My 3.5 year old daughter often complains of leg pains. I have been telling her it's growing pains and that everyone gets them at times. But it seems weird how often she complains about it. 2-3 times a day she is saying she can't do things because her leg hurts. Or she has a hard time going to sleep complaining that her leg hurts. I was wondering if she was doing it for attention but it has been months of this and you would think that she would forget. It's not always the same leg. It seems to come and go...most of the time she's running around, playing, chasing her brother, being a normal happy active kid. But then suddenly she is dragging and whining about her leg hurting. Then 10 minutes later she seems fine again. I did talk to the doctor about it a couple days ago and she said to watch her for a while and notice how often she is saying it and perhaps bring her in for blood work in a week. She said "growing pains" usually just happen at night so it is strange she is saying her leg hurts during the day. Has anyone else had their preschooler do this?
I used to get these too, and now my boys do. My boys get growing pains any time of the day. It's most often when they're tired though. In the morning, at night, and around dinnertime.
Just give her the age/weight-appropriate amount of Tylenol and she'll be fine.
Sound like restless leg syndrome. A lot of people think it only occurs in adults, but I have a colleague whose daughter had it. I've actually talked to the daughter a few times and I can tell you that RLS is a real condition and this girl was not making it up. I think 3 months is a long time for something that's either growing pains or attention-seeking. Both a friend of mine and the daughter I'm referring to relieved the pain pretty quickly using nutritional supplementation - a lot of things are caused by our deficient foods and depleted soils, not matter how well someone eats or thinks they eat. The AMA says you can't get everything you need even from "eating well" so it's not surprising that we have muscular and immune system issues. I would think this would be pretty easy to get rid of if you did the right supplement but I doubt you can find it in grocery or health food stores. My friends had done all of that for years, with no results. If you want to look more at this and get some more info, let me know. It would seem a lot easier and less traumatic than blood work for an unknown cause.
Not sure why your doctor said that, everyone I know had them all times of day. It is just when you are running around you don't notice it so much, sit down and all of a sudden you realize they are throbbing.
All four of my kids had this and if the pain was bad enough that they couldn't sleep I gave them something for the pain. As I remember from my own childhood it was not a mild pain.
I would keep a log of when she complains, trying not to let her know that you are paying too much attention, and then contact the doctor in a couple of weeks. If these pains persist there are medical problems that could cause these pains, that's why the doctor said something about blood work.
Most likely it's just growing pains, but there is nothing wrong with following up if you think it is needed.
M.
My 3 year old was doing the same thing, but it was her ankle. When I took her to the doctor he sent her to a podiatrist and then we went to Shriners to see an orthopedist. I would take her to a different doctor, or to Shriners since you can self-refer. Anyway, my daughter ended up having flat feet that hurt her legs and ankles. She still can't walk too far because her legs get too tired, but really its that her ankles hurt which radiates up her leg. I would keep at it until you make sure it is just growing pains because usually it doesn't last that long continuously. Good luck!
