Improving A Child's Stamina

[rubyhettybetty]

My 7 yo lacks stamina and just by chance she was diagnosed at having hypermobilty (you refer to your son being double jointed) - if you look it up then a symptom of hypermobilty is a lack of stamina - so maybe you should read up on it for advice on how to improve his stamina whilst coping with this conditon

[Ally]

Thanks rubyhettybetty. I'll read up on hypermobility.

DS was diagnosed as having hypermobilty 4 years ago, whilst seeing a specialist about a dermoid cyst very close to his eye and at the time I was much more concerned about the cyst so I've never looked into hypermobility. It hasn't caused any real problems and it explained why he has a very unusual style of swimming.

[pheasantchick]

Thanks for all your reassuring and encouraging replies.

Ally and Tiddlymum - are our children triplets. My DS is also tall, had a mild speech problem when younger (needed speech therapy), rarely ill (apart from major illness aged 3), etc. I go through phases of giving vitamins (and brought three packets on offer earlier this evening!).

My DS doens't really get tired to much during sport - its more day-to-day stamina that I'm referring too. ie. gets tired early in the evening and needs early nights. He can't really do late nights. He quite often has dark circles under his eyes, despite getting a good nights sleep. Unfortunately, he doesn't like bananas.

[TIDDLYMUM]

Hi P chick

baked beans and lots of them? you have to cope with the fallout though

[mystery]

I'm really not sure that you can do anything about having a longish sleep requirement. That's not stamina as I understand it. It's a tough one if you've got a long day due to a time-consuming school commute and a lot of homework. It leaves him with no time for anything else. How many hours sleep does he need per night to feel rested and not be forced out of bed with an alarm? It may just be that he is comparing with little brother who needs less than average?

[pixiequeen]

Pheasantchick,

As a child I really struggled with tiredness once I got to secondary school (I don't remember it being a problem at junior school). I used to fall asleep in lessons. I probably didn't go to sleep as early as I should have done - I was a avid reader and would occasionally keep reading until late at night. As an adult it actually just got worse - until I pin-pointed that it was especially after meals that I felt tired. I eventually found out for other reasons that I am allergic to both cows milk and wheat. Within a fortnight of excluding both from my diet I was staying awake all day and going to bed at a normal time (11pm) and getting up at a sensible time for work. I worked out for myself that it is the wheat that causes the problem. The cows milk just blocks my sinuses and makes me snore

My DH has also recently given up eating wheat after a year spent visiting the doctor for chronic tiredness and eventually being given a clean bill of health - but no solution.

I am not suggesting you try an exclusion diet for your child with out the advice of a doctor but it might be worth looking at how much wheat your DS eats and whether you can subsitute some of it with something else - porridge for breakfast, rice for tea - jacket potato for lunch?

Hope this helps

Pixiequeen

[pheasantchick]

Pixiequeen - I had wondered about milk or wheat allergy, and coincidently has suffered from nasal congestion for the last year (currently uses nasal spray and antihistamines). I have suggested to the doctor about getting him allergy tested but he doesn't want to go down that route. Changing a child'd diet is a big step. Maybe when the current lot of tablets have run out, I'll return to the doctor and push for allergy testing.

[Plum]

How about swimming? Its great all round excercise and improves stamina. Then once he has done his laps he can just play around in the water and have fun.

Definitely agree with BM. My DS was a bit pudgy with not much stamina when he was in Yr 4/5. I got him going to swimming lessons once a week and not only did his swimming improve but so too his stamina and body shape. Also, Karate is very good for general fitness and flexability.

He's now in Yr 7 and in the A team for rugby and his running as much improved - came 27 out of 120 for the Yr 7 annual run.

Neither of these looked likely back in Yr 4.

Good luck to your DS.

Plumx

[Midget Man]

Pixiequeen - I had wondered about milk or wheat allergy, and coincidently has suffered from nasal congestion for the last year (currently uses nasal spray and antihistamines). I have suggested to the doctor about getting him allergy tested but he doesn't want to go down that route. Changing a child'd diet is a big step. Maybe when the current lot of tablets have run out, I'll return to the doctor and push for allergy testing.

Normally a change in diet is done gradually, trial and error of taking out certain things at a time to try and eliminate. You uusually have to fight for an SPT or bllod tests(well you do in Bucks anyway!), so if ever in future you do feel it's possibly allergy related, keep pushing

[doodles]

As pixiequeen suggests, is it not possible to find alternatives and see how that works and whether there is any change. Then you can go to your GP with your "findings" to back you up.