Dear Mommas,
My toddler slid on a book :) and maybe twisted his ankle. He was with a babysitter so I did not see. He is slightly limping, but happy. I spoke to the dr. She said to wait til tomorrow morning. If he still limps, we should take him for an xray. My questions and concerns:
1. Forgive the silly question: is a twisted ankle etc. common at this age?
2. Even if it is not serious, is there anything I should look out for or do to help it feel better or heal faster.
3. Could I have prevented it in some way (telling sitter to clear play space in between activities etc???)
ANy input or advice is, as usual, much appreciated.
Jilly
Thanks to all the responses. I feel better and less guilty (my continuous issue) as I realize how common this is, and will continue to be. We went to a pediatric orthopedist. early this morn. (he is our neighbor :)) His ankle is swollen, but the dr. did not recommend xray at this point. Just a compress with some type of salt at the pharmacy, and as little activity as possible for a day or two (for a toddler :))
As an aside, our babysitter is great and totally trustworthy. She is a mother herself and very capable. She comes only 2 hours at a time a few times a week, and plays almost continously and creatively with our LO.
Jen is right. my kids can fall over their own feet when there is nothing around them. ice pack, or bag of frozen peas, corn on the ankle will help a lot! Wrapped in towel, so the skin does not get injured from direct frozen object.
I bet he'll be fine tomorrow! 2 year olds are remarkable flexible still in all their joints and it will heal very quickly.
Have you checked out this sitter?
best, k
To be honest, accidents happen. Your child is never going to be able to be 100% safe. You could not have prevented it. Clearing the space between activities means your son sitting still while your babysitter takes the book or supplies and cleans up before your son gets to stand up and walk around. That's not reasonable or realistic. My kids would sit on the floor reading (looking at) books and lay them on the floor so they could use their hands to get up. I wouldn't even have time to see them do it, they were so fast.
Your sitter would literally have to strap your son into a chair so that she could clean up everything before he got to put his feet on the floor.
Now if she was letting him jump off of the back of the furniture... that's a problem.
You're a great mom. This is not a reflection on you or your sitter. Things happen. :)
Accidents happen. Just watch it and if it swells, use an ice pack for short periods.
Honestly, I have taken care of a lot of kids and have never heard of a child twisting their ankle by playing. Put ice on it for 15 minutes every hour for the first 48 hours. Also, try to keep him off of it by giving him sit down activities. My girls had their own play room when they were little. Their toys were everywhere on the floor when they played. Not once did they fall and twist an ankle. Probably just freak accident that won't ever happen again.
A chiropractor is GREAT with sprains & twists.
Our chiro is great with kids and has helped my son here and there since infancy. I firmly believe they are better at sprains than traditional doctors. The reason is that they set the ankle and ligaments in the proper position so that as it heals it is healing straight. Keeping a bent ligament wrapped will have it healing in an awkward position, much weaker than original. We have had more than one bad sprain/twist heal with no re-injuries. On the other hand, we have a friend who had her ankle looked at by a doctor and it has resprained off and on.
If you're still here, a minor injury would be only one visit. If it was more involved, your son would get the care it needed. I've also had the chiro check and not charge when everything was good.
You are a good mama for being so proactive!
