Generally pain only at night is benign and will eventually go away. Pain in the morning and during the day that persists for a period of time needs investigation. Here is a short and easy to understand article on growing pains and what to look for in terms of further investigation:

http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/features/growing-pains-or-childhood-arthritis

My 6 yo seems to get mild leg pain occasionally. I don't know if it's growing pains, but it seems to coincide more with his activity level. So, if he's had a very active (moving, running, climbing) day, his legs seem to be super bothersome as he's trying to go bed. Usually he seems to find relief in massage. I'll just squeeze and massage his legs and that seems to help him.

We have this too, off and on, with 6yo DD. I massage Arnica cream into her legs and do gentle stretches with her (her hamstrings often feel really tight). Heating pad helps somewhat, then Motrin when nothing else seems to work or if she wakes up screaming in middle of the night.

Anonymous wrote:I had terrible, excruciating pain in my legs as a kid due to growing pains. For me, the pain felt like it was in the bone itself, not a muscle-based issue. Nothing ever helped, and they stopped pretty suddenly one day.

Basically the same. My brother and I generally got growing pains around the same times of year. Excruciating pains that left us screaming and crying in agony for a couple of hours, 2 or 3 nights in a row. My mother would come in and talk to us but never do anything else. We weren't dramatic kids; it was very real pain, and we weren't feeding off each other. I don't know why she didn't give us pain relievers or massage our legs or something actually helpful besides "It's just growing pains. Try to calm down and go to sleep."

I had terrible, excruciating pain in my legs as a kid due to growing pains. For me, the pain felt like it was in the bone itself, not a muscle-based issue. Nothing ever helped, and they stopped pretty suddenly one day.

If you have it in two children it's probably growing pains or they're feeding off of each other's complaints.

But in our case, it was Lyme Disease. Also had arm pain.

Slight increase in milk.

My 5 year old and 3 year old daughters both often complain of leg pains at night - doctor has deemed them growing pains - though it doesn't always coincide with a growth spurt in my opinion.

When the pain is very bad (older girl seems to get it more intensely), I give children's motrin, but this is very rare. Right now, I massage nightly before bed and then let them use a heating pad as they sleep (and then I come up and turn it off after they are asleep). I try to get them to drink lots of water too.

is there anything else you've noticed helping with alleviating this pain?

TIA.