How bad were your children's 'growing pains'

[Forgodsakethinkofthekids]

Just that really- my 5 year daughter has me a little worried as she has been complaining of sore legs for months- usually just one. Often requiring painkillers to feel better.
Now she has started to wake in the night quite distressed as her feet are very painful.
Did your children experience these types of pains and were they ok/resolved easily?
Or could there be an underlying cause?
She is tall for her age and very slim. She had recently been needing to go to the toilet a lot and eating like a horse if that backs up the growing pain theory?

No. None of mine had pains like that.
It is not usual.
If she has been suffering for months - and you believe it is pain and not an attempt to get out of something she doesn't want to do - then take her to the Drs.

My Dsis had this. Mum had special powder to rub on to make it better. It was called Talc

Sorry that's not very much help. I'd take her to the doctor and just have her checked over.

Yes my DS had/has classic growing pains. NHS info here.

Before he could tell us what was wrong we used to leave it far too long and he would be utterly beside himself with pain for an hour or so. It was pretty awful. However, over time we have learned to catch it early and he can now (6yo) tell us very reliably when it is coming on. We give him a double dose of calpol and neurofen immediately and then keep him walking and it's usually finished in 15mins or so.

DS is also very tall, but I'm not sure that actually has anything to do with it. It seems to help if we keep him well hydrated and keep his salts up in hot weather or if he's done extra sport.

If it's only one leg you need to go to the GP. My DS had one sided hip pain once and the GP took it very seriously.

Thank you both for your replies. I actually mentioned it to the GP when there for a boil she was suffering with- but they said to come back if she starts complaining daily of it. They didn't want to put her through blood tests if unnecessary they said.
Def don't think it's a ploy to get out of anything due to timing of when it happens etc. She still at nursery and always happy to go.
She is 99 centile for height so wonder if that makes a difference?
Will likely go back to GP just to make sure.

Lowdoor- Just saw the reply- thank you.

I had growing pains as a kid I remember the hideousness of it, my Som also gets them only settles with calpol

*son

My daughter gets these. She's 4,tall and slim

She's had them since little. I too was really worried at first but now she gets them probably once a month. Either feet or legs. Calpol, massage till she finally settles. Takes ten to twenty minutes for her to fall back to sleep.

Will be worse after a hard day.

She woke crying with foot/leg pain a few nights ago and we massaged them/gave paracetamol.
In the morning I asked how her feet were- she said 'great!'

If you read the NHS information, her feet being fine in the morning is exactly what you would expect.

Yep, sounds right. Mine never remembers mummy or daddy consoling her in the middle of the night rubbing her feet for ages!

Yes my dd get them terribly, as did I as a child. She'll often require calpol to help the pain. A warm bath seems to help too. She's also tall & skinny for her age (7) she's March born but the second tallest in her class (the only child taller has a birthday at the beginning of September). She also occasionally get them in her tummy.

I would go to the GP. I thought growing pains were a myth. Like colic. So yes the pain/crying etc exists but the cause itself is not clear and is likely something else.

I'm fairly sure they try to avoid putting mythical conditions on NHS Choices Believeitornot.

*gets. My phone hates putting 's' on the end of 'get' for some reason

I used to have this as a child, my legs would kill once I was in bed. I can only compare it to shin splints you get when you've run in bad shoes. It's a thing, give her Calpol.

Oh god I used to get this horrifically as a child I still remember it so clearly. I was slim / tall so I don't know whether it's related but noticed it mentioned by pp. calpol, leg rubs, early nights (mine was so much worse if tired). Hot water bottle / warm baths help. It sucks!

Professor I was tall and skinny too.

Now do you get restless legs when you're tired?

There's a link to hypermobility, and that's certainly the case for me and ds. Ds's have almost gone since having custom orthotics. Often characterised by night pain and often shin pain according to ds's physio.

My ds used to get terrible growing pains. He used to start crying in his sleep on a bad night before they'd wake him up. Many nights I spent lying next to him, massaging his legs til the pain went.

Nurofen used to work better for him than calpol. His pains were always worse after a tough day or after he'd been poorly. He often used to get pain in one leg rather than both and would sometimes have pains for a few nights in a row, then nothing for months. Can't remember when it stopped but he's 13 now and I haven't had to rub his legs better for ages!

For the tall/thin among you, if you have particularly long fingers and your arm span is greater than your height, it might be worth looking at Marfans.

I had these as a child. Painkillers, deep heat, hot baths and hot water bottles all helped.

My DC all get them now too. They generally have calpol which resolves it. Worse when tired, or been walking long distances. But always fine by morning and more or less resolved in my oldest one (10 year old).

I had them as a child and so does my DS, he still gets them at 14 and over 6 ft tall. They aren't a myth, they can be unbelievably painful the only thing that helps is massage and ibuprofen.

Yes, my DS had growing pains in legs and feet for ages and often needed pain relief, he's not tall although he is very slim. Not quite sure when they ended, probably later primary age.

This is interesting that most people saying they suffered where also tall and/or slim.
I had them growing up as did my sister we where both tall/slim

Neither of my kids have suffered but are shorter and stockier then their peers.