Growing pains!???? My dd wakes up crying that her legs ache.

[ElizabethBeresfordSW19]

I thought growing pains were an old wives tale. She seems to be half asleep, yet crying "my legs, my legs hurt" over and over again.

Can I DO anything?!

elizabeth i posted earlier about my dd, i now have a gp app with her tommorow. Growing pains are def not old wifes tales i remember my sister waking during the night with them. However i don't think my dd is suffering from growing pains now. If your dd is waking during the night then i would say most def.

cramp?

Could be due to lots of exercise during the day causing cramp. I used to get them. Not sure it is due to growing, but it is painful. Massage her legs gently bur firmly for 5 minutes, sweeping up from ankle.

how old? My ds wakes up saying his legs hurt. Think it might be cramp. Does it quite often. He's nearly 5, but has been doing it for ages.

I used to get this too, as a child. The only thing that relieved it was Wintergreen cream which was like a sort of deep heat treatment which my Mum would massage into my legs.

I used to wake a lot during the night with very sore crampy legs. No idea if it was growing pains. My mother would massage them, and bandage them (! for my benefit, not because she thought it would do any good!), and generally I would feel fine in the morning. Oh, and LOVED the bandages...! So, probably not an old wives tale...

My dd has growing pains every now and then (usually when actually growing) as I did as a child.

Agree with earlier posters re massage but also give some pain killer to help the dc get back to sleep.

I used to get them and they were awful.

I used to get these when I was a little girl - I was very active, swimming lots, so maybe it is linked with lots of activity and maybe cramps. In any case, my Mum used to stroke them and that really helped - I don't think she had to stroke them for long, just 5 mins or so and I would go back to sleep.
HTH

Me too, I had them as a child and remember crying with them. I used to get cramp quite a bit too, completely different thing altogether in my experence.

Not an old wives tale, but I'm not sure it's to do with growing - I got them as a child, but still do and I'm ooooold. Tends to happen when I am tired, but not always.

Dad used to rub the down my leg and 'out' through my toes - sounds weird but sometimes worked. Have to say that paracetamol is more effective though, so a dose of calpol might be worth trying.

Elizabeth - my DD2 (age 3) also gets growing pains in her legs. I have taken to using one of those heat up teddies (they are quite heavy) and when it is just nice and warm it seems to soothe her quite quickly. I used to get them too and I remember Deep Heat helped (I don't think I would use on little ones though).

If it's a kind of cramp, could it be due to dehydration?

my dd is just five (2 weeks ago). She is very active and I don't think she drinks enough. I'm always saying 'your water is still there...........!'

It's not cramp because it goes on for hours, on and off. Last night I gave her calpol and she did fall asleep. But about 90 mins later I heard her groaning but luckily it wasn't so bad that she woke up that time.

I hope she's ok tonight..

I will google wintergreen cream now.

Mawmwa, let us know tomorrow what the doctor says about growing pains!

Chunkychips, my dd used to get these at about 3, and she's been fine for two years and now they've come back again..

I may well have imagined this but I think unexplained leg pain (does she also have any of: stomach pain, lethargy, pale gums etc?) can be down to Iron deficiency - might be worth getting that checked - although I may be talking rubbish [crap memory emotion]!

My Ds gets this, and I also got it as a child, and it bloody hurts.

My gp gave Ds ibuprofen gel, because he gets so upset that any oral meds I give him come straight back up.

He now wears socks in bed every night as his seems to be set off if he has had socks on for a period of time and then taken them off (ie for pe or just running around at home).

When I had them, I used to wrap my dressing gown tightly around my leg and shove it down the side of my mattress, then it would get warm and the pain go away. I always now try and hold and rub ds's legs untiol he falls back to sleep.

Iron deficiency? Right well she had an egg for her tea so that's a good start. I'll look into that one too.We never eat red meat, so I should know off the top of my head what has iron in it.....

See symptom list here for anaemia - includes leg cramps.....

oh good I didn't imagine it!

Thanks a million for that link. I will try and do something about that now.

Dilbertina, raisins and dried apricots contain iron I think....?

check out familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/special/bone/181.html

ds gets this . He's 5 too. He has had it on and off for a while. I rub his legs firmly for him and put socks on him. If he's waking up more than once I give him pain relief.

I used to get growing pains, on and off from about 8 til about 14. I used to do a lot of dancing at that age, so interesting about the exercise theory. My mum massaging my legs were the only thing that really help.