Growing Pains

Sounds like your baby needs a little more calcium in her diet. Rather than drinking more milk, which actually leads to the problem you are describing, find a chiropractor or doctor nearby that carries Standard Process products. They have the BEST calcium on the market. It comes in tablets or powder that can be added to smoothies and other foods.

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ok, this may not touch the pain, but is worth a shot. i am glad that you have been using massage. we all could stand to do this. bc we stand and walk/run all day the lactic acid settles in our shins and ankles. circulation is trying to carry it all out of the body by traveling back up the legs towards the heart. so, what you are doing is helpful bc it increases and helps the circulation. you might try making this part of your nightly bedtime routine while reading her a story. first massage her ankles (and feet for a short while) and then her shins and calves. you can try rubbing some arnica gel or cream in while you are doing this. arnica is a homeopathic that is great for mild injury, bruising and swelling. it is great with pain! i have used it for all my 5yo boys boo boos. we have very few bruises or prolonged injuries. it is readily available at any health food store. it can also be taken orally as well if that is helpful. after massage have her lay on her back on her bed or floor in front of the couch and then have her put her legs up at almost a 90 degree angle. they don't have to be straight up but elevation is the goal. this allows for all that junk that causes pain in our muscles and bones to flow out and should help with the problem. hopefully doing it before bed will have a two-fold affect, helping her to relax going to sleep easier and also sleep through the night. i will be praying that this helps. this is something that i used to recommend to all athletes and patients that i worked with when i was practicing massage therapy. sorry to be so long winded.

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Extra calcium helps greatly. I experienced this from the time I was very young until well into adulthood and the rubbing helped, but it finally stopped when I learned that immediately drinking a large full glass of milk (sometimes two) would make it stop. If your daughter is not big on milk, try having her drink it over ice.

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http://www.herbalremedies.com/unmedsal.html
above is a link where you can find a SALVE called UNKERS that you could rub on her shins.... you could even put a layer on her then let her take a good warm bath before bed, to relax the muscles! we use it for everything.... even colds! it has a wealth of uses. there are "look alikes" out there with this product as well- it should be in a white jar with blue letters. it is very reasonably priced and with all its uses become a "cure-all" in your house.

My family and my sisters family have been using this for years and we love it!! there is a list on the site also of all its uses!!
Also i would make sure she was drinking a lot of water!
good luck!

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C.,

My son is 6 and has horrible growing pains for the last couple years. Massaging definitely helps, but so does putting a pillow between his shins when he sleeps. It keeps his legs warm and is a cushion for him. It is also something he can do himself: if his legs hurt in the middle of the night, he grabs his baseball pillow for his legs and is able to go back to sleep. If that doesn't work, I usually give him Tylenol Jr. Hope this helps because I know how heartbreaking this can be!

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Hi C., I had this when I was a kid and my daughters have had it too. What I have done for them is just wrap the part that they tell me is hurting with an ace bandage.

When I was little and had this trouble I found the more I moved the worse it got (it seemed like it happened in the evenings after I had been running around and playing a lot). So I tell my kids to lay as still as they can until the pain goes away.

Also, I think the Hyland company that makes the homeopathic products like the colic tablets and teething tablets, bed wetting tablets or drops (can't remember which one it is), etc., I'm pretty sure they also make a product for growing pains also. You can find them in most any store now, in the drug section. They are all 100% natural so no worries there. I used to use the ones for teething on my kids when they had that problem and they worked really well.(We called them 'Happy Pills' HaHa!! Cause it made them and us much happier!)

Hope this provides a little help...good luck...let us know how it goes okay? :) D. R.

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Hello C.,

My son had the same symptoms and he was Dx. with legg Perthes syndrome. I would take her to see her Dr. just to rule out any true problems.

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I always had growing pains (or "leg aches, as I called them) as a kid, only mine were in my knees. They were especially bad when it was rainy weather, for some reason. What helped me was heat--my parents would put either Aspercreme or IcyHot on my knee when it hurt, or they would put the heating pad on it. Nowadays, you could get something like a rice sock that cools off on its own and doesn't have to be plugged in, if you didn't want to leave something like a heating pad in your little girl's bed. Over time, I did outgrow the leg aches, and I'm sure she will, too. Good luck!

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Have you tried banana? When my son has his growing pains, we make sure he is getting a banana a day. The increase in the potasium almost always helps.

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C.,

I have a 5 (soon to be 6) little girl. She is the only one out of my 3 daughters that has had horrible growing pains. My husband and myself take turns on rubbing her legs. I also give her a little bit of pain medicine like Tylenol. I have also found that a warm bath will help soothe the pain and help relax her muscles. I am still going throught the growing pains with her and she has had them really bad ever since she was almost 2 years old. We have our good nights for months and then BAM!! they hit her like a mack truck. We are up about every other night for about 3 weeks or so. I have also used a heating pad on her legs.

DH and myself we take turns on rubbing her legs or who gets to give her the warm bath to try to relax the mucsles. That way it is not just me or him not getting any sleep. I know it is really hard but I just hope that one day she will grow out of it.

Good luck.

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My son is almost 7 and he experiences the same thing. It started when he was about 5. He gets the pains in his shins, ankles, and hips. I was concerned and talked to his doctor, who said it was just growing pains. I found that what works best for him is a rubbing, a warm bath or a little bit of icy-hot where he's hurting. Good Luck!

