What to Do If Your Children Jam Their Finger

In this article, we'll tell you what to do if your children jam their finger in the door. Keep in mind that staying calm is key when reassuring them. Find out more about this below.

Children are very eager to explore and discover new things. However, they can experience some accidents. If your children jam their finger in the door, for example, you should know what steps to take to help them ease the pain and recover.

Most of the time, kids start jamming fingers from the moment they start to crawl. These types of accidents become frequent. When learning how to walk, children rely on everything near by to find balance.

As a mother, don’t get nervous when this happens. Their screams and cries can make you panic, and you might worry that they broke a bone. You might also wonder if you should or shouldn’t take them to the emergency room.

That’s why we’re going to give you some tips so you know how to act in this type of situation.

What should I know if my children jam their finger?

If your children jam their finger in the door, keep these things in mind:

• The incident can range in severity. It can cause a small bruise or the complete amputation of their finger. Everything depends on how bad the jam is, the impact, and the heaviness of the door.
• These injuries usually include one or more elements of the finger. It can also include the nail, bone, etc. We advise you to calmly examine the affected finger and see if you need to go to the hospital.

How to act if your children jam their finger

If your children jam their finger, the first thing you should do is stay calm and examine the finger. Normally, their finger will be a little red, not too swollen, and the nail should hold up okay.

All of this has a single goal: try to calm your children down so they don’t panic. To do this, we recommend dipping their finger in cold water for 5 minutes. Then, give them a pain reliever.

If there’s a small wound, you can disinfect the area and give them a bandage. Remember that the best remedy in this kind of situation is a big hug. It will definitely make your children feel safe and comfortable.

Also, this injury usually affects the nail. You should know that when this happens, there’s usually a small bruise. Although it’s small, it can be very painful.

However, the nail can also come off completely. If this happens, we recommend you immediately take the child to the emergency room.

How to act in other cases

In cases where there’s a bruise under your child’s nail, you don’t always need to call your doctor. As long as the bruise covers less than half of the nail, you don’t need to consult the pediatrician.

All you have to do is wait for it to fall off. This will happen after 3 to 4 weeks. To make your child more comfortable, you can give him painkillers.

On the other hand, if the bruise covers more than half the nail, go to the emergency room. They’ll need to run tests, regardless of whether the nail remains in place.

The goal is to get a complete evaluation of the injury and rule out a fracture. If the bone is fractured, the doctor will clean the injury to prevent bacteria from spreading.

Finally, there are more serious injuries too. Sometimes, it may require amputation. 

In this case, children will need to be hospitalized and get an operation as soon as possible to replace the part that was removed.

How can I prevent my children from jamming their finger in the door?

Certainly, the majority of finger jams happen because children put their finger in the door unconsciously. In these cases, there is only one solution to prevent your children from hurting themselves: child-proof doors.

In that sense, we recommend putting prevention systems on the doors so children can’t stick their fingers in them.

Aluminum profiles that cover the door hinges at children’s height are great options. There are also some that prevent doors from closing altogether.

In short, it’s important to pay attention when your children start to walk. These types of accidents are very common.

Remember, if your children jam their finger in the door, keep calm! Follow these instructions, and it’ll go smoothly.