" I Need Medicine!"

I don't know if this will help you but i told them that if they did not really need the medicine they could get sick. My daughter now only asks when she needs it. I think she liked the taste and after 2 nights i picked up on it...little buggers :-)

My children do the same thing! I asked my doctor about the pains my daughter has, she informed me that they are normal growing pains especially if they happen in the joints. If they show difficulty walking or with movement in general, it may be more than that and get a consultation. To combat the "medicine" problem, we give them kid's vitamins! Works for the 4 and 2 year old like a charm!!

S. P

I remember my youngest child waking in the middle of the night with leg pain. The Doctor told me that some children get growing pains, he told me to give her what ever the popular over the counter pain medicine was at the time. Maybe that is what your son is going through and he knows the pain stops with the medicine so he figures he will stop it before it starts. When you get a chance talk to his doctor and see what they think. Good luck

I would take him to his pediatrician to be checked out. Your pediatrician may refer him to an Orthopaedic doctor, as well. My 6 year old would complain of leg pain and then run around 20 minutes later. So, of course, I thought he was exaggerating. Then one day, he couldn't get out of bed b/c the pain was so severe. Of course, I told him if he was "faking it" he was in big trouble. It turned out that he had a virus that had settled in his hip and caused severe inflammation. (He had a cold about 6-8 weeks prior to the leg pain....with a cough that lingered.)
Please have him checked!

My son is 2.5 and right around when he has a growth spurt, he wakes up crying that his legs are hurting. I remember my brother doing the same thing well into his school age years. So that explains the leg pain. I would say to rationalize with him, tell him if they hurt, you found a new way to make them feel even better, and put him in a warm bath or rub some warm oil or something on his legs. Tell him to try that for a few nights and if it doesn't help, you can try something else. Hope this helps

Dear S.,
I am sure some Mom's are going to disagree strongly with what I do for my children but it works for us with minimal harm.

Both of my children have had leg/growing pains and we administer medicine and give massage until they are able to sleep. my husband and I both remember these pains from our childhood.

And both of my children have requested "medicine" when I know they are not in pain. How do I know? My children's real pain would awake them in the middle of the night or be right at the start of bedtime after a very busy day of physical activity. "Fake" pain would be a sibling's cry for medicine of "me too, me too, i need medicine, Oh I hurt too" or after a day or two of leg pains. So I took an old children's liquid medicine bottle, washed it clean, put a new label over it that i had written "tummy & leg medicine", put water in with a splash of motrin to flavor. My children got this when I felt that true pain relievers were not required. It negated tantrums, didn't taste as "good" as true medicine, and answered their needs.

Just what our family does. Good luck.

I agree with the last response. Try giving him tums and tell him it is a chewable childrens med and if he seems ok than you will just have to work him off of it. If this doesn't work, try taking him to the doctors and possibly enforcing xrays, mri's, or even a scan to see if he may possibly have arthritis. I say this because i have arthritis myself and a friend of mine has a 1 1/2 yr old son who was diagnosed with it when he was very litte. he tends to grab his knees alot and whine or even burst out in tears after and before alot of activity, as well as when he wakes up in the morning. Try asking him what the pain feels like. are his knees red or swollen at all? those could be possible signs of arthritis.
I notice with myself i tend to get achiness, sharp pains, burning, catching, and what almost feels like a pulling of the muscles even when walking short distances such as up and down the stairs... and i've had these pains for years now and i'm only 21!!! but the sooner the problem is diagnosed the better off he will definitly be... sounds scary but it happens to millions of us in our lifetime- hope all is well and please let us know how things turn out...

Maybe you can give him a vitamin at night instead of in the morning and let him think that is medicine. My son cries about leg pain every now and then. The doctors say it's growing pains. Is it in the knee area where he complains? I think the doctor said growing pains are right under the knee or in the back of the leg sometimes. I give him an ice pack for it too. Tell your son that you called the doctor and the doctor told you to do the ice instead of medicine. Good luck.

When I was a kid and I would ask for medicine when I didn't really need it, my mom would give me a tums. It's only calcium, something the body needs anyway, and it satisfied me. Vitamins may work except that if you already give your son vitamins he may catch on quickly that this is not the medicine he is after, but the vitamin he always takes (I tried that trick with my almost 3 year old and he called me on it right away..."That not medicine silly mommy, that my vitamin! I want the orange drink medicine." Sometimes I think he's just a little too smart! Good luck!