Growing Pains: How to Care for Your Child

Growing pains are pains that kids feel in their legs, usually at the end of the day or at night. They feel like an ache or a cramp. They're most common in preschoolers and school-age children. Growing pains are not serious, and usually go away on their own as the child gets older.

To help your child feel more comfortable:

• Give medicine for pain if your health care provider says it's OK. Use these medicines exactly as directed:

  • acetaminophen (such as Tylenol^® or a store brand)

  • OR

  • ibuprofen (such as Advil^®, Motrin^®, or a store brand)

• You can place a heating pad or warm compress on the painful area, or have your child take a warm bath.

• Try gentle massage or stretching of the painful area.

• Comfort your child and reassure them that the pain will be gone by morning. Let them know that their muscles or bones are healthy even though they feel uncomfortable.

Your child has:

• pain that doesn't get better with massage, heat, and pain medicine

• pain during the day

• pain only in one leg

• swelling or redness over the area that hurts

• swelling, redness, or pain in a joint

• pain due to an injury

• fever or other signs of illness, like poor appetite or weight loss

• a limp

What causes growing pains? The cause of growing pains isn't clear, but they're probably not actually due to a child's growth. That's because kids' legs grow over time and too slowly to be painful, and the pains aren't usually over the parts of bone that grow. Experts think that growing pains might have many different causes. Because they often happen after a very active day, they could just be muscle aches due to lots of physical activity. It might help for your child to take occasional breaks while they play or do sports, and to try different activities so they don't overuse any one muscle group.