My 2 1/2 Year Old Daughter Is Having Leg Pain

have you tried the doctor? if not you should. Especially since she doesn't drink milk and is tired of bananas.

How do you know it is her legs? It could be night terrors, in which you just keep her safe and let her work through it. Don't try to wake her. It will pass and she will sleep quietly again. Just an idea! My son went through that.

Sounds like growing pains. I would rub some Hyland's Leg Cramps on her legs. Especially get behind the knee joints. It's amazing and works in 30 to 60 seconds. I keep it handy as it seems to happen on high activity days and the faster I realize that is why my daughter is waking and apply it, the faster we all get back to sleep. If it still keeps happening, and the remedy doesn't work, I would take her in to see if something else is going on.

If it is cramping, make sure the water intake is at a good level. Foods to give her would be canteloupe, bananas, papaya, raisins, strawberries, beets, artichokes, potatoes (baked with skin on - both regular and sweet potatoes), tomato juice, spinach, kidney beans, molasses, tuna, salmon, almonds, and brazil nuts.

Potassium levels are high in oranges, tomatoes, beans, most fruits and vegetables, especially squash and sweet potato, cucumbers, and leafy greens. Here's one list (keep in mind the quantities shown are for larger amounts of each food than your child will eat at a sitting, but you can see how easy it is to get potassium into the diet).

http://www.hoptechno.com/bookfoodsourceK.htm

Your daughter is probably having growing pains, which are real – and hard to deal with when they wake her. Cold or warm packs, gentle massage, walking around the room for a bit, and of course tylenol, have all been reported to help different children.

There are topical homeopathic creams that may give her relief. These are available in many health food stores. I use one for various joint and muscle pains called Topricin. A couple of others that may surprise you with good results are Triflora Gel (although it's recommended for arthritis pain, it helps many kinds of aches for me almost instantly), or Arniflora Gel.

Sorry to hear your family is going through this. At least it won't go on forever.

I'm in agreement with the other mamas: growing pains. My pediatrician explained that growth happens during sleep, therefore no pains during the day! I used to just rub my son's legs until he fell back to asleep. You could also give her a little pediatric motrin at bedtime, but then you'll never know when to stop it.
S.

Chances are, the advice of the other moms is correct, but I'd want to verify with the pediatrician before giving her anything just in the event it is something different.

The fact that she's screaming and having trouble waking-up makes me think it's more night terrors. I would think that pain would be a trigger for her waking and having difficulty falling back asleep. At almost 4, our son is still having difficulty telling us when something hurts.

At her age, the dosing of vitamins is a little tricky. Our pediatrician still has our son on 1/2 Flintstone vitamin/day - he will be 4 in June. I'd at least call their office to see if there are recommendations they make (brands, dosages, etc) before supplementing on my own.

I would second the growing pains, my daughter gets them sometimes too, we just give motrin and a warm bath. Works everytime!

Growing pains or could be cramps.

Make sure she eats bananas. Also have her point her toes inward and then stretch her feet towards her and away from her keeping the toes pointed..

Could be "night terror", when child wakes up screaming at night, and you think she is in pain... But child does not wake up completely and does not respond adequately and does not answer your questions. Sometimes you can get her even more upset by your care! One my daughter went through this when she was about 2-3 y.o. This all was gone as suddenly as it started. Don't worry. Just keep cool, be strong, and don't get frustrated during these episodes. of "night terrors". If this IS "night terrors", they will go away.

My kids went through this and it was caused by growing pains. Where the bone grows faster than the muscles and tendons. You may want to talk to your doctor before trying treatments. Most of your supplements are geared for adults.

It is probably growing pains. My daughter still has them at 6. We always used tylenol or motrin. Now we have little ice packs and she will go and get one all by herself. Ice packs worked well for us because it was also a distraction and she would calm down from her screaming fits. As for the potassium what about banana bread or doesn't dark greens have potassium?? Not sure.

Someone suggested motrin at bedtime and that was something we did. I helped well enough for us to sleep all night

I can definitely sympathize with this - all 3 of my kids have had this to some extent, and particularly my youngest who is 5 1/2. It can be a deficiency of any number of minerals - potassium and calcium being good ones to start with. Magnesium is what has helped the most in this house, and a naturopath guided us to doing a 2 part magnesium to 1 part calcium supplementation (magnesium can cause diarrhea, so starting at 500 mg and working up to about 1000 might be your best bet). I've also recently read a connection with vitamin D deficiency in some people, so that may be something to think about as well. While you can overdose on vitamin D, my physician advised me that it would take a LOT of it to do this. As I was recently diagnosed with a deficiency in vitamin D myself (via blood draw), he recommended 4000 IU/day for a while until I get it back up, then 2000/day on a regular basis. Kids would obviously be different and you may want to see if they'll do a blood test, if other things don't help. Other things we've done in our house are have hot water bottles at the ready for night time cramps, and I've used an emu oil peppermint rub that is not too strong but seems to help a bit. Hyland's Leg Cramp homeopathic tablets have not helped my kids much, but my mother-in-law swears by them. As for potassium, kiwi are very high, as are potatoes and sweet potatoes. I just found this link online that lists high potassium foods. http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/potassium-foods.htm. Dehydration can have a huge impact on cramps, too, so be sure she's drinking lots during the daytime. Finally, something I tried on a whim after learning that it is an anti-inflammatory, is giving him a turmeric capsule before bed. This sometimes cuts it before it really begins, when he tells me before going to sleep that his legs are hurting.

