Leg pain in three year old

[ChairoftheBored]

I've read lots of previous thread about growing pains, but wanted to get your experiences.

DD (3.11) has been getting leg pain at night for around 18 months. Couple of GP visits, both diagnosed growing pains. My DH had these as a child and remembers them as being agony. I usually cuddle, rub and calpol. However the NHS advice is that growing pains should affect both legs. DD's pain is in one leg - though no pt always the same one.

Has anyone else's DC had growing pains, and was it always both legs at the same time?

I think the information that you are being given is incorrect or perhaps your interpretation is incorrect. Growing pains generally affect both sides, BUT not always at the same time. So right leg might hurt one day and then the following week the left leg.

I suffered from growing pains throughout my childhood and never had them on both sides at the same time.
You could try ibuprofen instead of calpol. I found that it was the only thing that worked with my ds.

Thanks Sofia- you're right, I think I'd interpreted it as meaning both at once. Rough night with the pains tonight. DD woke at 10:30; 11:30, 1:15 and 2:30. Dosed with ibuprofen now so hopefully can all get some sleep.

Sure hope it helps!! Growing pains suck (sophisticated medical phrase that I learned over the years). You may need to give her the ibuprofen regularly for a few days before it really kicks in. Also there are stretches that can help. And as she gets older definitely work on getting her to learn self soothing techniques so that she not just relying on medication to get rid of the pain. Obviously not so easy to do now at 3.

Thank you - she's had a few more peaceful nights, after Christmas night was awful. We are. Doing stretches before bed now too (may even improve my flexibility!) which I hope helps too.

The best thing you are doing for her is believing her that she is in pain. No one ever believed me that I was in pain and never tried to offer solutions. That was the hardest part of growing pains for me.

My son has been awful since about 2.5 with these. Though he's almost 5 now and we have had months at a time where they don't happen. He gets them in one leg at a time, different legs, locations each time. But the locations can be similar. I now immediately neurofen him as it's quicker than calpol and stay with him the 15 mins it takes to kick in.

I've just posted about growing pains! My dd has been diagnosed with them and has them predominantly in one leg and foot but can also have it in the other foot but not at the same time. We find Ibruprofen much better than Calpol, although often follow up with Calpol if dd is still in pain. Magnesium salts in a bath help too especially when you know they have had an active day so you may be in for a bad night.
What my dd finds the best when she is screaming in agony is You Tube, the distraction of watching daft videos seems to relax her which then eases the cramping and spasming while the meds are kicking in.

Thanks everyone - we have now got a routine of bananas for supper and lots of stretches before bathtime (it's doing me good too!).

So far we're a week without any (after having them every 2 nights or so). A huge relief as I hated her screaming in pain while the nurofen kicked in. DD has also shot up by another inch...

If the leg pains continue you may also want to get her Vit D checked by the GP. Also....does she have very flat or inward turning feet when she walks ? Supportive boot type shoes possibly with insoles might help if that is the case.

Thanks AF. Because of family history, she takes a multivitamin and additional vitamin D at the moment. so we're always a bit twitchy about vit D with any issue she has. Will make sure I take a close look at how she walks and see if there's any 'turning in' - GP has checked this previously, but they always change don't they!

There’s no such thing as growing pains ....

The pains are caused when a child is growing, BUT, happens because there are problems elsewhere ...

We’re usually told children are flat footed ... they’re not. It’s their muscles and joints not ‘working’ correctly and not being in the correct position.

Mine all wear prescription orthotic insoles to correct their ‘flat feet’. The difference this makes to their pain is HUGE! They need to do stretching exercises, especially when they’re growing, as this ensures the muscles do not go too tight (which causes the pain).

I remember growing pains I suffered terribly with my legs, I remember it keeping me awake, it definitely wasn't both sides, not at once anyway

growing pains is gp speak for 'go away, hysterical mum'
if dc has pains that are unexplained it's worth exploring. especially if one sided.
pains after rigorous, unusual exercise, sprains, falls, bruises are normal.

My DD has had these cramping leg pains since she started walking, and just had one last night at 7yo. Has petered off in frequency quite a bit over time- from once a month to 3 times a year?

Only one leg at a time, but about the same number of times for each leg. Seems to be centred around (above and below) her knee. The muscles, not the joints. Always in the depths of the night. Often (but not exclusively) after a day with lots of exercise.

It really does seem to be very painful for her.

I now give anti-inflammatory meds as soon as it kicks in, and do vigorous massage around the area for about 30 mins.

Ive been surprised when researching it to find so little new understanding of it in the last 30 years- looks like the medical fraternity are happy to just keep calling it ‘growing pains’ and not knowing why or how to prevent or treat it. Seems strange since it’s so painful, and common.

Oh, and our wonderful GP confirms it’s a real phenomenon, not linked to any other problems to do with general health or gait.

And it’s nothing like the muscle pain you get from overdoing it at the gym. There’s no way you could mistake it for that if you saw a kid experiencing these night leg cramps.

Skittles, that is exactly how DD is - and you're right it's nothing like overdoing it at the gym she screams in agony until the mess kick in.

But she been at the GP repeatedly, and they even consulted the peadeatric consultant - growing pains. The bone is growing faster than her muscles, and stretching them, apparently.

Poor sausage- is hard seeing her in pain, but since we started bed time stretches they've really eased.

You’re being fobbed off chair .... but I think all gp’s do this.

My ds leg pains started at around 18 months - 2 years old, were horrendous at night, and pp’s right, it’s the most awful thing to watch and try to deal with. Gp couldn’t do anything, said everything was fine, growing pains, just give calpol.

My dd had pains but not as severe as ds. However she walked awkwardly and was always falling over. Knees and ankles knocked together all the time. We saw gp and specialists who said only thing to be done is to break the legs/hips and reset them.

Both dc are very ‘flat footed’. I later learned this is because their muscles etc don’t hold legs etc in the correct position so their feet fall inover causing flat feet.

We eventually saw a private podiatrist after talking to friends .... we got prescription orthotic insoles .... FANTASTIC results almost immediately! The insoles realign the feet and ankles into the correct position. Ds’s pains subsided from having them excruciating pain almost every single night to mild pain once a week to once a fortnight. Then the pains practically stopped fully over a few months. Dd stopped falling over, knees and ankles didn’t knock together anymore.

Honestly. truly amazing. We still pay for private insoles as the ones we later tried on the NHS were nowhere near as good. But others use NHS ones and are quite happy with the results.