Leg Cramps

Hi P.,
When I was pregnant I had HORRIBLE leg cramps that woke me up in the middle of the night. I found out it was due to lack of calcium. I started taking that liquid CAL-MAG supplement and they went away. You may want to see if that helps.

Leg cramps can be related to low potassium levels. Try increasing his intake with hip K+ foods, like bannanas and dark green veggies.

My son started having the pains when he was roughly about 22-24 months old. It was very short lived and I never did give him any tylenol. I don't know why the doctor would say it was not normal. Every child develops in their own time.

Hi P.~
I am C., a 33 yr old pain therapist and mother of 3. Leg cramps can be soothed if you spend some time massaging the muscle tissue of his legs feet and lower back. Another thing to try is lying him on his back and massaging the tissue just inside his pelvic bone and along his abdominal wall.( the Iliopsoas muscles). This doesn't need to be deep massaging, just enough to manipulate the muscles to respond. Be careful not to overdue it...or this could make him very sore....make sure he gets plenty of water and give him a banana every day. The potassium is good for muscle contraction and nerve responses. The water will flush out toxins you release by the manipulation I am explaining. For a 22 mo. old, I would do each site for about 20 seconds. For an adult it would be 2 minutes tops, so do not exceed 45 seconds on him. Also...only stroke in one direction..not back and forth over the area. Well, that should do it....good luck!

Hi P.,
My name is S., I have 4 girls and have had lots of experience with late nights, I feel your pain. I have a suggestion for your sons leg cramps, hope it helps. Sometimes cramps occur because of a lack of potassium in the diet, you can try a vitamin supplement or , if he's not big on taking them, bananas are very rich in potassium. Try maybe a banana every couple of days and see what happens in a couple of weeks, the only downfall is that bananas can cause constipation. So if you do go that route monitor it and make adjustments as needed. Maybe one banana 3 times a week or so, you will figure out what works best Good luck and let us know how things turn out for you.
S.

My son has had leg cramps most of his life. At age 2 he was 3'2" so you can imagine how fast he was growing. What soothed him was making sure he had enough potassium in his diet and we would rub his legs and do some fun stretches everyday. It was his growing routine. He is now 7 and 4'3". He still tells me, " Mom, I need to eat more bananas. I am growing again."

I have heard to have him sleep with a heating pad under him. I am not sure if it will completely help or if it will just help a little bit. My daycare lady said her daughter does this for her grandson and it seems to soothe him a little bit.

I had bad leg cramps as a child and it turned out I was anemic and they gave me iron pills. I had been always trying to diet, so watch out...... Now I eat a couple dozen raisins a day, or 6 prunes or figs, or 2 oz prune juice. My acupuncturist tells me to eat red meat once a week. Also I learned to throw away my heating pad--it felt good at the time, but the electrical field it set up was interfering with my healing. Now I love my hot water bottles. I am wondering about that Zest soap. Glad it's working, but I know it has chemicals in it that I would be concerned about my child breathing all night. When you stop using chemicals you will notice how just walking down the aisle with them in the store will make your eyes water. Like drugs, they might be suppressing the symptoms and causing worse problems in the long run. Good luck. Dr. G

I remember this with all 3 of my daughters. I don't remember the ages my oldest 2 went through it, but my youngest started about that age and I gave her Ibuprofen and massaged her leg with a warm rag. They only happened for a couple of weeks and then stopped untill just recently. She will be 4 in January and the last episode did the same, lasted just a few weeks. She was always on the small side measuring in the 25% for her height and weight,and then after the first growth spirt she was in the 50% for both. Now this last episode, she has hit another growth spirt and is in the 95% for both(height and weight). I hope this helps...
-A.

Awww....my four year old went through this more than once. He has always been a very active little thing, and when these cramps would happen his thighs and hamstrings would get so stiff he could barely straighten his legs. I was advised to give warm baths twice a day to relax the muscles. I also gave him more bananas (for potassium) and vitamins, but honestly it had to run its course for the most part. The doc did get concerned of a nuero-muscular disease but the cramps always went away after a week or so of bad bad cramps. If it continues I would get a second opinion. I hope the baths help. B.

My daughter starting waking up at night about a year ago, when she was 2 years old, saying her legs hurt. My cousin's daughter did the same thing when she was small and they gave her Children's Motrin (Ibprofen) and said that worked. I now do the same thing for my daughter and it has worked for her. My doctor said they were growing pains but not to worry to much about them and said the Children's Motrin was a good idea.

