Daughter Broke Her Arm

Poor thing! I hope she heals up ok. My brother broke his arm a week before his first birthday, and even though I was only 11 at the time, I dont remember my mom having any issues with his cast. I remember she just tied a grocery bag over his cast when he took a bath to help keep it dry. Its hard to keep babies from trying to splash, but that seemed to work not getting it wet. If the plastic bag doesnt work, or if she trys to pull the bag off you could try cling wrap or something to help keep it dry for bath time. Hope she is ok!

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My daughter broke her arm at 17 months. It was hard in so many ways! She was a very active toddler, and broke it by falling off the couch (on to carpet! I had no idea that was possible). WHile in a cast, her balance was thrown off, and she was constantly falling and landing on the broken arm...I was so afraid she would never heal! I had never let her watch movies or TV before then, but finally gave in, because it was the only way she would sit still. As for bathing, we put a plastic bag on her arm, and only put a little water in the tub so her arm wouldn't be submerged. After a week or so, my daughter got really used to the cast, and believe it or not, she was really upset when they took it off. Good luck! I hope your daughter heals quickly!!

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Hi J.,
Our 22 month old broke her forearm 2 weeks ago too. She spent 1 week in a splint wrapped in ace bandage and is now in a cast for only 2 more weeks. Assuming your daughter's break was not clean thru (at this age they usually are not), once the arm was immobilized, you should have noticed an improvement in her comfort. The advice told to us regarding bathing is wrap her arm in a towel (I pinned it with diaper pins) and them cover it with a large plastic bag. If it is not yet cast, it REALLY can't get wet and that's hard to do. I let the water run from the bath tub faucet, but did not let any fill up the tub. She fills up cups and plays as I pour water over her body. Some wetness does get inside, but very little and the bandage absorbs most of it. The cast gives you much more freedom. At this point, after 2 weeks, Tabitha has not complained of itching and she hasn't slowed down at all. I hope your daughter is just as comfortable.

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my daughter broke her arm when she was 3 and then again at 5 she didn't seem to notice any itching we propped it up on pillows at night and bagged it for the tub and told her to leave it on the side of the tub. other than that she hated the sling (was easier to keep it on while younger)

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My daughter broke her arm at 15 months. Giving her a bath was the biggest pain about it. We also used the plastic bag trick for baths, the clear vegi/fruit bags from the produce area work great. One suggestion to go with it is to wrap a hand towel or washcloth around the top of her arm above the cast. This made it much more comfortable for her arm instead of damp plastic directly on the skin. It also helped soak up any water that might get past the rubberband and not sink into the cast itself.

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My little girl broke her arm last year when she was two. She never got itchy that I noticed. To give her a bath I wrapped her arm up in plastic wrap. From her fingers on up past the cast. Than I taped it down to itself and taped it to her arm above the cast. I was still careful not to let her have her arm directly in the water, but this helped it from getting wet and stinky.
good luck

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I am so sorry! My little girl hyper extended her knee when she was 2 1/2, they do great as long as you keep the cast out of the water. It is tricky but since it is the arm maybe it will prove easier,hee hee. You will be amazed how resilient they are. My daughter was done and healed in less then three weeks. She wasn't suppose to walk, so the put a kink in the cast to prevent her from walking, she figured out a way anyway, hee hee. Never once did we have issues with itching. Did they put lotion on the area before casting it? I know they put a ton of lotion or cream on my daughter leg beforehand.

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Hi J.,
My daughter broke her arm at 3 years old. She did very well with the whole thing. The Doctor's were great with her and she felt very special with her cast. She set her arm on the edge of the tub when I bathed her and we used the handles of plastic kitchen spoons to help her scratch under the cast. Anything that is blunt and rounded on the tip will work so it doesn't actually scratch or poke her skin. She was really into Superman at the time and picked out a red cast to be her Superman arm. Just help her make it a novelty rather than a bother.
Take care,
B.

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Just remember to put a plastic bag over her arm when you bathe her. I broke my collar bone when I was about 18 months and my mom said I didn't have any trouble.
Good Luck!!!

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Did you get a "swimming" cast? If you did no biggie, without you'll have to get some plastic bags big enough to encase the cast and plenty of tape for baths. The itching is in large part from being dirty, so a light washcloth to clean as much as you can around and inside the cast will help, that and keeping it from getting dirt inside.

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My son broke his leg a couple weeks ago. He has a fiberglass cast, so it doesn't really matter if it gets wet -- just have to try and dry the padding inside with a hair dryer. I just have him put his leg up on a stool to keep it mostly dry. I did deliberately rinse water over the top a few time already (we're potty training and he's peed on the padding a few times with accidents) to keep the smell down. No itching problems yet. We treated him special for the first couple of days while it really hurt. We alternated Tylenol and Ibuprophen for the pain. After about a week, he was fine. No more pain medecine and he's walking around great. About the only restriction he has now is that we don't play outside as much to keep dirt and sand from getting inside his cast. Only 2 weeks to go! Hang in there - kids are resilient.

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When I was a little girl I broke my foot and had a cast. My mom use to have me keep my leg up on the side of the bath tub. I have seen other people use this method with there kids that have broken an arm. But since she is so young it might not be so easy to get her to do that. You could also rap the cast in ceran wrap and put rubber bands on each end to keep the water out, but just make sure that you don’t put the rubber bands on to tight so not to cut off circulation, and just try not to let her get it to wet.

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A good way to keep it from getting wet is use that plastic wrap that sticks to everything. I can't think of the name of it but will help. My daughter had an accident where her finger was almost severed and the surgeon told us to keep it dry when bathing so the bandaged finger would not get wet. That plastic wrap thing would really help you out. Hope she heals well and won't have much discomfort!

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A chopstick works very well for an itch.

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My daughter broke her arm right after she turned one. It was difficult since had yet to learn how to walk. As far as bathing her, we wrapped her arm in a plastic grocery store bag with packing tape so the cast would not get wet. It seemed to work pretty well. Good Luck!

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Hi,

My 5 year old has broken his arm twice, once when he was 15 months, and the other about a month ago. First question is did you get the waterproof cast? If not I would highly recommend going back, and getting it. Being able to have the water run through the cast helps with the itching. I'm speaking from experience, because I also have a cast on my right leg right now. She will actually run around and act like it's not even hurt, because they get comfortable with the cast being on and protecting it. I would recommend keeping motrin on hand, for the swelling and pain. Just be patient with her, because it will hurt, but for most part, it just because part of a normal life. I hope I helped.

Hi, J.,

I worked in orthopedics before I became a mom. Basically, you'll want to wrap the cast with a plastic grocery bag when you bathe your daughter to keep it as dry as possible, but don't freak if it gets a little wet. Little ones are bound to splash around! LOL

The good thing about this is that little ones heal very fast, so if all goes well, you should be in the clear in 4-6 weeks. I'm sure the dr. will see you in a week or two to re-xray the arm to make sure the bones are healing and they may remove the current cast and replace it with a new one at that time.

Good Luck!

My just turned 2 year old had his cast taken off a week ago, the good thing is that they do just fine with it, it really doesn't seem to affect them all that much, my kids nicknamed him Hellboy, cause of his bigger arm, thankfully he never figured out that it could be used as a weapon. The one big advice I have is DO NOT put baby powder, corn starch or anything down it, I made the mistake of doing that cause his cast smelled FOUL, we hated to have him by us cause the smell was horrible, and that is with it being change after the first week cause his other one fell off while we where out haviing dinner. The baby powder caused the cast to stick to his skin when he would sweat and he ended up with a rash and a few sores. So that is really the only advice I have, they do fine otherwise.