Hi moms! My sons (ages 6 and 2) wake up crying quite often in the middle of the night with foot cramps. Tylenol usually does the trick, but I hate giving this to them so often. The doctor says their feet look normal and is guessing we are dealing with growing pains. Has anyone who has experienced the same problem found anything preventative or natural that works? Thanks!
Bananas are great because of the potassium. See if you can find a potassium suppliment that is safe for kids. It really can help.
This can also be a result of a deficiency in potassium and/or magnesium. Push bananas, cantaloupe, yogurt, nuts like almonds, cashews, peanuts, prunes, raisins, dried apricots, citrus juices... It hels me avoid foot dramps and my husband avoid leg cramps.
Potassium helps muscle cramps. Give them bananas...it will clear them up pretty quickly.
I thought of the exact thing Bridgett mentions - bananas and plenty of water.
You might also teach him some stretching techniques as well.
Hopefully it will pass soon!
Dawn
not sure if it works for kids with foot cramps but when I would get foot cramps during pregnancy, I was told to keep a bar of ivory soap by my feet (not touching) under the sheets and suprisingly it worked.
I agree with Momma11 it's probably that they need potassium. That's what my mom always tells me when i get foot cramps. The dr is not going to know if they actually are without running blood test so the best thing is to give them food with potassium.
I agree with Rosie M, bananas and a warm bath.
Also, you can try a hand held massager that they can use while they lay in bed.
Growing pains are quite painful.
My son started getting them at 4 (he shot up 4 inches that year) and his worst pains were in his long bones areas - arms and legs.
Poor kid would wake up crying.
We tried potassium/magnesium, more calcium - made no difference.
We tried rubbing with Aspercream - which sometimes helped.
Warm bath or heating pad sometimes helped.
Tylenol sometimes helped.
Nothing was sure fire relief every time.
It got better when his growth rate slowed down for a bit.
But every time he shoots up in height the pains can come back.
At 6 and at 8 he grew 4 inches again in both those years and the pains were back.
I'm expecting him to rapidly grow again sometime in middle school or high school and when he does I'm sure the pains will be back again.
The two things that helped here were bananas and a warm bath wtih epsom salts. I don't know whether one helped more than the other because we used them at the same time. The soak in water with epsom salts seemed to serve as a preventative as well as give comfort if a bad spasm occurred.
Until having two boys I had no idea how real and how painful growing pains can be!
Dehydration can cause cramps, so make sure they are getting enough water. Potassium will also help, bananas and avocados are good sources. When they wake you can try having them walk around a bit, sometimes that's all it takes for me.
Good luck! Poor kids, cramps in your feet are no fun.
If it truly is foot cramps I agree with the others on bananas and water. If it's growing pains there isnt much you can do except give a massage or lay a warm towel on the legs. Growing pains are usually quite temporary, a few minutes of TLC usually gets a kid through them.
