3 year old with severe leg cramps in the night

[bumbleweed]

Does anyone know anything about leg cramps in young children?

My 3.5 yr old dd is getting them in the middle of the night - just behind her knee.

She screams in agony, gets hysterical is inconsolable - tells us to go away wont let us rub her legs or anything.

it can last an hour or two - totally disturbing her sleep and affecting her day time behaviour.

People just keep saying 'growing pains' to me - but I dont know whether there are factors which make them more or less likely?

IME every child gets them do they not? To varying degrees of severity. I used to be in absolute agony as a child with them. I have bad circulation as I've now found out. My dcs get cramps, which are painful, but not agony.

Have a word with your GP if you are worried.

My DD gets this a lot and it seems very painful. It tends to happen every night for a few nights about once a month. We give her Calpol or Medised (what the doctor recommended to a friends child with the same problem) and she usually goes back to sleep OK...

thanks for your replies - feeling at a loss, as she wont take calpol during an episode as she just freaks out

Bumbleweed, we have been having this wiht our three-year-old DD. Have two older boys who didn't experience this. My mother always recommended eating bananas (something abotu the potassium) to stave off "growing pains" and we have been feeding DD many. Not sure if it's helping!

One of my google searches came up with mineral defficiencies as the cause - but then another one listed that as an unsubstantiated theory!

I might give a general multivit with minerals a go

How does your dd respond to it and is it during the night as well?

Yes, it's a night with our DD and she becomes very distressed. She will take calpol and responds well to that though.