pediarci neurology

my little girl is four years old.  over the past six months she has been waking up in the middle of the night crying about her hands and feet hurting.  they go to sleep on her in the middle of the night and in the morning when she wakes up and i have to get up and rub them until the pain goes away.  it does not matter if she is sleeping in the bed or the car and it usually happens every other day.  she always sleeps till about 10 or 11 o' clock everyday and i just think that is a long time for a little child to sleep.  now grant it that she goes to bed about 11 every night also.  but is all of this normal?  she has no other medical problems.

[Neuro Forum]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with your doctor.

It sounds like your daughter has been having pain and numbness in her hands and feet during the night. Without the ability to obtain a full history and examine your daughter, I can not comment on the cause of her symptoms. However, the one cause that comes to mind has a rather simple name but is a true medical symptom: "growing pains".

Growing pains are symptoms of pain that occur in children. These are not uncommon, and may occur in up to a third of children between the ages of 4-6! They often during the nighttime or during sleep. The pain often goes away after rubbing. Growing pains are not associated with any serious underlying disease and usually resolve by late childhood. The exact cause is not known, but several theories have been proposed that relate to the changes in bones, blood flow, muscle etc that occur during specific periods in a child's development. They may also be more likely to occur if a child is stressed or over-active.

Growing pains are benign: they usually have no medical consequence and usually resolve on their own. However, things to watch out for are pains in the muscles during activity (muscle cramping), which could imply a muscle problem. This is unlikely in your daughter given that symptoms occur mainly during sleep and resolve with rubbing of the extremity.

Regarding treatment of these pains, if rubbing the limb does not help, an appropriate dose of tylenol may be helpful. An adequate amount of physical activity is also often helpful.

Regarding the number of hours your daughter sleeps, 12 hours of sleep is normal in her age group, and if she is not sleepy during the day, this would in a way imply she is having adequate sleep.

Thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find this information useful.