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Actually, this is NOT the only solution. It's just the only one you know about. Wouldn't hurt for someone to do a gait analysis on her. Does she walk on her toes? Is she involved in ballet and/or gymnastics?

Go to the EGOSCUE website and pull of SUPINE FOOT CIRCLES AND POINT FLEXES. These are NOT comfortable if you do them correctly. HOWEVER.the more you do, the easier it gets. It involves ALL of the gait muscles in the lower extremeties, from the knees down. Also......icing may help if there is any inflammation.

In addition, there are exercises you can do to strengthen the anterior tibialis (muscle on the shin). Let me know what you find.

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My daughter is also 5 almost 6 and she has also had her trouble with growing pains. The doctor reccomended keeping her legs covered to keep them warm at night. Which has helped immensly. And also massage. After we started to keep her legs warmer at night it seems to have lessened the frequency of the episodes. I have also given her tylenol before she went to bed after waking up the 2 nights before with the awful pains. (Out of desparation.) Well good luck.

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It may just be growing pains but it sounds like an awful long time if it has been going on for a year now. I would suggest trying to add more calcium and potassium to her diet. Sometimes the pain in the legs like that is from not getting enough calcium and or potassium in your diet. Make sure she drinks at least 3 8oz. glasses of milk a day or you can substitute with yogurt or cheese and have her eat 1 banana a day. Try that and see if it helps. If it doesn't help contact her pediatrition and schedule an appointment for some tests.
D.

I am 31 and have been married almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7 and 4. My husband works full time as a diesel mechanic and I work part time doing construction work.

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I had this with my younger son (now 10) but not my older son. I noticed this happened at night when sleep was interrupted. I did alot of rubbing as well. One other thing that seemed to help my son was sitting with him in a chair which was more upright. Then the pain seemed to pass more quickly and he could fall back asleep faster. Good luck with this and congrats on the upcoming baby!

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Congrats on the new baby. I love big families. I am a christian stay at home mom with 6. Anyway, I am wondering if maybe she does'nt have that restless leg syndrom. I have had it since I was a child and it can be very painful. Maybe check with the pediatrician. They may be reluctant to put this label on it, but it might be worth checking. Good luck & God Bless! T.

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C.
It may very well be growing pains but I hope you have called the doctor!!! My daughter had something like that but she had had a virus awhile before the pains started and it turned out to be rumantic fever ( I know I spelled it wrong ) but it got to the point that she couldn't walk. It was arthristis in her legs which was caused by the fever and it finally passed with no side effects. We were lucky. So please call your doctor.this was 31 years ago so they have better treatment now days.Just check with your doctor and give her only what the doctor says to give her.Try rubbing her legs before she goes to bed and keep them warm.Good luck and God Bless

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My daughter, now 7, went through the exact same thing. At first I would get up and rub her legs and she would eventually go to sleep, but it was happening at least 4 nights a week and some weeks 5 or 6 nights. I asked the Dr and he assured me it was just growing pains and recommended that i give her motrin. I don't like to give my kids a lot of medicine but she was in agony and i wasn't getting any sleep, plus,I remember how painful my growing pains were. So I did it and it really helped, i gave it to her when she woke up in pain and within about 15 minutes she would be back to sleep. She has for the most part grown out of them now, but that 2 years was long and I will pray for you!!!

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This is not a cure, I'm afraid. A couple of my children went through a stage of leg pains at night, too, and my husband also remembers having them as a child. The best remedy I found was a warm bath. It relieved the pain very quickly, faster than I was able to achieve with rubbing. They can sit on the edge of the tub and just put their legs in it, but getting all the way in so their legs can be extended is probably even better (although they can't tolerate as warm a temperature of water that way). They all outgrow it eventually, of course, but it's no fun while they're going through it!

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My baby brother (now 40) had growing pains like that. The doctor just said it was because he was growing so fast. At one point it looked like he had two knee caps.
The only comfort for him was rubbing as well. My older brother (we were 5 and 7 years older) and I would help rub his legs as he cried. He finally "out grew" this, but it was very heartbreaking.

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I had these same pains when I was a little girl. I remember the pain very well. Kind of a deep aching pain. My mom used to throw towels in the dryer and get them really warm. Then she would wrap my legs really tight with them. It made them feel better long enough for me to be able to get to sleep. Good Luck. Hope this helps.

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I have a 3(soon to be 4) year old and she too has growing pains. I also massage her legs. But the thing that I find most helpful is a heatiing pad. I wasn't sure if it really helped but it always made her feel better. She would go to sleep shortly after I turned it on. I would then just urn it off and we would make it through another night.

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I can relate! My son is 5 years old and has suffered from growing pains for years and on a fairly regular basis as your daughter does. I am afraid to say I only just now took him to a doctor about it a week ago. Here is what his recommendations were: stretching the calf muscles by standing on a step with his toes and letting his heels drop (as bone grows faster than muscle and tendons and can increase growing pains), using a heating pad, taking tylenol or any over-the-counter pain medicine, and massage.
Good luck and God bless.

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I know what you are going thru! My daughter is now 7 and would wake me up crying her legs hurt. I asked my pediatrician and it is growing pains, she is very tall and is often mistaken for a 9 yr old. I would give her Tylenol Jr chewables, and a few minuets of rubbing and she would go back to sleep. The episodes are less now thank goodness, I hope this helps

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