My 6 Year Old Sons Stomach Hurts Him Mostly at Ngih

My daughter was 4 and having tummy aches almost daily. Her's were more in the morning than at night, but I decided to take her into the doctor to see if it was something. She didn't act constipated but pooped about every other day. The doctor said he heard some bowels in there, and put her on miralax. We now give her half a capful of miralax daily and no more tummy aches.

When I was little I would get stomach aches in the evening & the doctor said that it was probably from a dairy intolerance so to limit dairy just in the evenings.

This sounds very familiar! My daughter had evening tummy trouble for a while around the same age (she's almost 8 now). It turns out it was nothing more than stress. She'd go about her day just fine, but when it came to bed time, she'd slow down long enough to ruminate and fret over things.

At first, I was worried. But since all other things were fine, it became clear that this tummy ache was tension related, not actual illness. I found that teaching her some self-relaxation techniques really helped. This lasted a month or so. Since then, it's also helped her when she can't sleep to tense up her muscles, and then relax them, starting at her toes, and working her way up until all her muscles are relaxed.

Hope that helps!

It could be a lactose intolerance problem. It also might have something to do with his gallbladder. He might be to young for that though.
It could be a digestive problem. Try having him eat yogurt with live cultures in it. This will act as a digestive aid like pro-biotics would.
But if it is a lactose problem the yogurt will not help it could make it worse.

S.

Here's a resource that seems to have some good ideas...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t080300.asp

Best wishes,
J.

i knoew a kid like this and they discovered it was a dairy intolerance. I would start with giving him a probiotic supplement (good bacteria in yogurt, but need a supplement as the yogurt doesnt contain enough)....if that doesnt help then check on the food sensitivity/intolerance. Best way is to do an elimination diet but that can be hard with a six year old or talk to the doc about an allergy test though not always accurate

I agree with the previous suggestion - make sure he gets his fiber, too, and lots of water. My son doesn't like to use the bathrooms at school at all (not even to pee) and they're so busy during the day, which can lead to constipation.

Also, is the tummy ache coming after he goes to bed? My son was having nighttime reflux at that age - I don't know why a kid that young would have those symptoms but we stopped giving him any food in the last 2 hours before bedtime and the symptoms went away (that was a couple of years ago.)

Hi C. Take your son to his pediatrican to see what the problem is. If checks out fine, then maybe he trying to get some attention or doesn't want to go to bed.

I'm having a similar problem with my now 6 year old daughter, so I'm curious to see where you end up. I've found that it seems to be tied to taking vitamins in the morning on an empty stomach, times when she needs to poop and also when she's had juice on an empty stomach (it's either the sugars in most juices or the pectins in apple juice). She also complains alot more at night but I think that's because she doesn't want to go to bed, wants to leave light on, thinks about it more at night, etc. When I ask her where it hurts she says everywhere around her stomach area, nothing specific.

See if you can nail down your son's pain to a specific area and also tie it to something like a food he eats or something he drinks. I've heard every solution from strep throat to allergies. I hope you have better luck than I've had!

He could be hungry. Most kids at this age have no clue that the pain in the stomach that they feel is actually hungry. Or if he is not regular, constipated. BUT, your FIRST step should absolutely be taking him to see his pediatrician. Anytime a child complains about stomach pains for more than a week, the first step is see a doctor. Your son's pediatrician should be guiding you on this. If not, seek another opinion immediately.

Definitely speak with your kid's pediatrician about it.

I'm going out on a limb here, but when I was a kid I would get these weird, upsetting "stomach aches" sometimes in the evening, almost always on Sunday nights before the school week. It turns out I was having panic attacks, only I didn't have any other way to describe them. Maybe have a chat with your kiddo and see if anything's on his mind.

My daughter says the same thing to me almost every night. When I ask her if it hurt during the day too and why she didn't tell me until now; she says it hurt but she was too busy doing other things to think about it. We did take her in to the Dr. about a year agao when she would say her stomach was hurting all the time and it looked like it was constipation. We have gone through so many treatments and she says her stomach hurts now only at night when she is going to bed. I honestly think that she is tired and her body is achy because she is tired...when she wakes up in the morning she is fine. I would say to have him drink more water and try and flush his system more; unless he has a fever and cannot go to the bathroom, I bet he is tired.

You might want to look into G.E.R.D. on the internet. My daughter has tummy aches in the morning and the doctor thinks it may be reflux after laying down all night, but looking into it alot of sufferers experience the symptoms at night as well.

This is actually pretty easy to solve. YOu could take him to the pedatrician and see if htere is blood in his stool. All they do is take a little swab and put it on a slide and under a light right in front of you however NOt to freak you out but he needs to see a Gi dr and have a scope with biopsies. Sounds like it is an allergy hopefully something easy like this wheat gluten thing. If you do not want to see the dr or be scoped you can do an elimination diet and take wheat/gluten out of his diet for a month and see if he heals or feels better. Then try milk, etc. What ever the food is is causing damage to his lining of his stomach (prpbably his duodendum) hence the pain. If you have him scoped and have biopsies taken (it does not hurt one bit!)but the biopsies will tell you what it is could be bacteria, allergy, the celiac thing, yeast damage etc...it is very informative. It also can tell you if it is ED, an Eosnophilic Disorder. I would seriously listen to your child he is NOT making this up.

Please feel free to e-mail me, I have twins one with EE and one with ED. We have been though lots...
take care, J.

I found that my daughter's were related to allergies she had to preservatives and dyes in foods. They didn't show early in the day, but the more she ate, that is when we noticed problems. You may try your own experiments, reduce acidic things, like o.j. if he has it, dilute juices if he has them, make sure they are really juice. I did mine by trial and error. She is doing well. The doctor said I was crazy because there have been dyes and preservatives in foods for years, but our bodies are all different. Frankly, we are loving the new diet and she still has fun foods!!

Does he have regular "good" bowel movements? My son does not. During the day due to school , play, his mind on other things he ususally does not "complain", but at nite during wind down and quiet time he does....he has nothing else to focus on(distract him) so he suddenly notices being uncomfortable. Even though he is now 8 I still ask/remind him daily...."have you pooped today or when did you poop last" he usually runs to the bathroom with a book and solves the problem. Hope this helps....good luck