Hello,

My son constantly complains of aches and pains as soon as we ask him and his older brother to get ready for bed. It has been fairly constant with both of them for a few years and is not every night, but more than most.

They will complain of anything, something in their eye, a sore leg, arm, head, finger, foot. It could be toothache or a miniscule cut on the finger. Sometimes they will have hurt themselves earlier in the day but only mention it at bedtime. My husband and I tell them laying down in bed will help to ease their pain, so we try to acknowledge it without giving them too much attention, but they seem to be doing it more and more.

Has anyone experienced this before? Is it just attention? Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you
Hodgey :confused:

First of all, the younger brother is probably copying the older brother. Our son who is 13 plays soccer, and he used to complain about bruises and such to avoid going to bed. We compromised, he was allowed to have a brief massage before lights out, if he went to bed without complaint. This only lasted a few weeks, and he gradually stopped reminding us about massages and went right to sleep!

Good luck,
A.

my 8 year old daughter is very active in sports - softball, cheerleading, & gymnastics. sometimes at night she complains of her legs & ankles hurting, she's done this off & on for probably about 2 years now and i've actually heard of people saying that kids get what they call "growing pains". this does tend to get annoying especially if the child is always thinking of ways to get out of having to go to bed. my child seems to be ok when i agree to rub icy hot on her legs and massage them. the hot/cold relief at the same time not only relieves sore and achy muscles, just the tingling sensation itself seems to be very soothing. so whether or not she is really hurting, she atleast feels better knowing that i seem to care, and try for a quick fix and she's happy and goes on to bed! good luck!