”Mom, my leg hurts.” The child said poorly at night, in the process of child growth and development, many parents have experienced such a scene. Parents can’t figure out why it hurts, but the child has not fallen or stumbled, and there is nothing abnormal in appearance, and everything is normal after careful examination in the hospital. However, parents should not be too careless, because some diseases have similar symptoms to growing pains, and parents may mistake them for growing pains and not pay too much attention to them, resulting in delaying the child’s condition.
How to tell if your baby has growing pains
Growing pains are a physiological phenomenon that is unique to children during their growth and development, mostly seen in children between the ages of 3 and 12 who are growing normally. Growing pains are mainly manifested as intermittent episodes of pain in the lower limbs. The pain is mostly dull, but can also be pins and needles or even severe pulling pain. The pain is mostly in the knee joint, followed by the thigh and calf area, or the front of the calf bone. The pain is irregular and intermittent, often occurring at night, lasting from a few minutes to several hours, without wandering, and without restriction of limb movement. The pain attacks are not accompanied by systemic symptoms such as fever and rash.
The main manifestations are three.
1, mostly lower limb pain growing pain
The most common site of occurrence is in the front of the knee, calf and thigh, occasionally in the groin area, and the pain is usually outside the joint. Typically, the pain is bilateral, but there is also pain on one side.
2. Mostly muscular pain growing pains
It is mainly muscle pain, not joint or bone pain. There is also no redness, swelling or heat in the painful area.
3.Pain mostly occurs at night
The biggest characteristic of growing pains is that they almost always occur at night. But don’t overlook the daytime. During the day, children are more active, so even if they feel uncomfortable, they may not notice it easily because they are focused on other things. At night, when the body and mind are relaxed and ready to rest, the “pain” symptoms can be particularly uncomfortable and even unbearable for the child.
What diseases are suspected to be “growing pains”?
Medical experts suggest that parents should be alert to the occurrence of late-onset rickets in children between the ages of 5 and 15 years old, because children of this age are growing and have an increased need for vitamin D and calcium, which can develop if they are deficient in vitamin D and calcium. The general symptoms are: walking fatigue and weakness, lower limb pain, especially the knee joint, ankle joint and calf pain, some irregular “leg cramps”, some people may also have heel pain, to the hospital to check the bone mineral density and mineral content is reduced, in serious cases, tibia, wrist bone X-ray film with bone changes, these symptoms in long standing, long walking and exertion These symptoms are aggravated after prolonged standing, prolonged walking and exertion, but can be relieved after rest, and can be accompanied by sleep disturbance and excessive sweating.
Children with this condition should take calcium supplements, including 250 to 350 ml of milk and 40 to 50 g of soybeans or soy products daily. In addition, take cod liver oil and vitamin D supplements of 400 to 800 units per day.
People always think that arthritis only occurs in adults. In fact, people of all ages can develop arthritis. Moreover, arthritis in children is not easy to identify and can be easily overlooked, often leading to misdiagnosis and mistreatment and aggravation of the disease. A 5-year-old child presented to a hospital complaining of leg pain for a year. When the child’s mother said the child’s joints were swollen, the doctor still did not pay attention to it, thinking it was a growing pain. As a result, the child’s knee and finger joints were bent and deformed and could not be straightened, and he could not take care of himself. Therefore, parents and doctors should pay attention when children have joint pain followed by enlarged or stiff joints.
In addition, children with upper respiratory tract infections may also have leg pain, which disappears when the respiratory tract infection gets better, because upper respiratory tract infections tend to cause osteochondritis of the knee joint. This is due to osteochondritis of the knee joint caused by upper respiratory infection. If you rest well, limit your activities and take calcium and vitamins, you will be cured soon. If you find that your child has unexplained leg pain, you should take your child to a regular hospital for a checkup to prevent it as much as possible.
How to soothe your child’s growing pains
Growing pains are a normal physiological phenomenon and are muscular in nature. The most effective way to deal with painful episodes is to provide local massage and hot compresses for children to help reduce the pain level and make them feel psychologically cared for and secure. Specific methods are as follows.
How to soothe growing pains in babies
1.Diversion
Diverting attention is an effective way to make the baby ignore the pain. Mom and dad can use storytelling, playing games, playing with toys, watching cartoons and other methods to attract the baby. Treat the sick baby more gently and considerately than usual, because parental encouragement and moral support are the most important pain relief remedies for children, sometimes even more effective than drugs.
2.Local hot compress and massage
Mothers and fathers can use hot towels to massage or apply hot compresses to the baby’s painful parts, which can ease the child’s tension and thus relieve the discomfort caused by the pain. When massaging, be sure to pay attention to the strength of the kneading. Let the baby fall asleep under the gentle touch.
3. Reduce strenuous exercise
Growing pains are not a disease and there is no need to restrict your baby’s activities, but if the pain is more severe, you should pay attention to let your baby rest more, let the muscles relax and do not engage in strenuous activities.
4.Supplementation of nutrients
You should let your baby take more nutrients that can promote the growth of cartilage tissue, such as milk, bones, walnuts and eggs, all of which contain elastin and collagen. And vitamin C is beneficial to collagen synthesis, you can let your baby eat more vegetables and fruits rich in VC, such as green vegetables, leeks, spinach, citrus, grapefruit, etc.