Babies and toddlers have weak muscles and joints with soft ligaments and tendons so it’s not uncommon for them to sprain their arm or leg. So every now and then they’ll trip over a toy or a chair leg and end up rolling an ankle or twisting a wrist. You need to be careful how your lift and play with your baby as – for example – swinging your toddler by the arms can cause a sprain or pulled arm.

• Severe pain.
• An inability or unwillingness to be touched, move or walk.
• Limping (if already walking).
• Swelling and bruising.

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between a bad sprain and a fracture because the symptoms are so similar. So it’s best to go to casualty or the ER if you are concerned that your baby or child has injured a limb badly and seems in pain.

Try to keep any weight off the area and keep the limb elevated if possible.

If you can get them to sit still for a little while (maybe go for a pram trip), you can apply a cold compress – either a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a clean tea towel, some wrapped up ice or a specially made cold compress from your first aid kit.

You can apply the cold compress for up to 10 minutes at a time (no longer and make sure no ice touches your child’s skin as you can cause an ice burn and damage the skin with direct application with ice).

Talk to your doctor about giving your baby or toddler some pain medication.

• Fit stair gates at the top and bottom of stairs.
• Keep the floor and play areas as free as possible from anything they could trip over.
• With babies and toddlers that have started to walk – make sure their shoes fit properly and let them have lots of inside time without shoes.