Growing Pains (Bachon Ki Taangon Mein Dard): Normal or a Visit?
Growing pains are real, common and harmless: aching in both legs in the evening or at night, in a child aged about 3 to 12, gone by morning. If every line of the checklist below fits your child, you can comfort them at home tonight. If even one red-flag line fits, it isn’t growing pains, and it needs a doctor.
Quick facts
- Typical age: about 3 to 12 years.
- Where: both shins, calves, backs of the knees or thighs. Not the joints themselves.
- When: evening or night, often after a busy, active day. Gone by morning.
- What helps: rubbing the legs, warmth, gentle stretches, reassurance.
- Not growing pains: one leg only, a joint, a limp, swelling, fever, pain in the morning, or any pain under 3.
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What causes growing pains in children?
Here’s the honest surprise: bones growing doesn’t actually hurt. Children grow fastest as babies, and babies don’t get growing pains, so the old name has simply stuck around long after anyone believed it literally. Nobody knows the exact cause. The best explanation is tired, overworked muscles after a day of running, jumping and climbing, perhaps in children whose pain nerves are a little more sensitive than average, and it often runs in families, which is why so many parents hear their child describe the ache and suddenly remember lying awake with exactly the same thing thirty years ago.
The pattern is what matters. Growing pains are a diagnosis made by fitting a checklist, and above all by the child being completely well the next day, running to school and forgetting that anything hurt at all the night before.
The growing pains checklist
Go down this list. Every line ticked? Then you can be confident.
- Age 3 to 12. Most often 4 to 8.
- Both legs. Sometimes one more than the other on a given night, but both over time.
- In the muscles, not the joints. The front of the shins, the calves, behind the knees, the thighs.
- Late afternoon, evening or night. It may wake them up crying.
- Gone by morning. The child gets up, runs, plays normally.
- No limp, no swelling, no redness. Legs look the same as always.
- No fever, rash, tiredness or weight loss. An otherwise well, eating, playing child.
- Rubbing helps. Children with growing pains usually want the leg rubbed. A child who pulls away from touch because it hurts more is different.
Growing pains want to be rubbed. Pain that hates being touched is a different story.
How to relieve growing pains in legs at night
This is one of the few times a leg massage is exactly the right thing.
- Rub the legs. Firm, slow strokes on the calves and shins for 5 to 10 minutes. Any plain oil or lotion helps your hands glide; the oil itself does nothing special.
- Warmth. A warm, damp cloth wrapped around the calf, or a warm bath before bed. Test the warmth on your own wrist first. Never use a hot water bottle directly on skin.
- Stretch before bed. Make it a game. Sitting with legs straight, the child reaches for the toes and holds for a slow count of 10. Standing, they push against a wall with one leg back, heel down, for a count of 10 each side. Three rounds.
- Reassure. Tell them plainly it’s a muscle ache that will be gone in the morning. Fear makes pain bigger for children.
- On a bad night, a painkiller. A children’s paracetamol or ibuprofen syrup can help. The amount is worked out by your child’s weight, from the pack or by a pharmacist. Don’t give two syrups that contain the same medicine, and never give aspirin under 16.
Try this for a week
On days after a lot of running, do the three-round stretch game and a warm bath before bed, and keep a simple note on your phone of which nights hurt, which leg, what helped and whether they were fine in the morning, so that if the note starts showing pain in one leg only, or mornings that aren’t pain-free, you can take it straight to the doctor. That note is gold.
Growing pains by age: what changes
Under 3
Leg pain in a child under 3 should not be called growing pains, because toddlers can’t describe pain well and fractures, infections and hip problems are much easier to miss at this age than in a chatty six-year-old. See a doctor.
3 to 6
The peak years. Tears at night, pointing at the shins, then a sprint to breakfast. Checklist fits? Comfort at home.
6 to 12
Still common, and older children can describe it well (“an ache, deep, in both legs”), though they may mix it up with sports strains, which come in one place after one particular activity rather than spread across both legs at bedtime.
Teenagers
Growing pains fade in the teens. A teenager with new leg pain, especially knee or hip pain with a limp, needs a proper look; the knee is sometimes where a hip problem shows itself, so ask the doctor to check the hip too.
