Growth Spert or Something Else?

Growing pains are generally defined as sporadic leg cramps inthe middle of the night. These are not from growing. Threr is something physical or psychological going on. Kids generally don't complain for no reason.

I don't have kids yet (my first one is on the way!), but my sister has a 3 year old daughter and she does the exact same thing. Every day she complains that something hurts. Its either her legs hurt, or her tummy hurts, her arm hurts. It is constant. My sister believes her that the pain is real and has taken her to the doctor as well and nothing has been found to be causing any pain. We both think it is just growing pains. Her bones are growing and I'm sure that causes discomfort of some sort. I hope this helps to know that you are not the only one dealing with this! Good luck to you and your son. God bless.

Hi,

It could be related to growing, or maybe his diet? If he has a lot of sugar in his diet, that could be causing some of the aches. On the other hand, could it be he is wanting more attention? Not that you are not giving him attention, but it could it be because he is getting older, and maybe something new has taken place that would cause him to feel he is not gettting as much attention as before? The only reason I bring that up is because my friend's son did something similar when she started back to college. Within a few months, he was fine, but he did need a lot of reassuring and more one on one time because he was/is a very sensitive child.

Hi!
I have a 2 year old that likes to tell me that parts of him hurt as well. But as soon as I give it a kiss, it magically goes away! So I think he just wants the attention and the magic kiss :) Could be the same thing with your kid. If the pain isn't accompanied by other symptoms, I wouldn't worry about it. But if fever or lack of appetite or loss of energy or difficulty accomplishing tasks come with it, then be concerned.
Hope this helps!
J. B

Could be he just wants attention! Explain the story about the Boy who cried wolf! Even if you think he's too young to comprehent that story, he will grasp it.

Kids want attention, and learned that Mommy's give it, very well!

A.

Imaginary sickness? Try putting kool-aid in the measuring cup that comes with Motrin or Tylenol. Being that he's so young sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and imaginary as a parent. Do your usual mommy-nurse routine as if he's sick and see if he perks up. Maybe there's a change in his environment and he feels a bit left-out or just wants a little extra attention.

If it's growing pains, this can come and go for years. So... try Tylenol or Motrin.

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We role play a lot in our house. Give him a stuffed animal or teddy bear. Tell him that the teddy bear is having pain but just isn't telling you where or why. Ask him to show you how he thinks the teddy bear got his hurts, and how to make the teddy bear feel better. A lot of the time they will show you why they hurt through the role play. Maybe his knee hurts because he was just kneeing for way too long or was kneeing on a car. He will do that same thing with the teddy bear. On the other hand, sometimes they will only do what mommy has done to help them. Then I would just ask if he thinks the teddy bear feels better.

I don't ever remember my oldest child going through growing pains she is 8 now. With my 5 year old Oh My!! Oh My!! We would be up all hours of the night rubbing her legs arms knees elbows tummy back and even her feet! I did not know what to do when this started to happen. I called the doctor and he told me to rub her and if that does not help just to let her sit and soak in a warm bath just to try to relax the muscles. She started this right around the age that your son is now. She would cry and sob because of the pain. I gave her a lil' Tylenol, it helps with the pain. I am not one to give my kids to much medicine because of all the stuff in it but I could not see her in that much pain.

Try some of these ideas and I hope they help. This could last a while like I said my lil' one is now 5 years old. It does get easier though.

I read your article and smiled along the way. My daughter did the same thing when she was 3 and even still will occasionally now at 4 1/2. I took her to her doc a few times as well. Other than a little "pigeon toed", which could cause a little discomfort, she was perfectly healthy and normal. I did know she had "growing pains" because they were at night...she always comes into our room at night and she would wake me up and ask me to rub/massage her legs (or would simply take my hand and put it on her legs)I would massage for about 5 minutes and she would go off to sleep again. I also knew because she did quickly grow out of her pants in length...everything started looking like capri pants. :)

My daughter loves as much (and then some) attention she can possibly get. At first, i reacted to the complaints of pain. But then slowly realized that she complained mostly when I was around and when she wasn't at the center of attention (when I was folding laundry for instance)!!!!

Another thing, when the aches and pains are from his eye to his belly to his knee...they are so transient. I am not a doctor but it would seem strange that they were all related to one diagnosis or medical problem?

I would start a journal and track the time of day of the pains and the location of the pain. And then other variables. For example, compliaining his belly hurts, then note whether or not he has just eaten, or could he be hungry ( and say 'hurts' because due to his age, he may not have the word power to say what he feels...'hunger')? If it is a knee/elbow/joint, then note time of day and if he had just been plaing rough, or just watching Little Einsteins. See if there is a pattern. I would also note his diet. Enough water? Fluids? If there would be something wrong this would be good, objective data to take to the doc ( versus saying, he complains of pain "all the time"). Plus, it might give you some clues!

Good luck! Blessings!

My oldest two (now 8 and 6) both complained of body parts hurting. It really was them growing and I confirmed it with my doctor. I thought it was odd, but I guess it is true about "growing pains". I will say she told me that it tends to be worse at night. If your son fits this then that really might be it. I just wanted to let you know that other kids have done the same thing your son is doing. Also I will add this didn't last for a long period of time. Only a week or two at a time and then it would be a couple weeks before it happened again.

I have three 4 year old kids 2 boys and a girl, one of my sons always co aches and pains also. Usually his tummy when he doesn't want to eat, and leg pains especially at night ( these are growing pains) yes they are legit, I asked the pediatrician about it. The leg pains are usually at night or early in the morning. But I read up on it and as long as it does not last all day or not in the joints he should be okay, I just rub my little boys legs to make them fell better.

C., my kids have had the same thing happen to them; especially complaining about legs, knees, joints,etc. We asked the Dr. and got the same reply you did. As time went by, the aches began to alleviate and go away. When he complained, we'd give him some tylenol if he seemed to be in a lot of pain. I encourage you to wait it out. Yet, if you start feeling that this is more serious than just growing pains, go get a second opinion or insist to your Dr. to run further tests. God gives a mother instincts for a reason. In my case, I really felt these were growing pains. And I must say, my son is 4 1/2 now, and he's grown a lot in the last year! (he was heavily complaining around 3 years old, too!) Good luck, and know that you're not alone!

Hi, I'm G.. Have you tried a chiropractor for the aches and pains? It could help. Tummy aches can be related to eating certain foods such as dairy products. Keep a calendar of what he eats and then see if there is a paattern of complaints with certain foods. Just a thought.