Good luck! Hang in there - it's a challenge at night time, but it is a real issue; I also suffered this as a child and it is painful.

Have you taken her to a chiropractor. Sometimes leg pain occurs because a child's low back vertebrae are out of place.
If your child does not use milk products your diet should include green leafy vegetables several times a week to give her the calcium she needs.
If she is allergic to cow's milk is she also sensitive to goat's milk?
If you are vegan please be aware that her body might not be okay later in life if you don't know enough about nutrition. People who gave their children macrobiotic food wound up with shorter than average adults who are strong but size challenged.

Bananas are high in potassium. A logger friend swears by eating a banana a day to avoid leg pains.

I put my legs straight up a wall while on my back, buns touch the wall. :) My issue has been reverse circulation, causes leg pains, ever since I was a young child. Elevating my legs before, during or after the pain starts for 15 minutes stops it.

HTH :)

My daughter had night terrors that caused her to wake screaming and crying and she was inconsolable. She couldn't really respond and any interaction we tried to do seemed to make it worse. Sound familiar?

My 2.5 year old also has growing pains. She'll say that her legs, specifically her knees, hurt. My husband remembers growing pains and he said he experienced what she's reporting. Tylenol before bed might help.

Animal Parade makes great kids vitamins.
Here is one that may help:
http://www.amazon.com/Source-Animal-Parade-Milk-Dreamy-Va...

Sometimes, a lack of calcium AND magnesium... can affect one's sleep and bodily pains. This is a good product, but its for older kids: (I take the adult formulation)
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Calm-Orange-Flavor-Ounces/d...
Magnesium, helps in the absorption of calcium, and if you read about "benefits of magnesium" online... you will see many examples.
Magnesium is also water soluble, so it will not accumulate in your kidneys/liver/body. BUT again, be careful on what you give your girl or how much... because she is only 2.5 years old.

I would not over-do the potassium:
http://www.highbloodpressureinfo.org/potassium-overdose.html
NOR would I give her potassium supplements. You need to remember that she is only 2.5 years old.. .and you would not know the correct dosage for her age/weight.
I do not believe, she needs potassium supplements.

Still, it sounds like she is experiencing Night-Terrors, because she has a hard time waking up and responding to you. This, is classic night-terror indications/symptoms.

Her leg pain... is something else. Probably growing-pains.

All the best,
Susan

Avocados are great sources of potassium and can be used in many different ways. They are also a fairly complete food, too.
We love them.
D.

Have you tried getting your doctors opinion? A lot of hp stuff isn't for toddlers.

my friend had this growing up and suffered quite a bit because her mother thought she was faking it to get attention :( her daughter has inherited the problem as well but luckily she got some chinese herb pellets from an acupuncturist that have helped. but she's never figured out the root of the problem. a blood test might help you figure it out but that's probably not a good option for a 2 1/2 yo. best of luck :)

I myself suffer from low potassium. I found out through blood work. My dr gave me a perscription to take daily, so it would bea good idea to get ahold of the dr and run this past him/her. I also read that cantalope is a good source of potassium, there were other things I cant remember at the moment. I did a search on low potassium and got some good ideas. Vitamin D helps the body abosrb calcium so it might be a good idea to give her both. Will your child eat yogurt? There are brands out there that say they have extra Vitamin D and calcium that are meant for kids. There are things to try but it really boils down to talking to the dr about it, especially if you think she may have low potassium. Low potassium can an effect circulation and kindeys.
Yes it can be just growing pains, but odd that it only happens at night.

Both my sons suffered at different times with growing pains in their legs at night and would wake up crying and in pain. We would calm them down and rub their legs and give them a homeopathic remedy, although I can't remember the name. They grew and as young adults are fine.

It might just be growing pains, my sons legs hurt about that that age too.

The pain sounds like growing pains, my niece did the same thing at that age. Have you tried giving her a drink with Tylenol mixed inside? I let my 3yr old know that having a small drink of juice may help him feel better- it's worked. Asking a natural food and health specialist will likely offer some answers, if you haven't tried this already, I hope it helps.