See a doctor if the pain is in one leg only, is in a joint, comes with a limp, swelling, redness or warmth, is still there in the morning, stops the child from playing, or wakes them every night for weeks. Go the same day if there is fever, a rash, the child won’t stand on the leg, or there is unexplained bruising, paleness or tiredness with the pain. Any leg pain under 3 gets checked. These signs point to things like infection, injury or, rarely, a blood or bone condition, which is exactly why a persistent one-sided pain gets a blood test and an X-ray even though most of those tests come back normal and the main thing the family takes home is peace of mind.
Do growing pains wake you up at night?
Yes. Often. A child may wake an hour or two after falling asleep, crying about their legs, and settle again once the legs are rubbed and someone sits with them for a while. What should make you look further is pain that wakes the child every single night for weeks, or pain that is also there during the day, because growing pains come and go in waves, with a bad week followed by a quiet month.
Myth: calcium tonics fix growing pains
Bone tonics and calcium syrups are sold hard. Growing pains are not caused by weak bones, so a tonic doesn’t fix them. A child eating a normal diet usually gets enough calcium from food: a glass of milk, a katori of dahi, some paneer or a few pieces of cheese spread through the day, plus leafy greens and daals. Sunlight on the arms and face helps the body make vitamin D, and if you want more food ideas, our list of desi calcium food sources is a good start. Supplements belong to a doctor’s decision after a test, not to night-time leg aches.
Other myths
- “Cold floors cause it.” Cold floors don’t cause growing pains. Warmth helps the ache, which is a different thing.
- “It’s nazar.” A worry-free explanation: tired muscles. Nazar doesn’t enter into it, and neither do taweez.
- “A hakeem’s oil is needed.” Any gentle oil massaged in helps because of the rubbing, not the oil. Avoid oils with camphor or strong menthol on young children’s skin.
- “Growing pains mean the child will be tall.” There’s no link to final height.
Many dadis rubbed warm oil on a child’s legs at bedtime and wrapped them in a shawl. That’s still sound: warmth, touch and calm are exactly what helps. Keep the oil lukewarm, skip camphor, and let the ritual be the comfort.
Growing pains vs night leg cramps
A cramp is a sudden, hard knot in one muscle, usually the calf, that you can actually feel tighten under your hand and that eases when the foot is pulled gently up towards the shin. Growing pains are duller. Both legs, spread out. Adults get cramps far more than growing pains; if that’s what an older family member has, read night leg cramps. For more children’s guides, see Bachon Ki Sehat.
Growing pains: parents’ questions
At what age do growing pains start?
Usually between 3 and 5, often peaking around 4 to 8, and fading by the early teens. Leg pain in a child under 3 isn’t called growing pains and should be checked.
Are growing pains a real thing?
Yes, they are real and very common, even though the name is misleading. The ache is real; it just isn’t caused by bones growing. Children with them are otherwise healthy.
What do growing pains at night in a 4-year-old look like?
Typically a child who wakes crying about both legs, points at the shins or calves, wants them rubbed, then falls asleep and runs normally in the morning. That fits the pattern well.
Can growing pains cause limping?
No. A limp is a sign that something else is going on, like an injury, infection or hip problem. A limping child needs a doctor’s examination.
Can growing pains cause fever or swelling?
No. Fever, swelling, redness or warmth mean it isn’t growing pains. See a doctor, the same day if there is fever.
Can growing pains last for days?
Episodes come and go over weeks or months, but each ache is gone by morning. Pain that stays through the day or lasts days in a row needs a doctor’s check.
What is the home remedy for growing pains?
Rubbing the legs, a warm cloth or warm bath, and bedtime stretches. Reassurance helps too. On a bad night, a children’s painkiller by weight from the pack or pharmacist.
Do growing pains cause tiredness or headaches?
No. A child who is tired, pale, losing weight or unwell alongside leg pain needs a doctor and possibly a blood test. Growing pains happen in children who are otherwise well.
Does a child with growing pains need calcium or vitamin D?
Not because of the pains. A normal diet with milk or dahi and some sunlight covers most children. A doctor can test if there’s another reason to worry, and will decide on supplements if needed.
Can adults get growing pains?
Not true growing pains, which belong to childhood. Adults with night leg aches usually have cramps, restless legs, or another cause worth checking with a doctor.