My daughter is four. At least one time a night she has what I will call an episode- she just starts freaking out in bed. She kicks her legs and rolls around and cries and moans. Sometimes it happens in the middle of the night. Usually is occurs around 6 am. (She's often in my bed; that's how I know when she's doing this). This has been going on for at least 6 months, maybe even a year. I thought maybe she was having bad dreams or just being dramatic about kicking the covers off, but yesterday she started telling me why she does this- she says her legs hurt or her whole body hurts. She says it's like an ache, not a tingling or like things are crawling on her. These episodes of her writhing around usually last, on average, about 5 minutes. Usually a little less in the middle of the night and a little longer if it's closer to early morning. She says rubbing her legs doesn't help. She hasn't wanted to take medicince, and I'm not going to force it on her. It seems to go away after a little while (or at least she's able to go back to sleep). I don't know what could be wrong or how to help her. Any suggestions?
the first thing that came to mind is RLS...restless leg syndrome. ???????
My daughter spent several years having problems with her legs being in pain, it was definitely 'growing pains' i would rub her legs, and it helped some but as soon as I stopped it was right back.
Boy I remember having something like that when I was a kid. My legs ached like crazy. No fun. I don't know what it was but my mom called it "growing pains". I would recommend rubbing on Aspercream. My mom had used Ben Gay but the menthol in it made me feel cold. Hope this helps!
Steph
Dear B.,
I had the same problem when I was your daughter's age, though mine would occur soon after going to bed. I'd run around all day long (I lived on a farm), then the growth plates in my legs would swell a little when I stopped walking around on them. Oh, the pain! I'd writhe in bed, begging for a baby aspirin (this is 43 years ago). If you've ever had a heel spur, the pain is very similar, and a heel spur hurts the most when you take pressure of it and it has a chance to swell.
See if she'll take Tylenol or children's ibubrofen before she goes to bed and see if that helps. The ACE bandage sounds like a good idea, too. Four is not too early for "growing pains" as I can attest to. You should take her to her doctor just to make sure nothing else is going on, but don't be surprised the doctor says it is growing pains.
My four year old daughter hasn't complained of her legs hurting, yet. I'll understand her when she does, though, and be ready with whatever she needs rather than dismissing her as a "faker".
At the moment, I can tell she is growing again because she has become more accident prone--two nasty skinned knees last week.
Hope this helps.
I have a 5 year old and for the past year or so she has complained of her legs hurting. She calls them the pains and wants me to rub her legs (especially behind her knee). I'm not sure if it is the same as your daughter but my doctor said it is growing pains because of the bones in her legs stretching. He said it occurs more frequently at night though we seem to get it a lot during the day as well. I was told they can be given Motrin or to use a heating pad. In our case, massaging her leg seems to work. I hope this helps!
I would definitely see your pediatrician. Initially, I was thinking your daughter may have night terrors which surfaces around this age. If your daughter is alert in conveying these symptoms, it could be somrthing serious.
well i would still call the dr to make sure its nothing else but it sounds like its growing pains. my little boy did the same thing when he was almost 3. so we took him to the dr and they said it was very common. and one of my friends who has a almost 4yr old her little boy is doing the same thing! and her dr said it was growing pains. i hope she feels better soon.
M.
My son wakes up with pains in his legs from time to time. I was worried so I asked his Dr and he said it was "growing pains". I give him some tylenol and he falls back to sleep. Now this doesn't happen every night. With us it's a night or two every few months.
I would make an appointment with her Dr to rule out anything else since it is non-stop every night. Hope everything works out:)
Call the doctor but it might be rls or growing pains. my daughter has this for about 2 months when she was 5 then again when she was 8. i knew it would be a long time because she would come in my room climb into my bed and ask me to rub her legs. it was almost always at night because that's when they slow down enough to notice the pain.
The best advice is to ask your pediatrician. However, my mother-in-law has told me stories of the her 7 boys having similar symptoms while growing it. They were growing pains in there legs. She may be experiencing a growth spirt of some sort? 4 years old is still so little to have such pain from growth, I would think.
I certainly hope you get it figured out. Best wishes.
C.
Mother of almost newborn - (due 9/30)
My oldest who is now 5 complained to me about it for a year before I did anything. I did not take her to the pediatrician, I took her to a pediatric Chiropractor. She slept through the night after her first adjustment and came home from school to tell me she ran and it didn't hurt.
Please let me know if you would like he name of the Chiropractor I took her to in Cary. He is great and he specialized in Pediatrics. My soon to be three year old and 18 month old have been adjusted by him as well as my husband and I.
I know where you are coming from b/c my son has the same issue. His Dr. told me that he was getting poor circulation to his legs. So they told me to have him sleep with a pilllow under his legs/ feet. Once we started doing this it worked wonders. He has not had this problem since. I hope this helps.
I would say take her to her doctor to get an opinion. I have a son that when he was two he would all of a sudden grab his leg and he would be in pain. I took him to his doctor and he sent me to a specialist and he ended up with Rheumatory Arthritis. So it would be good to just way out there being any problem by taking her to the doctor. Also I see that you said you would like to go back into the work force. I know of a website that could tell you how to work right in the comfort of your home and don't have to leave your children it is www.liveops.com. This opportunity may work for you.
Take care,
Ren'a Thigpen
Sounds like your dog is a Great Pyrenese(sp). As for your daughters legs I would take her to the Dr. My first thought was growing pains, but that wouln't last for 6 months or more. I would guess it is restless leg syndrome (which is a sleeping disorder) or a nerve problem. If it only happens at night and not during the day then I would lean more towards RLS, but better safe than sorry. If its something to do with the nerves, such as a pinched nerve she should have symptons during the day as well. Please let me know what happens.
My husband has had knee problems since about your child's age. I really think you should take her to an orthopedic doctor. It may be nothing, but it's best to see a specialist who is familiar with this kind of thing.
B.,
My son did the same thing around age 4. When we went to his 5yr old checkup, he had grown about 4 inches! I chalked it up to growning pains. Your doctor may know if age 4-5 is a growth spurt period. When my son would wake up a night complaining of leg pain he would ask for a bandage. I have an ACE bandage that I would wrap around his leg (not too tightly) and that would be enough to get him back to bed. I don't know that the bandage helped any, but it made him feel better.
L.
When this used to happen to me my mom called them growing pains. I suffered from them for many years. It is also called resteless leg syndrome. You should still talk to her doctor about it but mine went away as I got older. Even as a teenager I can remembering crying myself to sleep in frustration because it prevented me from sleeping. I always felt like I had to move. I learned to sleep on my stomach and gently kick the bed. That way I was moving and it became soothing.
My daughter had the same problem and it ended up being "growing pains" though she's 17 and still has them. It seems to help to rub or massage the legs, you can try that. Definately see the pediatrician though, I do suffer from RLS and this doesn't sound like that. RLS doesn't "hurt" it just has an almost indescribable feeling that's annoying.
Good luck!
My daughter, who is now 22, experienced growing pains when she was in the sixth grade. Her legs ached, especially at night. Sure enough she grew several inches, especially in her legs, during the next few months.
It seems young, however, for a four-year-old to be experiencing growing pains. Have you noticed that she has or is having a growth spurt? It could be growing pains.
God bless you!
It sounds to me like she might be having leg cramps. sometimes those cramps can come from growth pains if the child is having a growth spurt, overexertion, or lack of certain things in their diet. Sometimes when potasium is low we can get muscle cramps, I myself incooperate a banana in my diet when this starts happening and my usually go away after a couple of days. Good luck and hope she gets better.
T.
