Anyone else's child wake up with "growing pains"?

Question

My son who is 5 and my daughter who is two wake up occasionally at night crying, usually complaining that their leg hurts. I've been told its "growing pains", that some children actually feel some pain during a growth spurt. Just wondering if anyone else's child has had this, and if so, how did you deal with it? I've tried massaging their legs but did resort to giving them Tylenol a couple of times. thanks!!

Answer 1

My daughter had this problem from 5 (?) through about 9 or 10. Right behind the knees was her worst spot and she would wake up in the middle of the night crying in so much pain that walking would hurt.
The Dr explained it to her this way, that her bones, muscles, and ligaments were all growing but not at the same pace, so sometimes the ligaments would start to feel stretched and hurt. It would go away soon but to expect that some times when she is growing to feel the hurt again - but it was normal and it would always go away.

What he advised for me to do was
1) Warm moist heat - like a warm kitchen towel on the area. For 5 minutes
2) Gentle yet firm kneading massage done with finger tips with a sport muscle rub such as Myoflex after the heat.
3) Children’s Motrin - this should work better than Tylenol as it is an anti inflammatory.

And the good news is that it usually doesn’t last more than a week - but it may very well return through out childhood.

There are cases that are extreme - My niece was one of them - she had to see an orthopedic Dr - he had her on special exercises and massage therapy to get her (and my sister) through it.

Answer 2

In my case, my kids aren't old enough for that quite yet - they are only 7 and 11. However, I can kind of relate to your question since we were told that my daughter's reading was slow when she was in 1st and 2nd grade - and I literally mean slow as in speed. However, they said she had good reading comprehension. The school she was in at the time emphasized speed over comprehension and even admitted that some kids read fast, but didn't know what they'd just read when asked about it. We told them that we'd chose comprehension over speed any day and never quite understood the school's priorities. Well, now that she's in 5th grade, she not only reads fast, but she reads at a high school level. So, it just goes to show that a child's performance in the early years is not an true indication of their ability - most kids just need practice and a little maturity.

Answer 3

I used to think that 'growing pains' was a myth. That was BEFORE I took my son into a specialist (bone) to check out his pains. With my son, his bones were growing faster than they hardened. On the Xray, we could see which parts of the leg bones and foot bones were hard, and which were not, yet. Using legs and walking/running/playing on feet that had not actually hardened, yet, were very painful! The doctor said that my son should not be in sports until his bones had hardened, as it would hurt him, later in life. My husband had him playing sports early, and sure enough, he's in his late 30's with horrible pains in his legs and feet. Growing pains are actually real. It is the time/space between the soft bones turning into hard bones. Keep up the massaging, it is a good thing. You might want to try a standard muscle pain cream on the children's legs at bedtime, and see if it works all night for them.

Answer 4

I personally experienced similar growing pains in childhood. My mother would often rub my legs with alcohol, and it seemed to help, but perhaps it was only the massage or her loving touch. I would consult the pediatrician's office about the Tylenol. It probably needs to be reserved for fevers, etc, but that is not my call. I do know that these leg aches are real and can cause a child major discomfort. You may need a little Tylenol yourself with your sleep interrupted so often. Smiling at you and applauding your efforts to be a good mother.

Answer 5

Potassium, make sure to get a multivitamin with minerals especially potassium, bananas I have heard are high in this as well.
My daughter would wake almost every night crying in pain, we would give her a hot cloth or hot water bottle but it didn't help that much, a childrens pain killer such as advil or motrin helps the muscle spasms but that only treats the symptoms not the source of the problem (the pharmacist recomended either of those).
Since feeding my daughter a multivitamin with potassium she hasn't had any leg pains (2 Years now)

Answer 6

yes! 2 of my kids had them, and had them intermittently for years! I gave them Motrin for a couple of nights after an episode, normally never occured more than once a month, give or take. I rubbed their legs too, one like cool clothes on her legs, one like warm. good luck now I just worry about them coming home safe after driving at night!

kids don't 'fib' about pain. If they say they're in pain, they're in PAIN. 30 years of working with kids has taught me this. Antiinflammatories are totally appropriate. Would anyone want only comfort measures for your own pain?

Answer 7

100% true. I remember having them myself as a child. Massages are fine but Children's Grape Advil's even better. Good Luck!

Answer 8

i remember those growing up. they suck (excuse my choice of words). it is a type of pain that seems to come from the bone not the muscle. anyway my little sister goes through this, my mom gives her motrin (it seems to work better than tylenol) and like you massages her legs for a few minutes. after a short amount of time (20minutes or so) the pain eases off. good luck.

Answer 9

My sister gets this and she is 5 now. My mum just used to give her a big cuddle and a big kiss followed by some calpol and then tucked her back into her bed.

Answer 10

My daughter does that on occasion as well. I try to distract her and get her doing something other than thinking about it. Getting her mind off of it for a few minutes usually gets it out of her head, even if it still might hurt a little.