6 Tips for Arm Casts on Kids
Great tips for making your child feel more comfortable with an arm cast after a broken arm.
Jump to:
Our Story
Today marks the end of a 2.5 month adventure with the Peanut.
Now that it is over, I look back and realize I haven't said a whole lot about her broken elbow.
It was definitely something that put us in survival mode and there has been one countdown after another as we looked forward to the end of the healing process.
For posterity and for the Peanut, I wanted to share her brave timeline and happy ending.
For you, I'll share what we learned along the way in case God forbid you follow in our shoes.
The Peanut broke her elbow 2 days before her 6th birthday while on the playground at school.
She fell off the highest of the straight bars and is the second or third child to break an arm doing this same thing at her school this year alone.
We tried a "cast it, wait and see for a week" approach to cross our fingers and pray for a successful healing.
Sadly, that was not meant to be and after the first week she had to undergo surgery to repair the break.
It was in a fussy spot and just didn't want to heal on it's own. The doctor had to go in and insert some pins to hold things into place.
We are so blessed to have a wonderful children's hospital so it went as well as could be expected but no mommy wants to see her baby wake up groaning in pain, unable to speak.
Children are so resilient and bounce back so quickly.
But even by the end of her outpatient surgery day, she was doing so much better:
Having this cast for 6 weeks barely slowed the Peanut down.
I was amazed to see her make adjustments to accommodate the arm.
She rarely complained of it itching or hurting and was a great sport about keeping it clean and dry.
Little Pea worried for her sister and would gently pat the cast and even sometimes give it kisses--just before getting back to the business of being a rambunctious pair of kiddos.
We may have indulged in a few more treats and pampering during those first 4 weeks. It's pretty hard not to. . .
But at the end, she was so ready to get it removed.
We had to have that second cast removed (along with the pins) and a third and final cast put in place for 2 more weeks to ensure proper healing.
Those were perhaps the longest and most annoying days of the process but we had our Disney World trip scheduled for 3 days after the cast came off so we had something to look forward to.
Kudos goes to Disney for being SO wonderful and SO accommodating about our need to reschedule the trip twice upon doctor's orders.
On the way to the doctor's office to get the cast off for good!
Our happiest of endings:
The doctor insisted that our trip to Disney was perfectly timed.
We had a prescription to get our little lady into the pool and do as much swimming as possible for physical therapy of her arm.
After 7 weeks total of 3 different casts, 1 surgery, 1 painful pin removal, the shock of not being able to bend her arm initially, and a vacation postponed 2 times, the Peanut was So. Excited. To. Swim. & Play. & Have FUN.Â
She jumped right in, swam and splashed, and ran and played as though none of this had ever happened.
And because of all that excitement and joy?
We were told by the doctor this morning that she made AMAZING progress on her range of motion.
She said normally children take up to 16 weeks to recover the range that the Peanut recovered in 4.
She credits the excitement of Disney and plenty of pool time for helping the Peanut to ignore the pain and stiffness and just get back to the business of being a kid.
Because of the surgery and pins, she'll have a small scar and a small bump on her elbow for the rest of her life.
She also can't do that freaky girl trick of the double jointed elbows in her right arm.
As her mommy, I feel sad that she has lost a tiny portion of the perfection she was born with but this is a battle scar and story she'll have to entertain people with for the rest of her life.
I'm so proud of how she faced this challenge and I'm so pleased how well our outcome turned out. I'm also enormously grateful it's over.
The BEST Tips for Coping with a Cast
There are a few simple things you can do to make your child feel more comfortable while they have a cast and when the cast first comes off.
1. Use Glad Press & Seal to wrap the top and bottom of the cast
Then, wrap the arm in a plastic garbage bag with masking tape before every bath.
I also wrapped it during her birthday party to avoid splashes from the water games.
Worked like a charm and we were complimented at how clean her cast was by the doctor.
2. Use rubbing alcohol & cotton balls
You'll need these to remove the orange residue after surgery.
Wipe gently and avoid any open wounds or areas.
3. Send These Pencils to School
The Peanut broke her writing arm but with this pencil she didn't miss a beat with her school work. They are awesome!
4. Send Chalk and Bubbles
Doctor's orders forbade playing on the jungle gym at school but the Peanut's teacher kindly got permission from the principal to allow sidewalk chalk and bubbles to be used so the children would be encouraged to play with her.
