8 year old saying he gets cramp in his legs and feet a lot - what can be causing it?

[DottyDot]

I'm not sure if ds1 (8) is spinning a line with this but most evenings he tells us he's got cramp in his calves/feet - this of course gets him downstairs for a foot rub with Mummies so is entirely worth it, hence why I'm not quite sure I believe him...

But when I told him I was going to try and find out what vitamins he might need he was pleased and has asked me this morning what might help, so I have to assume it's at least partly true that he gets cramp.

He eats a fairly balanced diet - we get fruit and veg in him every day and he's very active, sporty etc.

Any ideas what might cause it and what supplements he could take - and meanwhile I'll google (of course...)

My DS (7) gets leg cramp, I've self diagnosed it as growing pains! I give him calpol, don't make an issue of it and tell him it'll be fine!

Thanks - I think I'm going to tell him he'll need to eat a banana every day to increase his potassium (he hates bananas) to see how often he complains about it this week..!

Good thinking! He probably has achy legs, but has caught on to he gets more attention with it!

Cramp can be caused by dehydration.

Ds2 suffers from really bad lower leg and foot cramps if he doesn't drink enough (which is most school days, despite me sending him in with loads to drink ).

Apparently one of the best ways of preventing cramp is by doing regular calf stretching exercises information on how to do them here.

There's some good basic info about night leg cramps here.

hth