3 year old with leg pain

[jkcs]

My daughter has been complaining of leg pain on and off for about two weeks now.  Yesterday it brought her to tears and again today.  Everytime I ask her where it hurts, she points to either her thigh, knee or calf area.  The pain is intermittent, no swelling that I can see, no fall that I remember.  No other symptoms.  My first initial thought was growing pains, but wouldn't it be in both legs?  And would it bring her to tears?  Also, I thought growing pains were suppose to happen mainly at night.  I was researching on-line and found osteomyelitis.  She did have a severe ear infection about a month ago in which the dr told me she has a blister in her ear it was so bad...could this turn into osteomyelitis?  Any suggestions?

[misseng]

I don't really dose it. I know she was lacking it when she was having leg problems. Prior to her leg pain, she was sick and drank lots of milk only. As I read later on that milk depletes iron in your body. I'm not trying to O-D her with iron. But I want her to get at least a recommended amount of iron in her body. As for eating, she has poor eating habits in which we are not forcing her to eat everything we eat (which is healthy foods).

BTW: If you think your child is iron deficit, there is an Iron Deficiency Anemia test that the pediatrician can give your child. I believe its a blood test.

As for your son's leg? I'm not sure. It can be nutritional reasons.

[specialmom]

Okay, I do have a question though regarding iron drops.  I had thought you had to be very careful with iron in kids and that is why if they take too many 'multi vitamins'----  you called poisen control due to iron overdose.  Do you do a ratio to weight?

I'm interested in this as my son has sensory issues and eating meat is a difficult task.  I attempt to sneak spinach into things like smoothies and spaghetti sauce but am sure he doesn't get enough.  He doesn't have too many pains as stated her but will occasionally.  I always chalked it up to his active lifestyle (playing football ----  he's 8, and jumping for two hours on the trampoline, etc.)  but maybe there is a nutritional reason????

anyway, I was curious about the iron issue as that is in my pedi book as to something to be careful with-----  as in too much.  How do you dose it?

[misseng]

Thanks! To all... my daughter was all better after taking her iron drops and forcing her to eat meat/steak for the first time. I hope this help many you.

[margypops]

Good posts misseng I think there is much going on that is environmental it is a fact 20% of children are sicker than they were a few years ago .

[misseng]

Opps, here are the links..... If you want more information, here are a few links:

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/iron-deficiency-anemia-symptoms
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/iron-deficiency-anemia-children/overview.html

[misseng]

I can't believe how so many kids are experiencing the same awful leg/knee pain. My 3.5 year old daughter just started complaining about having legs pains in the groan area (not the bone) yesterday. She limps and couldn't walk straight and was in so much pain. Massaging the area and with some cuddling made her happier until she had to walk again. So I did some research and thought maybe it's "Growing Pains" like everyone said.

After reading everyone's comments here on this forum, there were a few things I want to try to help cure my daughter's pain quickly. I was convinced that it was Growing Pains or even the shoes she wears. Then I realized I wasn't diligent about giving her her daily dose of Iron Drops. I also thought about the foods she eats. We (mom and dad) eats healthy every night. But she prefers her chicken nuggets, fish sticks, pizza, white rice only, yogurt and milk. Recently, she's been drinking lots of milk. I just read that drinking too much cow's milk is a common cause of iron deficiency in young children (symptoms: Cracked lips, Muscle pain, brittle fingernails, etc)(read links below). So I've concluded that she is Iron-Deficient. Now, I’ll have to somehow convince or force her to eat good food (rich in iron foods) along with her iron-drops.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that I've nailed the problem. This is only day 2 for my daughter. I hope this is the culprit of the pain and an end for many little sufferers. I believe, it's what you eat or don't eat that is the cure (not medicine like the doctor ordered or the shoe).