I was just wondering if anybody else is having the same issue. I have a wonderful 3 year old little boy who is very active. He started having "growing pains" around the age of 18 months. It wasn't very often and it seemed to be both legs equally and leg pains run very strong in my family, so I accepted that diagnosis although according to my research he was pretty young. Well, last fall he broke his right leg going down a slide. Ever since then he has "growing pains" at least one night a week if not more often. I took him back to the orthopedic doctor soon after I noticed that he was having these pains more frequent and he pretty much made me feel like a complete idiot. I would say now the pain is in his right leg 9 times out of ten. There does not seem to be any relation to activity level. If he has had a busy day, he will almost always have a bad night, but sometimes it happens on days where he hasn't done much of anything. It also happens at various times. 5:30am, or 1030pm. There is no rhyme or reason. Still his pediatrician says that based on the fact that he has no other symptoms it is "growing pains." Since he has had them for the past 5 nights any suggestions would be so welcomed. Thank you.
I have 2 boys with them and no broken bones.
Hot baths and tylenol are how we treat them. We also have used the KY warming gel.... Yes it works. (Not just for FUN anymore)
Try that! I hope it works...
I have a four year old daughter that has the same problem. She has never had a broken bone but she gets these pains at least two or three times a week. Like you said, on more active days she is almost guaranteed to have problems but even on normal days she will sometimes. I hate giving her tylenol or motrin EVERY night. Usually if it is real bad I will, but otherwise I will put a heating pad on her legs and give her a banana. Banana's work good (within a few minutes). I have heard you can also use the heat patches for backaches and such. Good luck, I know how it is to sit and watch them cry with this!
Poor little guy!! Could it be cramps? Is he getting enough potasium or magnesium. I know he's young, but some nights my legs just hurt so bad or I'll get cramps. I do 1 of two things: I either drink a glass of salt water, ugh , but it does help. Or I take a magnesium pill. Both take a few minutes, but both work. Since he's younger, you could try the salt water...or maybe more bananas??
Good luck to both of you!!
T.
Ok...try having him drink some extra milk each day, eating bananas, or potatoes...all 3 have the extra calcium/potassium/magnesium that help with cramps. You said he broke his leg....was it a simle fracture? I'm betting he may have had some nerve damage in that accident, and that will cause a lot of "unknown" pain. Ask your pedi to refer you to a pain management doctor or neurologist and see if they can determine the cause of his pain. You're right..."growing pains" should not be happening before they reach puberty, so there is definitely *something* going on, here. You can check out some great resources at webmd.com. I use that site a lot for my family!
Hope your little guy gets to feeling better soon!
~J.~
Hi K.,
well im glad i read your letter. My daughter keeps talking about a boo boo on her knee. Just a few weeks ago she could not walk. She started screaming saying her knees hurt and when she started to walk, she looked like a penguin, and would not move her knees. I gave it an hour or so and it started to ease up. It has not happened again, but she does complain of consistent pain. I did also assume it was growing pains, but I am going to talk to the doctot when we go in for her flew shot. I will let you know what he says and see if I can offer any advice.
My daughter used to have the same problem (without the broken bones). You need extra potassium because when the muscles are growing they need to have the potassium or they will cramp very badly. When I was running I had to eat alot of bananas and such or I would have bad pain. If his bones are weak obviously he would need plenty of calcium. Give him lots of yogurt, cheese, milk, & cottage cheese. The best sources of vitamins and minerals come directly from the food rather than suplements so if you can get them to eat the food that is best. Just a bit of exposure to the sun everyday will allow your body to produce vitamin D on its own and the vitamin D is needed in order for the calcium to work properly. Drinking plenty of water is extremly important as well because it helps clean out excess sodium and things that we get in our diet and sodium can counter-act the effects of potassium. Do you think that the broken leg is just a coincidence? Just a thought. Good luck.
L.
