anyone's children suffering from growing pains?

Question

my 4 yr old daughter wakes in the night, complaing of pains in her shins, this happens about 2 hrs after she as gone to sleep. she is absolutely fine at all other times. i have spoken to the health visitor, who says its just growing pains.
has anyone elses children suffered this type of pain, and has anything been diagnosed?

Answer 1

In all seriousness, I had a lot of bone related pain aged about 3-7. I just thought that God hated me, but it turned out to be "growing pains".

Answer 2

I had terrible 'growing pains' when i was growing up. To cut a very long story short ... forgot the next bit ... i STILL have 'growing pains'. Bit like sciatica really, only it's not.
I also have a 3.5year old daughter who has intermittent pains in her right leg ever since she was 18 months. I don't do health visitors no more. I can do without government propaganda. They never told me anything i couldn't read in their information leaflets. So i took her to my reflexologist instead. She sat there whilst i had my treatment. Watched it all in fascination. And then after she got a 15-minute foot massage. She loved it and has complained a lot less of her leg since. That was 2 months ago. But when the pain comes regular again ... i'll be on that phone for her next reflexology session.
You could also try Tui Na massage or even an ostheopath. All work with the concept of 'energy' in one way or another. My daughter don't like the ostheopath and there is no Tui Na where i live. I would probably choose it before reflexology had i the choice.
Good luck.

Answer 3

I had them as a child and can still remember how painful it could be. Both of my kids had them when they were young and I noticed a pattern: it would almost be guaranteed that they would have growing pains during the night if they didn't have enough sleep the night before and were very active that day. It made me really make the effort to keep to routine early bedtimes for them - at age 4 your daughter should be snuggled under the covers around 7:30pm (give or take the time to read a bedtime story or two :o)

However, if the pains seem to be getting worse or are interfering in your daughter's daytime activities, then it's time to see a doctor. It turned out that my oldest son actually had juvenile arthritis. He may have been experiencing growing pains too, but blaming all his pain on "just growing pains" was a mistake made by myself and the first of many doctors we ended up seeing. My son's "growing pains" seemed to become dramatically worse at age 9 - it took us until he was 11 to finally get a diagnosis.

Having a bedtime routine should help your daughter get through this (warm bath, pj's, bed, stories, hugs, lights out - besides, kids thrive on a routine. It gives them something they can depend on and adds security to their little world).

Answer 4

I cant believe you have asked this question. as Ive been worrying about the same problem. My 4 year old daughter is exactly the same. She also cries with pain in her shins .it happens through the day but mostly at night. I was very worried about this when i heard lots of frightening stories. After asking the health visitor I was told the same thing."growing pains" . My partner suffered the same problems when he was a young boy.

Answer 5

I suffered badly with growing pains as a child.Sadly my youngest daughter who is 5 gets them too.She seems to be growing out of it now,but she used to wake up crying about 4 times a week saying her legs were hurting.The doctor just said the usual "it's growing pains" so I just used to give her junior ibuprofen and put her back to bed.Fortunately,she hasn't had any pains for a few weeks now.Hope your daughter is ok soon.

Answer 6

My son had pain in his feet constantly at night. He would wake up screaming and inconsolable. I kept asking the doctor about it, because it just seemed too severe. He would fall back to sleep just from the sheer exhaustion of crying. It was horrible. Doc kept saying growing pains, but something in me . . . call it maternal instincts. . . seemed to know better. Finally found out he has a genetic connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. His shoes were not supportive enough allowing his aches to fall when walking. This caused pain in feet and legs. Now we only buy Merrell shoes and give him children's tylenol every night before bed. The doc says it won't hurt, so I'd try it if I were you. It made a world of difference for us.

Answer 7

My kids have had growing pains ranging from age 5 upwards. Any one saying there's no such thing are wrong. As kids grow, it's obvious theyre going to have aches and pains it's part of growing up. They don't really need to take any medication, probably just a warm heat pad.

Answer 8

Lots of kids get growing pains. When going through a particularly fast growth spurt the bones and muscles ache especially in the legs. I got them as a child too. Night time is particularly bad. I remember getting up to tell my mom that my legs hurt sooo bad. Back then she gave me aspirin and it did work, but now it is wiser to give ibuprofen (Advil or children's motrin.) Just have it handy near your bed for those nights. It does pass, but sometimes it lasts for months. Hang in there.

Answer 9

I had these pains also as a child, I dont think it has ever been diagnosed, Try a couple of drops of rescue remedy on her tounge before she goes to sleep, it may settle her.
Available at any health shop.

Answer 10

my son is 13 and still wakes in the night on a regular basis sayin his legs etc hurt and i was also told that it was growing pains. i put him in warm baths with lavender oil in it or massage his legs with oil. we also use the wheat bags and shiatsu massage and in the worst of times accupuncture (luckily its free cause my dad is a practitioner!). My best advice is maybe a small dose of ibuprofen if your daughter still dosent settle but other than that i use the holistic approach.