#HELP I think my four year old has growing pains

A mum got in touch with our Facebook community to chat about her little boy’s painful predicament – and get some ideas on what she could do about it.

She says her preschooler seems to be dealing with growing pains and wondered if other parents had any ideas on what she could do to help her son feel better.

#HELP! My 4yo has been waking up in the night and complaining of sore legs. He comes into our room and starts crying, he is in so much pain. He touches his legs and groans a bit. It’s happened for at least a week now. Could this be growing pains? He doesn’t have any other symptoms and is (most of the time) a very happy camper! What’s my best next step? How do you deal with growing pains?

Our readers had lots of helpful and varied advice. Here’s what they had to say …

Seek further advice

Lots of parents suggested that this mum seek medical advice, just to make sure there was not an underlying health issue.

It is always best to go to your doctor and ask them. It would be awful if it was something that needed treatment. Good luck. – Nelly Davis

We had a similar issue and took our daughter to the podiatrist. Total game changer. Once she was stabilised she was so much better. – Shannon Lacey

There’s no such thing as growing pains. If there is pain then there is an issue, alignment, magnesium deficiency, soft tissue, inflammation, a range of options. Seek medical advice and don’t accept ‘growing pains’ as a reason. – Trish Anne

A little TLC

For other families, remedies like massage, Epsom Salt baths and heat packs helped ease similar nighttime pain in their litttlies.

My son had the same at about 5 years old. We used to massage his shins and it gave him relief. He grew out of it but gosh he was in so much pain with it. – Michelle Edwards

I had really bad growing pains growing up. Mum used to put heat packs on my calves and knees as that where the most pain was. – Natalie Millman

This happened to my son!!! I started rubbing in some sleepy balm to the bottom of his feet and behind his knees/calves after his bath and it went away. – Carly Harms

My daughter had this issue. Could be restless leg syndrome. Or too much activity before bed. Epsom salt bath and a heat pack on the legs might help with the muscle pain. – Joelene Parker

You can read all the helpful advice given, on the original Facebook post here:

This post is sponsored by Nurofen For Children