5yo and Stomach Aches

[tmarquez]

Sorry for the off-topic!

My DD (5) has been having stomach aches (she says she feels like she's going to throw up) on and off for over a month. There are no other symptoms.

I think it's stress. Alot has and is happening around here lately. DH broke his ankle a month ago, fell off my neighbors roof, ambulance came, had surgery, stayed in the hospital and the first episode started right along with that. She is also starting K at a new school on Thursday and leaving the preschool she's been in since she was 2. And any little thing that happens that would normally roll off her back just makes them worse.

Some nights she doesn't sleep at all, sometimes she is fine. Last night she had to sleep on the tile floor because she said it "feels better" sleeping on something hard on her stomach.

We have a Dr appt today (of course she is perfectly fine).

Tell me I'm not alone!

Any home remedies out there?

Thanks!

 

[crisi]

Keep a food diary. Start her again on a "baby diet" - rice, apple juice, bananas. No milk or wheat - and certainly nothing that is gassy. Then start reintroducing. Lactose intolerance and gluten intolerance can both manifest as tummy aches. Both can be difficult to diagnose in kids.

 

[nessz79]

I haven't found any solutions, but just wanted to let you know you're not alone! I just posted something very similar...here's the link:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1889185

We're not sure if it's milk products (which he's sensitive to) or anxiety (which he's prone to fearfulness and is very sensitive...so could be this too).

 

[OregonDucks]

My son has gone through bouts of this since early on. He gets stomach aches when he is nervous, or is in uncomfortable situations. It was really bad when he was 5 and in a kindergarten class of 36 kids. Totally stressed him out!!

When he was 7 he threw up at least once a morning and then was fine by noon for a week period. I took him in and the dr. said it was acid reflux. He had me give him a Zantac 75 twice a day and that really did the trick. We also cut down on soda and chocolate in the evening. It worked like a charm. I stopped the daily but keep it on hand if we have been traveling and eating poorly.

He still gets the nervous stomach, but as he is growing older he is able to recongive it as nerves and is learning to control his emotions better.

I hope this helps some, its horrible when our babies are not feeling well and we dont know how to make it better.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

DD9 got bad stomachaches in the spring. I thought it was stress, but the doctor diagnosed it as acid reflux (exacerbated by stress). She is asthmatic and has allergies, and one of the body's histamine responses is to increase stomach acid. She takes Prevacid every morning and is so much better. We tried to take her off Prevacid for a bit (since it is summer and her allergies are worst in the spring), but she started again with the bad stomachaches within a few days. She is back on the Prevacid and doing great. Her stomachaches would wake her up in the middle of the night and occasionally cause her to vomit. If you have an allergic or asthmatic child, you might mention the possibility to your doctor. Good luck!

 

[LoveTwoTravel]

This might be an over-simplified answer but if the child chews gum she is probably swallowing a lot of air (adults do as well). Air bubbles in her tummy might make it ache. Carbonated drinks would do this as well. I know that if a child cries a lot (for whatever reason) that they swallow air and it hurts their bellies.

I agree with the OP who suggested a food diary and starting with simple foods for several days at a time and reintroducing things. And I'd keep a bathroom diary as well: regular BMs, etc.? The doctor will want to know these things.

See how she does without Pepto type products so you have a clear idea of what's going on.

I hope she feels better.

 

[mombare]

You poor thing!! My daughter will be starting K in the fall also, but at the local school where she went to preschool. I am so thankful for that. BUT...I have recently talked to two moms who went through the K transition. Their children also went through some anxiety - one still is "in the bathroom" all the time when he is nervous. The first day of school, he visited the bathroom three times in about 15 minutes before they even left the house. The other child would only wear the same outfit for a month prior to school starting. She had to warn the teacher about the clothing issue...just in case her daughter wouldn't change for school. It just seems at this young of an age, children have such a hard time controlling that anxiety (which is normal). I would venture to say it is just nerves. Have you tried any kind of relaxation types of things?? We do deep breathing/belly breathing with our daughter when she is upset...

 

[licountrygirl]

During 1st grade, my daughter complained of belly aches very often. Nothing was ever diagnosed - she had blood work, xray. She also said that she felt like she had to throw up. It's very unnerving to say the least. We just watched what she ate and tried to be soothing, but sometimes it got to the point where we would get frustrated and say - yes, we know your belly hurts. Frustrating because we didn't know why and because we couldn't help.

I noticed that it happened more when she might be tired or stressed about school, sometimes just tired.

My son, on the other hand, when he was in Kindergarten was a mess. At one point, every morning at around 2am he would throw up. He would throw up 10 times in an hour. After the initial calming down, he would be fine like it never happened.

The diagnosing was horrific for him. Blood test, sono, xray, appt after appt with a pediatric gastro. Food charts, getting him up every morning at 2am with juice and a cracker helped a bit.

This went on for months. Finally the ped. gastro. put him in the hospital for one night to fast him. He had a port to draw blood every half hour to hour. This kid couldn't eat a single thing during the entire time. Every time they drew the blood, he cried because it seemed that it might not have been in the correct way. He fought about them redoing it. They were checking levels of sugar and waste in his blood.

Well, after almost 40 hours of this kid not eating a thing and me having to watch him endure this with hearing, mommy I'm so hungry and having blood drawn all the time, the doc finally released him with no medical reason for his throwing up.

Final diagnosis - cyclic vomiting syndrome. It's a mystery. Thankfully he grew out of it within 5 or 6 months, pretty much right after his hospitalization.

So when my daughter started in with her "my belly hurts," we just prayed that it wasn't the beginning of what he had - although he never complained of a belly ache - he would just wake up at 2am and throw up.

