Nearly Five-year Old Daughter Wakes up Crying That Her "Leg" Hurts

We've had to deal with this before , my son had been laying a weird way and his leg had " fallen asleep" .
and I my self had something like this happen where I was waking up or thought I was waking up and the rest of my body wasn't , it's a scary feeling.

Bananas at bedtime!!!

or Gatorade / other potassium supplement

((Bananas are one of the most absorbable forms of potassium... but if your daughter is allergic to bananas/ doesn't like them... any kind of K+ supplement should help. Ditto, fortified cereal or bananas in the morning will help during the day).

So how muscle contraction and release gets kicked off is:
Ca++ (calcium) whenever a muscle needs to contract
K+ (potassium) whenever a muscle needs to relax

(actually, rigor mortis is caused by the abundance of calcium from the bones leaching into the bloodstream/muscles and causing them to contract, but with no K+ left in the bloodstream after a couple of hours, there's nothing to kick off the chain reaction that makes muscles relax. Only after all the calcium in the blood has been used up does rigor mortis fade. It's a pretty cool.)

Growing pains are caused by a variety of reasons, but it's usually that the bone growth is ripping the muscle (just like when we exercise, not bad ripping, but the kind that leaves you tied up in knots of ouchiness or curled up in a ball screaming from the cramps depending on how off your electrolytes are). The muscles then cramp to the bone, because there isn't enough floating potassium in the system to relax them and lactic acid is built up from the torn muscle cells.

ANYHOW.... Increase her potassium consumption, ibuprofen to reduce inflammation, and massage (upward ONLY, you don't want to break the gates on the veins by massaging downward on legs), and lots of stretching. AKA... treat her like a runner.

My son complains of this...we have finally figure out that he's laying on it wrong and it has "fallen asleep". Could that be it? We went to the doctor because for three weeks every other day he complained...and she said sounds like "it was asleep".

Which may be of no comfort to you but I do go in and move him around now and we've had no complaints for a few months.

oh there is a question almost identical to yours, like just asked 10 mins ago. Growing pains can be a culprit. Low on Potassium or Vit B, can cause cramping. Is it a continuous thing? like she is always complaining? Nothing seems to help? Aspirin, and massages sometimes help. Also, it would not hurt to have her checked for Lyme's Disease. One common complaint by those who have it, is leg and arm localized and joint pain.

I had growing pains horribly as a child and my youngest daughter gets them really badly too. I try to make sure that she gets bananas, potatoes, oatmeal, broccoli, spinach, apples, and calcium rich foods and drinks. It doesn't work 100% but it helps.

Massages with your hands coated in baby powder or rubbing alcohol can help.

I would mention it to a doctor in case she's not walking quite right. My daughter has hyper-flexibility in her skeleton in the hips and knees, which means when she was younger especially it looked like she was in-toeing when walking aka pigeon toed. What was actually happening was her entire leg was turning in at the hip and again at the knee. When she slept she would do it with her butt up in the air, and when she SAT or KNEELED it would be in the W formation. That's not good on a child's hips or knees. This trait seems to run on my husband's side of the family. She wasn't outgrowing this natural flexibility so we've had to discourage her using these positions and keep an eye on how she's walking. She's 7 years old now, and nearly outgrown it so we're supposed to give it another two years. The in-toeing is slight compared to how it used to be.

My point in bringing this up is because it can be painful at night because it's stressful on the legs, sometimes on just one of them. Mention it to your pediatrician and ask for a referral to a pediatric orthopedist if you notice that your daughter walks with in-toeing/pigeon toe.

This often happens to my GD when she's had a particularly active day. I don't know how they work, but what works for her with regard to relief is soaking in a hot bath and using a hand held massager to massage her legs. Also some type of pain reliever (children's tylenol or the like).

As my GD gets older, it is happening less frequently but every day that I know she's been active I cringe knowing that she will pay for it later!

As another person already suggested, it could be a potassium imbalance. You could give a potassium-rich food at bedtime, or make sure she has less salt (potassium and sodium balance each other out). It could also be another mineral causing the problem (I've known people who had similar issues due to a magnesium definiciency). My bet is on CALCIUM. My daughter used to wake up 3 or 4 nights a week screaming that her leg hurt. Pediatricium suggested giving her a calcium-rich snack before bed. She has a cheese stick or yogurt daily now, and we haven't had a problem in years.

Good luck!

I had them bad when I was little and my boys have them bad too. I will give them motrin and massage there legs. It's not fun.

I wouldn't give Gatorade to your kiddo. Not only is the acid hard on teeth, but new studies are showing the extremely high concentration of electrolytes are leading to kidney failure, even in extremely healthy kiddos.

Unless your kiddo has some kind of gi illness, she shouldn't be losing electrolytes to the point of causing muscle pain. If she is very active and has overdone it during the day (hence lactic acid) water is great for flushing the system.

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Please do not give aspirin to any child who may have a viral illness (Reye's syndrome - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reye%27s_syndrome) Try Tylenol or Motrin if you think the child needs pain medicine.

I highly recommend MediBeads heat wraps. I got my husband the neck one on QVC years ago, but we've used it for pretty much an kind of ache or pain since. They now come in several shapes and sizes. My kids use it when they have growing pains. My MIL used it when she pulled a back muscle. It's a little like a heavy bean bag- you just put it in the microwave, and the heat lasts long enough for them to go back to sleep ;) I think they find the weight of it comforting too.

http://www.painreliever.com/medibeads-heat-therapy.html?s...

HIH =o)

I had leg cramps when I was a child when I had growth spurts. (I grew 8 inches when I was 13 going on 14 over about a year.)

My dad would come in at night and rub my legs. I later found out he had growing pains too and he said his dad never rubbed his legs so that's why he got up to rub mine. My wife and I got up to rub our kids legs, but they didn't have near the problem I did. I read where some one suggested eating bananas because of the high potassium content. My kids loved bananas and it wasn't uncommon for them to eat at least one per day. Maybe that is why my kids didn't have near the problem I did.

Good luck to you and yours.

I used to get growing pains and my DD does also. I've had her pediatrician check her out and determine that nothing was wrong. Ped. told us to give her some medication for the pain if a massage didn't work and try warm compresses. If it got worse or she had problems in the daytime or other issues, we are to bring her back in.

My daughter has had similar experiences and was probably about that age when it started. It would happen sporadically but enough that I thought I should mention it to the pediatrician. He examined her and measured and felt one leg was slightly shorter than the other. He referred us on to an orthopedic.

The orthopedic examined her and did a full leg xray. From that he was able to determine that her legs are equal. He said her problem is more of a rotational issue. I can't recall exactly everything he said but it is a common problem which will either resolve itself or get better.

Has your daughter started any new activity? I know the first night of soccer seemed to exacerbate my daughter's problem but only the first night. The orthopedic thought that was normal.

If it is a persistent issue, I would mention it to the pediatrician and see where it takes you.