5. Stock Up on Aquafor
Be prepared for very dry & flaky skin when the cast comes off. A few nights of Aquafor and she was good as new!
6. Plan an Active Trip
Plan a trip to Disney!
I jest, but I am so glad the timing worked out for us to be able to do this.
If Disney isn't an option for you, I would honestly recommend a trip to a local water park or pool.
Go ahead and host a "My cast is off!" party!
Have you ever had to manage a broken limb in your family? Do you have any tips to share? Leave me a comment, who knows who it will help!
Oh thank you. My daughter broke her arm yesterday. I'm lying awake at 5.30am because I have to take her for an operation today. She's going to have a full arm cast for probably 6 weeks, but this has helped me feel much more positive about it. One question (I live in Scotland), what is Glad press and seal? I want to find an alternative.
My son didn't break anything, but due to having an extra thumb at birth he endured surgery and a cast for 6 weeks before his first birthday. We are gearing up for his second and hopefully final surgery in just one week. Something that I had to learn the hard way is that my super messy, water loving painter of a baby can't just wait 6 weeks! We can't do sand, so we did sensory tubs of popcorn kernels. Can't paint, Ziploc bag painting (duck tape the top first of course. I had to take in consideration that we are usually a free for all, lets get messy family. Little ones don't always understand clean and dry, so I had to plan for spontaneous creativity. This year we are going to invest in a DryPro. I hope it works.
My daughter just came out of a long leg cast yesterday. These are great tips... However, I would caution parents with kids coming out of leg casts to be prepared that it takes a LONG time for kids to be able to walk again normally. I was told yesterday that she will take as long to heal and walk normally out of the cast as long as she was IN the cast. She is in a walking boot for a couple of weeks so the ankle will still be stiff afterwards as well. I was not prepared for all of that as I have never broken a bone myself. We were prepared to have a no-cast party as well when she came out of her cast/walking boot but from what I gather, we're going to have to wait even longer simply because it's going to be awhile before she's ready to walk/run around a lot.
My 5 year old daughter is in a cast right now. We are almost at 4 weeks. She broke her arm the day after preschool finished....luckily it was a clean break and didn't need surgery. Like you we also had a trip to Disney planned but we went with her in the cast...just avoided the water. She was able to ride everything she wanted to...and she is a thrill ride girl! Her favorite part was getting the characters to sign her cast. 😉 I just posted about it on my blog yesterday. She got the first cast off today and has her second one on. She will have this one for the next 3 weeks and then if all looks good, she will probably wear a brace for awhile. Luckily it hasn't been super warm here yet so she hasn't had to miss much swimming. I just keep a plastic shopping bag in my purse in case we are out when it's raining! Will definitely use the Aquafor tip. Her first cast went over her elbow and was super flaky when they took it off.
We are going through this painful experience as we speak. Our 3 yr old fell from the playground and fracture her elbow at the humerus at the growth plate. She had surgery on the 15th, ortho had to make an incision and used 3 pins to pin everything back. It's been a rough 4 weeks so far, but we are very hopeful that this will all come to an end by the end of the month! Def not looking forward to the pin removal!! YIKES!!!!!!
Fantastic tip, Sar!! I had forgotten all about that. Our hospital had a child life advocate that helped out so I didn't think to mention it. Yes, while the cast is removed the sound is very scary even though it doesn't hurt. She distracted the Peanut with an iPad and playing new games. If ever there was a time for bringing along an iPad/iPhone/iPod/smartphone/etc. with headphones and splurging on the 99 cents for a new game, this would be it! Thanks for the reminder!
The Peanut was also just as rattled with the discomfort after the cast came off. She kept wailing, "It feels funny!"
My daughter was 3 1/2 when she fractured two bones in her wrist. We were fortunate that it didn't require surgery and only 3 weeks in a cast. When it came time to have it removed she didn't fear the saw b/c of pain, but the noise scared her more than anything. Something for others to keep in mind if their kiddo is sensitive to noises. Prepare them for that. Also, after the first day or two she never complained of pain, but as soon as it came off it did hurt for a day or two. She assumed once the cast was gone she was in the clear so the discomfort afterwards was a challenge and frustration.
Oh, Tiffany! What an experience. I'm glad it's coming to a close, but I'm also glad you posted about it. She will love reading about it when she gets older, and your photos capture the moments beautifully. So glad she is better!!