Dislocated Finger (Child)

Home care

Follow these guidelines when caring for your child at home:

• Your child's healthcare provider may prescribe medicine for swelling and pain. Follow the provider’s instructions for giving this medicine to your child. If pain medicine was not prescribed, ask the provider what medicine to give your child for pain or discomfort. Don’t give aspirin to your child unless the provider tells you to.

• Follow the provider’s instructions on how your child can use his or her affected hand.

• Keep the affected hand raised to ease pain and swelling. Have your child sit or lie down as often as possible. Put pillows under your child’s arm so that the affected hand is raised above the level of the heart. For babies and younger children, watch that the pillows don't slip and move near the face.

• Put a cold pack on the injury to help control the swelling. You can make a cold pack by wrapping a plastic bag of ice cubes in a thin towel. As the ice melts, be careful that the splint doesn’t get wet. You can put the pack directly on a splint. But don’t put it directly on the skin. This can damage the skin. Most children don’t like the feel of the cold. Don’t force your child to use the cold pack. Sometimes it helps to make a game of it.

• Hold the pack on the injured area for 10 minutes every 1 to 2 hours the first day. Continue this 3 to 4 times a day for the next 2 days, and then as needed. You can place the cold pack directly on the splint. Wrap the cold pack in a thin towel.

• Make sure your child wears the buddy tape or splint until told otherwise.

• If the buddy tape gets wet or dirty, gently remove it. Retape the fingers with first aid tape. This is available in any drugstore.

• Care for a splint as you’ve been told. Don’t put any powders or lotions inside the splint. Keep your child from sticking objects into the splint. For bathing, put a plastic bag over the hand and seal it at the top with tape or a rubber band to keep the splint dry.

• If the injury includes cuts or scrapes that aren’t covered, care for these as you have been told.

• Don’t allow your child to do any activities that could reinjure the finger. This includes sports.

Follow-up care

Follow up with your child’s healthcare provider as advised.

Special note to parents

Healthcare providers are trained to recognize injuries like this one in children as a sign of possible abuse. Several healthcare providers may ask questions about how your child was injured. Healthcare providers must, by law, ask you these questions. This is done to protect the child. Please try to be patient and not take offense.

When to get medical advice

Call your child’s healthcare provider right away if any of these occur:

• Signs of infection. These include warmth, redness, swelling, or bad-smelling fluid leaking from a wound.

• Finger of the injured hand becomes cold, blue, numb, burning, or tingly.  If the splint is on, loosen it before going for help. It may be on too tightly.

• Fussiness or crying in a baby that can’t be soothed

• Swelling or pain that gets worse. A baby who can’t yet talk may show pain with crying that can't be soothed. If the splint is on, loosen it before seeking help.

• Tingling in the finger or hand that's new or getting worse

• Fever (see "Fever and children" below)

• Chills

Fever and children

Use a digital thermometer to check your child’s temperature. Don’t use a mercury thermometer. There are different kinds and uses of digital thermometers. They include:

• Rectal. For children younger than 3 years old, a rectal temperature is the most accurate.

• Forehead (temporal). This works for children age 3 months and older. If a child under 3 months old has signs of illness, this can be used for a first pass. The provider may want to confirm with a rectal temperature.

• Ear (tympanic). Ear temperatures are accurate after 6 months of age, but not before.

• Armpit (axillary). This is the least reliable but may be used for a first pass to check a child of any age with signs of illness. The provider may want to confirm with a rectal temperature.

• Mouth (oral). Don’t use a thermometer in your child’s mouth until they are at least 4 years old.

Use the rectal thermometer with care. Follow the product maker’s directions for correct use. Insert it gently. Label it and make sure it’s not used in the mouth. It may pass on germs from the stool. If you don’t feel OK using a rectal thermometer, ask the healthcare provider what type to use instead. When you talk with any healthcare provider about your child’s fever, tell them which type you used.

Below are guidelines to know if your young child has a fever. Your child’s healthcare provider may give you different numbers for your child. Follow your provider’s specific instructions.

Fever readings for a baby under 3 months old:

• First, ask your child’s healthcare provider how you should take the temperature.

• Rectal or forehead: 100.4°F (38°C) or higher

• Armpit: 99°F (37.2°C) or higher

Fever readings for a child age 3 months to 36 months (3 years):

• Rectal, forehead, or ear: 102°F (38.9°C) or higher

• Armpit: 101°F (38.3°C) or higher

Call the healthcare provider in these cases:

• Repeated temperature of 104°F (40°C) or higher in a child of any age

• Fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher in baby younger than 3 months

• Fever that lasts more than 24 hours in a child under age 2

• Fever that lasts for 3 days in a child age 2 or older