I hope this helps

It most certainly could be growing pains. A massage before bed or after it happens might help. Warming packs, heating pads or extra blankets have helped around here. What ever you do you don't want the child to become dependent on the action to get through every night.

Perhaps letting him know that it's okay to get up and play for a few minutes would help. Stretching his legs so to speak. Put a baby gate up, get a stronger night light and remind him to cover up when he gets sleepy.

Have you tried putting his legs on a heating pad to try and relax the muscle cramps or even massaging his legs where it hurts? A little tylenol probably would not hurt, but I would try massaging his legs or a heating pad. Good luck!

P.-

I've found that if you don't listen to your gut and your child, you'll never get to the bottom of what's wrong.

A little Tylenol never hurt anyone. If you think it's cramps, then it's probably growing pains, and he may end up being a very tall boy. Trust yourself.

If it continues, and your doctor is still resistant to the idea, then I would change doctors. You have to be your child's advocate, and sometimes that means bringing out the claws.

I don't know what part of town you are in, but if you decide to change doctors, my daughter's pediatrician is wonderful, and he'll listen to you. I wish that we'd had him from the beginning.

Let me know if you need anything,

A. Boyd

Muscle cramps are sometimes caused by low potasium, if u feed him bananas that helps and i dont know since he is so young if he can take it, but potasium pills will help also. The reason i know this is me and my son both suffer from them.

My daughter had these same problems when she was little. My chiropractor also does accupuncture and asked to look at her when she was at the office one day crying about her legs. On children under 8, they use magnets. She ended up having a mis-aligned bladder. She was a little older than your child but consistently wet the bed every night. After that one treatment, she longer wet the bed and the leg cramps stopped. Drinking plenty of water and taking vitamin supplements are also crucial.

your son might have a lack of potasium. you might try giving him bananas for snacks, they contain loads of potasium and are a healthy snack for little ones.

I know for adults increasing calcium and potassium can help with leg cramps. For your little one you can accomplish this by feeding him bananas and milk/dairy instead of subliments or pain killers.

Good Luck!

I've never had this problem with my children, but I know in adults caffeine can cause leg cramps. Maybe a look into his diet would help, I've noticed a lot of responses suggesting more potassium or calcium.
Good luck,
J.

My now almost 8 year old used to get leg cramps a lot, but a banana would always do the trick. It would take about half and hour, but it would help. Maybe try to get him to eat one everyday with lunch. Just a thought. Have a great weekend. C.

P.,
We feed our kids bananas when they have leg cramps. I guess there is a nutrient they are missing. I also make sure they regularly eat bananas.

Hope this helps.
D.

My son does not really take tylonal either...has she said if he can have motrin yet? That is what my sons Dr. has told us to give him when he needs a pain reliever...it is a little softer on his tummy.

Try rubbing rubbing alcohol on it. My mom gets a lot of leg cramps and she says when she rubs rubbing alcohol on it it helps a lot.

Could they possibly be growing pains? Maybe if you present the pain he experiences as that your ped might have other ideas.

Hi P.,

I don't have any advice for you since I've never run into this problem myself, but I just wanted to say what a great website this is. I'll definitely remember bananas if I ever run into this same problem with my 21-month-old daughter. Good luck to you! And thanks to all the mommies who posted their suggestions.

Hi P.! I have been there. I know exactly what you mean. My daughter had those too, and I couldn't figure things out. Then my husband became a Med-Tech.....boy did I learn something. We figured out that she wasn't getting enough water for the day. She would drink milk and juice, but she wasn't big on water. So I had to make her drink water, and to make things better I would take the juice and freeze it in the ice tray. Then I would put a couple in there so it would give it some flavor. Things got better. It took a few days of course, but we saw results. I also found out that she needed more potassium. Of course bananas did the trick. Just a few things to help you with. I hope it works for you. Best of luck.

~S.

Hi, I'm the Queen. iT COULD BE MORE SERIOUS THAN JUST CRAMPS. hAVE THE DOC DO SOMNE LABS AND CHECK HIS POTSSIUM. i WAS ON DIALYSIS AND CRAMPED WHEN i WAS DRY OR NEEDED POTASSIUM. mASKE SURE HE DRINKS PLENTY OF WEAT3R, NOT SODAS OR JUICE. iF ANYTHING CRANBERRY TO KEEP HIM FLUSHED. i'M NO DOCTOR, JUST HAVE DELT WITH CRAMPS

I would definitely be trying other remedies. There is a website I have found to be good for how to deal with problems without medication. For adults with leg cramps, vitamin E is recommended. the website is http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/10/77...

Hope that helps!