Treating pain in children may be easier said than done.

Perhaps the hardest part of assessing your child's pain is whether they need medical attention. Pediatrician Dr. Emilio Del Valle says that's best done by measuring several different levels of discomfort such as behavioral or physiological factors. "You can gage by how they act but traditionally we have the scales from one to ten."

Doctors like Dr. Del Valle use these scales with pictures so that children can express how they feel. It's as simple as a smile or a frown. "Now we have happy faces and the happy faces you can show them to the children and the child with a happy face like would be a ten one that is sort of like the eyes are closed and face is drooping a five and one that is real happy would be a one."

The most common pains are simply treated with Tylenol or Motrin, but Dr. Del Valle says that medication may not always be the right answer. "There are some pains where you want to just keep an eye on them and you don't want to aggressively treat them. Or you don't want to continue giving the medicine unless you know why they're having the pain."

While these medications are the same as those given to adults, the dosing varies on age and typically weight.

If you feel your child's pain exceeds over the counter treatment consult your physician. Anti-depressants or even surgical analgesia are other options for chronic and emotional pain.