way you do. You'll learn to adapt and so will your 2 year old.

Yep.
My son cracked a knuckle a few years ago, on his left hand though (not his writing hand). It only took a few weeks before the wrap/brace was removed and then 3 more weeks before complete doctor's clearance.

My advice would be just to do what works. Don't fret and stress and worry... you'll figure out what you need to and life goes on. And I second buying one of those arm bags for bathing. Walmart has them and they are like $10-15 for two I think(?). But... not sure if they come in her size!
My son was a teen when he broke his knuckle, so that made it easier for ME. But, 2 year olds are so adaptable that you probably are stressing unnecessarily. The time goes by faster than you think it will.

Good luck.
(and watch those bounce houses, they really can be quite dangerous.)

My daughter broke her humerus last summer, right after she turned 3 by (get this...) rolling off my bed in her sleep. :( She also broke her clavicle during birth, but luckily all we had to do for that was pin her arm under her shirt and wait a few weeks before starting tummy time. (Can't really cast a newborn!)

The hardest part is bathing. I found that the easiest thing to do was to cut the toe off a large sock, and roll it into a doughnut. I would roll it over the cast, so that it sat over the edge of it (to absorb any moisture that seeped in) then I would put a bag over the whole thing, and use a hair tie to hold it in place. Produce/meat bags from the grocery store work great. :) I also used a few hair ties along the cast to keep it closer, so it wasn't getting in he way too much. Instead of giving her a bath, I used our detachable shower head and tried to avoid the area as much as possible. I might put a little water in the tub, but only a few inches. If there was more than that, she would want to play.

we didn't really have to do anything different activity wise. The cast provides a lot of protection, and she will forget she even has it on before too long. :) I was a nervous wreck about letting her run or play on toys at the park... But she was perfectly fine. (I did turn into a helicopter mom for a while there though, and went with her the first few times... And I didn't let her run full-out much either... Lol.)

For feeding, I just wrapped a dish towel around it and secured with hair ties. She will have to either switch hands for a while, (finger foods will make things easier there...) or allow you to feed her. You could also try finding a pair of those cheap stretchy gloves, and cut the fingers off so it can slide over the cast and protect it, so she can still use that hand a bit. My daughter got a kick out of eating soup through a straw. :)

For clothing... Good thing it's summer! Tank tops!

Also, get some moleskin! The part that goes between the thumb and he rest of the fingers, and over the palm gets gross, fast. The padding also tends to wear out quickly too... So use the moleskin, and stick it on and tuck the ends in a little bit. It is stickier and more comfortable than a band-aid, and will protect her hand from chafing. Plus, when it gets gross you can peel it off and replace it. :)

My daughter broke her left arm on the monkey bars, the second week of kindergarten (last year). The good news is, kids bones heal super fast, and it goes by pretty quick. My daughter was in the cast for a month with weekly check-ups, and next thing we knew it was check-up #4 and they were taking that thing off.

The good news is your daughter is only 2 and doesn't have to be writing or doing schoolwork, and isn't on any sports teams (my daughter missed half of her first soccer season). The bad news she is only 2 qand just barely able to handle the feeding and dressing etc anyway. Honestly, we just took it a little easy on most things for about a month. We only bathed every other day (because it is a pain to wrap the arm in a plastic bag and secure it) and we did quick "shower baths" just to wash up. We wore tank tops and stretchy PJ's. We ate easier foods, like finger foods, sandwiches etc.

It really does go by quickly!

my youngest son broke his pinky toe...and nose...that wasn't a big deal....

my oldest son broke his clavicle playing La Crosse in April. Keeping him in the harness for 4 weeks and keeping him from wrestling and other contact sports - even baseball - has been difficult.

I'm sorry your daughter broke her arm!! Hope she mends quickly!

My 10 year old broke her dominant arm twice - once when she was almost 3 and once last year when she was 9. I don't remember it being a big deal when she was 3. As far as eating and getting dressed, she adjusted fine. She was a late in the potty training game, so we actually tackled that right after she got her cast off. I suppose it might have been hard going to the bathroom with a cast. As far as baths, I just put a grocery bag over her cast and secured it with a rubber band. She kept her arm on the edge of the tub while I washed her. Maybe there's a difference between 2 and 3 (It's been so long for me!) but she did understand that it shouldn't get wet. I think you (and she) will be just fine. Hope she doesn't have to leave it on too long for the summer time!!!

My daughter broke the same bones of her dominant arm when she was 8. She fell at a McDonalds Play Place. It happened two weeks before we were leaving for a beach vacation. Her cast could not get wet at all, so I took a huge risk and ordered a cast cover from Dry Pro. It absolutely saved our vacation. It was pricey, so if you will not be swimming and just need it for baths, you can get a large Hefty bag and wrap her cast in it while keeping that arm elevated from the water.

As for clothing, I bought a lot of stretch tank tops that were easy to put on. Luckily it's almost summer, and you're in CA anyway so that would work.

Feeding will be tricky, but since she's 2, you can probably help her. If she's very independent, try giving her things that would be easy for her to pick up with her other hand.

My daughter had several appointments with the orthopedic doctor to have the initial cast put on which was up to her elbow. She then had a short cast put on about 3 weeks later. She wore that for another 3 weeks, then had a brace for awhile. She was in PT for about 6 weeks after the cast came off.

It healed perfectly and today her arm is as good as new!

My daughter fractured a bone in her hand earlier this year and we purchased a plastic cast protector from the doctor. Worked like a charm. It was waterproof. You can get them at Walgreens or buy them on Amazon.

It's a royal pain to try to bathe a kid around a cast. With an arm cast, I found it easiest to have her sit in the tub facing so that she could rest the cast on the side.

It's summer so it super stinks. Did they do fiberglass or plaster?

If it's plaster you're stuck all the way through June and 4th of July.

If it's fiberglass then you're good for water play. I had a fiberglass cast on when I had knee surgery. I took showers and played in the sprinkles and more. I didn't have any issues with the yucky skin afterwards either.

I would stand in the shower and put some shampoo in the top of my cast then swish it up and down. It would suds all over. I didn't stink or have gross stuff on my leg.

I think she's going to adapt really quickly. Keep a good stroller for her in the vehicle. She may get tired more often due to carrying that weight around. I'd say not an umbrella stroller but one she can lay back or even lay down in.

My kiddos have had their share of broken bones but fortunately it was years ago. See if you can get a soft cast mid way through. The hard cast seemed to smell after a few weeks because of sweat/skin peeling. My daughter (age age 5) freaked out when they used a electric saw to cut through her hard cast that ran the length of her arm. I was unprepared for that as well. I think I would have prepared her the day it was going to come off, but not before! Now when we go to the doctor they are going to use a noisy tool to cut the cast off but it won't ever touch your arm, it just cuts through the cast. There will be noise and some sawdust from the cast and then the doctor/nurse will take it off. Then go out an have ice cream or something to celebrate! My daughter seemed to develop a lot of muscle in the arm that had the cast so afterwards, the other arm seemed to be a little weak! Good luck!

Dealing with broken bones is a total pita, but what can you do? We did garbage bags and wrapped the arm in tape, then just sponged down the hand ect.. Ensure your kiddo got the correct cast is the biggest piece of advice I could give you. Our son had a green stick fx, and they put him in a soft cast-totally inappropriate but it was a teaching military hospital. We were young and dumb. Long story short, my son still has a scar (15) from where the muscle remodeled around the break because it didn't heal properly. He still has function but it left an ugly scar. My husband had a childhood friend that broke his arm and the ER his dad took him to didnt check for multiple breaks. His arm had several breaks and now he can only open his arm to half way.