Growing Pains?? - Mattoon,IL

Hi M. P. Make an appointment with her peditrican and see what he/she says about the pain in her legs.

I have 4 children ages range from 26,23,21 and 15 and they all had the same situation at night and my doctor at the time said no such thing as growing pains?? well I believe there is, so I got some cold ice cooling gel that people put on for sport injuries like pulled muscles and so on, so right from the fridge nice and cold I would rub just a little on there legs and slowly massage them and also I would put a blanket or a small pillow just under their legs to raise them slightly and they said that felt better and that seemed to settle them for the night, it seemed to stop around the age 8 yrs. or so but even now my 15 year old still feels like she has the same issues but vary rarely, so out comes the cold ice cooling gel and she says it makes her legs feel so much better:) I hope that helps you ,but I always say if you feel something is wrong with your child and you are concerned go with your gut instinct nobody knows your child better than you do:) and it states I am from Chicago I can't seem to be able to change that I am from Red Deer Alberta, Canada:)

My son is 3 1/2 & he too has complaines that his legs hurt. He started off & on at about age 2 so it's possible that this is what your little girl has been feeling. I usually just rub his legs with Vicks & make sure his legs are warm. If needed I will give him Tylenol, but If i comfort him he usually is ok. I tell him he is growing & that's why they hurt & he gets all happy after the pain goes away. Good luck

My daughter had the same complaint. It helped to massage the muscles with a little oil or lotion and it was a nice way for her to go to sleep. Turned out she had a foot condition that caused the bones to be out of alignment. Shoes with good support and custom orthotics helped but she eventually needed corrective surgery at age 12. I would make sure she uses shoes with good support and avoid too much time barefoot.

My son had horrible growing pains at 4 yrs old, 6 yrs old and 8 yrs old. Each of those years he grew 4 inches and I had a hard time keeping him in shoes shirts and pants (I'd buy them big and he'd STILL out grew them faster than blinking. Each of those years I had to replace his wardrobe completely 3 times.). His teachers said they could almost see him growing as they watched. His pains would hit any time day or night, but night seemed to hurt the worst and he'd wake up crying. I'd give him Tylenol, and a warm bath, and rub his arms and legs, sometimes cooling packs. Sometimes they'd help ease the pains, but other times nothing seemed to work. It didn't seem to make a difference whether we had him running around or resting up. He's 11 yrs old now and I'm expecting another fast growth year for him any time. He loves drinking milk (great calcium source) and I give him Flintstones Chewables once a day. Being tall is wonderful, but it can be awfully painful getting there.

My legs ached the entire time I was a child as far back as I could remember. When I was around 12, my parents took me to a podiatrist who told us that the pains were the result of my ankles turning inward. I wore orthotics in my shoes and started exercises to strengthen my ankle and feet muscles. The pains stopped.

After that my parents made sure that my brothers had good supportive shoes and even tho they do have flat feet they never had the pain in their legs that I had.

I remember my father rubbing my legs at night and the pain going away so that I could sleep. They also gave me a hot water bottle that helped.

I don't know if 2 1/2 is too young for a doctor to be aware of a mechanical difficulty or if this could be the cause of the pain. My grandchildren both had flat feet and ankles that turned inward at that age and did not have any pain. My grandson, at 6, now has an arch and upright ankles. My granddaughter's ankles turn in but she still doesn't have pain. Both of them are bare foot most of the time. My feet and legs still ache if I don't wear shoes with a good support. It's a puzzle but worth considering.

my son had growing pains early too. he would sit and cry because of the pain. i did mention this to his dr and his dr checked his connective tissue to make sure it was soemthing else. other wise tylenol was the only thing that helped him. good luck but have her checked out jsut in case!!!

My son who is 25 months just started waking in the middle of the night going "ow" ow" "ow" and putting his legs in the air. I was wodering the same thing if he is having growing pains because he is a taller kid - 95%.

It exists. I have just rubbed his legs so far and comforted him so he could fall back asleep. He could have probably used some Tylenol last night because he was having a really hard time going back down.

Try making a "milkshake" with a base of bananas and whole milk. Add other fruits to it if you want. I recommend a magic bullet blender, as it makes small portions quickly, and your wee one can help make them. One serving with meals. You can also supplement it with a few spoons of Ovaltine or Carnation instant breakfast powder(make one for yourself too...helps with those run-down days!)
My sons "fairy godmother" gave me the tip, and my son's pains disappeared rather quickly. When he starts to fuss about leg pains, I start up the milkshakes again.

Warm bath with bath salts(3C epsom, 2C coarse sea salt, 1C baking soda. Add a few drops food colour for fun, lavender essential oils to relax if you want). Follow the bath with fun times. Rub in a nice calming baby lotion(I use Huggies Lavender and Chamomile) on legs in long strokes down the muscles. I haven't had to do this part since I started my son on the banana milkshakes. He was about 2 1/2 when he started getting them, and he's five now.

Hope she feels better soon!

My daughter gets these pains at night especially after she eats eggs. the pains are so bad that we giv eher tylenol or else she cannot go back to sleep. I started a food diary log and worte down what she ate for a month and wrote in when she had the legs pains and WOW it was a common ground of eggs. So we do not feed ehr eggs and she doesn tnot have the "what I thought was growing pains" so I would make sure it wasnt a day she was running around on the hard ground outside or a park or soccer etc. Becasue she did have the pains one night after soccer too but the common ground was still the egss. She is a differnt kid after takin gout eggs so nice to have figured out the needle in the haystack, i hope you find the culprit too!
J.