toddler's fracture

Hi all! Man, it has been a while since I have been on here! At 4.5, my twins have finally gotten "easy" . or maybe that is just compared to my 2 year old . So, one of my 4 year olds broke her leg (simply twirling around with a hula hoop) and is in a full leg cast. I just wonder what to expect? It has only been 2 days so now she is still in a lot of pain and has tons of anxiety about anyone getting near her leg. People keep saying she will be up and mobile in her cast in no time but I just wonder if anyone who has experienced this can give me advice? For now, I have set up a "camp" for her on the sofa bed and spent a fortune on arts/crafts, leap pad games and movies. She is still on the heavy duty meds and as long as you get tehm to her on time she is in good spirits but I don't see her getting up any time soon. She laid in her bed past noon before she would even agree to let me carry her downstairs ... and as I carried her she whimpered in feaf the whole time. It is just breaking my heart and I hope someone can tell me it will get better for her soon. I have (of course) another 4 yo and a 2 yo so you can imagine that life is pretty difficult for us right now. My hubs goes out of town for 3 days starting monday and I dread it like the plague. thanks for listening to my pity party

 

Oh my gosh that must be so tough!!! I would imagine these first few days will be the worst. I can't even imagine trying to get around with a full leg cast. Maybe each day give her a goal of trying to get up more and do something? I have only had one in a cast and he was 9 and it was just a knee down cast. And he used it so much we had to have the thing replaced because he was using the cast for kickball and got a hole in it. I really hope she gets used to it soon and is able to get it off soon after that!

 

On my way to a birthday party, but will write with more info in a bit. Ellie had a full leg cast due to a toddler's fracture when she was 2.5. She will adapt *far* more quickly than you expect!

 

Yep. Jon fell down the last 4 steps on the stairs going downstairs and got a hairline fracture in his wrist. He was just over 2 yrs old. He had a cast that went from his hand all the way to above his elbow. He did great! He adapted to the thing pretty quickly. He was in a bit of pain the first few days so I kept him on motrin every 4-6 hours. He had it on for 6 weeks then went to a temp cast then nothing. He did keep that arm next to his body pretty much the whole time tho and even when he got the cast off, he still kept that arm next to his body till he realized he could use it and wasn't in pain.

 

Did she get a walker? Is she allowed to weight bear on the cast?
I would put her on the floor to play and she will likely start scooting around pretty quickly. If she has a walker, put a shoe on her good foot (makes it easier to keep the cast off the floor if she is not allowed to weight bear), you can hold leg while she hops (keep a hand on her back to make sure she doesn't fall back).

Medical supply stores carry water proof cast covers to make bathing easier. There is water proof tape you can put along the upper edge to help with keeping cast clean - especially with going pee.

 

Thanks, all! She should be able to walk on the cast when she is ready ... now she still has a lot of fear. More fear than pain, I think. She is off the codeine now and has only motrin. That is good advice about wearing a shoe on the good leg. Also, about the waterproof tape! she is going potty mostly in a pull up now but did go on the potty for the first time today w/o too much difficulty . Thanks so much ... keep the advice coming! I still can't get her in the stroller or wagon for a walk yet ... maybe tomorrow

 

I know from my own experience with broken bones that the first 2-3 days were bad and then the pain subsided for the most part. Once it starts to heal, moving it won't cause pain and she will likely be back to her active self.

 

Uggh, just lost my whole reply!

I didn't believe the ortho when he told me Ellie would be up and essentially running after a couple of days, but he was right and she was! We did have a couple of days with just lots of couch time (magnadoodle and movies). But after that... she was good to go (moving just as quickly as her sister)! She got a little cast shoe to wear on the casted foot to help minimize slipping: Cast shoe. Also, to help keep her little toes clean and minimize any sand/dirt getting into the lower edge of her cast, I picked up a bunch of women's knee high socks in fun patterns. They were the perfect length and size to cover her entire leg. She wore a lot of skirts/shorts (broke her leg in May). I'm pretty sure she only needed the hard cast for about 4 weeks. After that, she got another xray and they switched her to a hard brace for another 4 weeks. The ortho said she could take it off to sleep, but I was so paranoid about her catching her leg in her blankets, that we kept it on and just inspected skin daily to make sure there was no rubbing.

The waterproof cast cover the office gave us didn't work for us (it cut into her poor little thigh so badly, it made me cringe!). So I ended up ordering one of these: Xerosox Waterproof cast cover. I loved it! For bath time, I ended up filling the tub only a couple of inches and having her sit on a potty seat ring. That gave her a couple more inches of height, kept the edge of the cast mostly out of the water and helped with the angle for her when she was sitting to make it a little more comfortable for her.

Good luck, and just give her gentle encouragement to get up and moving!