 

[mrsgrumpybear]

I just went through that with my daughter[6yrs.] over this past school year. First I took her to the doctor she had a bladder infection the dr. said that in little kids there belly hurts. But after it cleared up her belly was still hurting.Belly hurting went into temper fits[screaming ,yelling,and throwing things] I delt with it for about 4 mounths and could not figure out what the problem was. Even took her to a psycologist and it turned out that she saw someone in her class throw-up and was afraid that she was going to do it to. once the doctor explained that it was a ok thing to do because it gets rid of the sickness in your body, she was like my old 6 year old.

 

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

My 7 yr old was just diagnosed (finally) with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Basically she can have constipation or diarrehia (sp?), bladder & colon spasms (I know the symptom she shows, but she doesn't realize it), stomach aches, etc... They just finally narrowed it down after 2-3 years of on & off again problems. Most all caused by stress!

And she had Chicken Pox at age 8mo & she has already had shingles at age 4 - stress induced.

I truely think that some kids show stress more.

Sending hugs to help

 

[bartleby1]

DS5 had stomachaches for 4 weeks off and on about 4 months ago. No other symptoms. I thought it was stress related until he did actually throw up on 2 different days. Around the same time, DD3 got a horribly infected finger where she had a paper cut so I took both of them to the doctor. They both tested positive for strep throat even though neither of them had a fever or sore throat. DS's stomachache was due to strep and so was DD's finger infection.

Just something else to keep in mind and maybe have her tested for.

 

[Darlington101]

Does he have a feeling like something is coming up into his throat? Does he get sharp aches between the breastbone and the belly button? When does the stomachache usually happen in terms of eating, does the pain come a few hours after eating? Does he burp or hiccup often? Is he coughing?

 

[Neesy228]

My DS has a lot of similar problems...the doctor has told me that it's also stress related. He does NOT handle change well, so anytime something new happens, the stomach pain starts. He rarely throws up, but often says that he needs to. The only thing that would worry me about your DD is that she wants to sleep on something hard...that seems unusual.

Overall, the whole thing makes me sad, that there are so many kids, under so much stress, that it's making them ill. I don't think the pressures on these little kids today is at all fair, but that's another soap box for another time...

I wish there was a quick and easy home remedy for you. I haven't found one.

Hope your DD feels better very soon.

 

[nessz79]

My DS has a lot of similar problems...the doctor has told me that it's also stress related. He does NOT handle change well, so anytime something new happens, the stomach pain starts. He rarely throws up, but often says that he needs to. The only thing that would worry me about your DD is that she wants to sleep on something hard...that seems unusual.

Overall, the whole thing makes me sad, that there are so many kids, under so much stress, that it's making them ill. I don't think the pressures on these little kids today is at all fair, but that's another soap box for another time...

I wish there was a quick and easy home remedy for you. I haven't found one.

Hope your DD feels better very soon.

I'm not sure if it's today's modern stress necessarily. It certainly could be. However, I think many of these kids are just born very sensitive. When I posted something similar, someone posted about the book "The Highly Sensitive Child." I've requested it at my local library and haven't read it yet, but I've heard great things about it. Some children are just born more intense and sensitive.

 

[minnie2]

My 7 yr old was just diagnosed (finally) with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Basically she can have constipation or diarrehia (sp?), bladder & colon spasms (I know the symptom she shows, but she doesn't realize it), stomach aches, etc... They just finally narrowed it down after 2-3 years of on & off again problems. Most all caused by stress!

And she had Chicken Pox at age 8mo & she has already had shingles at age 4 - stress induced.

I truely think that some kids show stress more.

Sending hugs to help

My dd 8 was having tummy aches and I wasn't sure what it could be. At 1st we thought she was lactose intolerant. Then maybe she had a milk allergy so after running a simple blood test we found out she actually has Celiac's disease. It is an auto immune disease where your body can't process wheat gluten. So the only cure is actually very simple No Wheat gluten which means no wheat, rye, oats , barley or malt and with in a few weeks she was feeling great!
It is often MIS diagnosed as IBS but it is much more common then any one realizes. Simply because not all drs are aware of it. Many people go yrs with the dx of IBS and they get one dr that says hum let me test them for the heck of it and it turns out they never had IBS it was Celiac. I highly recommend it to every one! Especially people suffering from IBS. A blood test can tell you if you are positive for it or not. A simple diet change and all is well if it goes un diagnosed it can lead to serious complications.

My DH had his colon removed several yrs ago because he had Ulcerative Colitis and since my dd was dx'd we have read that a lot of people with UC are helped with a gluten free diet. DH regrets not knowing that maybe it could have saved his colon. Maybe not though...

Any way good luck to all your little ones with tummy issues. I hope they feel better soon.

 

[tmarquez]

Thank you all for your replies, suggestions and encouragement!

The Dr appt went well. She had a urine and blood test and both came back normal. DD hasn't complained of a tummy ache again since Saturday night. The Dr thinks it's anxiety due to all the changes in her life right now...and I agree. There doesn't seem to be a correlation between any food she eats and her pain. She is a picky eater anyway and usually only eats the same stuff.

Today was her kindergarten testing at her new school and the last day at her preschool that she's been at since she was 2. She was VERY hyper this morning...but pretty much ok. I got worried because her 2 favorite teachers cried when she gave them the thank you cards she made for them. We'll see what happens this afternoon when she gets picked up.

She is very excited about starting her new school. I hope she is ok tonight! I feel like if we can get through this week things will get better. She will get the consistency she craves with the new school year starting. Plus we will be spending the weekend at Disney in the middle of August...that HAS to help, right?

Now I can go back to worrying about her being bored in Kindergarten (hmmm, maybe I know where she gets the worrying from).