DS pretending to have a sore leg and making himself sick.. HELP!!

[Aahleigh1989]

Yesterday my DS was very quiet all day, nursery even commented, Reyes to talk to him to see what was wrong.. Said nothing was wrong.. An hour or 2 later he had a very dramatic fall, I asked why did you fall? He said, don't know.. I said are your legs ok? He decided his left knee was sore and left it at that, when his dad came home he started hobbling and again falling over, we have both checked both of his legs, bent them poked them etc, no change of facial expression.. He carried on this morning (though I herd him running about before he came in our room). Insisting his leg(now his right leg), was sore and he couldn't walk, he has carried on all day crying, making very dramatic sounds, we have tried telling him to stop, ignoring it, distracting him etc and nothing is working.. He was being naughty at tea time so we didn't pay attention to him, he made himself sick all over the dinner table because 'he didn't want his dinner'. I have asked over and over what is wrong as it is not like him at all, he is usually wry well behaved and never needs telling off.. What do we do?? How do we stop this behaviour? And most of all how do we stop him feelin like he has to act like this??

[poisonedbypen]

Maybe he doesn't feel well?

[mummytime]

Take him to see a doctor? Phone 111?
Could be a lot of things including his ears.

[Aahleigh1989]

I'm sure there is nothing physically wrong with him as he used to make himself sick daily because he didn't want his tea, he has also agreed that there is nothing wrong with his legs, he is pretending to limp(he is walking like a crab) when I tell him to stop being silly, he stops and walks normally for a while then starts again. It seems very much for attention, his dad works away and is only home on the weekends, so I am sure that is the reason for this behaviour

[wheresthelight]

How old is he?

If the behaviour only manifests when his dad is home it could just be that he is too young to process the emotions he is feeling in terms if missing his dad and thinks if he is ill then daddy will stay home maybe?

[JimBobplusasprog]

Has he just had a cold or virus?

[Aahleigh1989]

No he has been well, I think the reason as you said regarding his dad is probably right.. What do we do about it tough? There is no way his dad can stay home. He is only 4, how can we make him feel better about it? We call his dad 4/5 times a day, skype my DS doesn't even really ask for him when he's away, he's also not that interested in the phone calls.. We have tried cutting down the calls to, either way it doesn't usually make a difference. It is such odd behaviour but definitely put on :/

[Twighlightsparkle]

Tricky one.

I'd been inclined to ignore the walking thing, surely he will stop, doesn't sound too unusual at this age.

The making himself sick thing is worrying, defiantly see,s like a control issue to me, maybe a chat with health visitor for strategies.

Try not to worry!

[wheresthelight]

He will get used to it, I would ignore the behaviour to be honest. The more fuss that is made the more he is being rewarded with attention even if it is negative if that makes sense.

Maybe try saying "oh well if your legs are poorly then we can't do X with daddy" and see if that helps.

He is very young at 4 and probably doesn't really understand why he is doing it, he may not consciously be doing it either. It may be a psychosomatic reaction to his feelings that he can't control.

Dad needs to keep reassuring him, does he use any paint apps on the computer/tablet? If so maybe prompt him to do pictures to daddy that can be emailed or maybe dad can send a few lines of a made up story each night and then ds has to write the next bit and email it back to him (with your help obviously) sobthat he can connect that just cos daddy isn't there doesn't mean that he has abandoned him ifthat makes any sense?

[JimBobplusasprog]

Hmm, okay - it's just that transient hip synovitis can manifest itself in pain in the knee or thigh particularly in young children. And they can limp in an incredibly fake looking way. In general hip pain in small children can be transferred further down the leg, even in something like Perthes. If he carries on complaining I would go to the GP.