Chatterbox, my 4 year old, has had persistent, mild abdominal pain for at least a couple of weeks now. She has had bouts with constipation in the past (please forgive me if I crossed the too much information boundary there), but I don't think that's the problem now, as far as I can tell, anyway, if you know what I mean. She doesn't complain about it much, nor does it affect her eating, sleeping, or general attitude. But if I ask her how her tummy feels, she cheerfully responds, "It hurts." Then, as if to buoy my spirits, she says, "But only a little bit." Then she smiles and bounds away.
I'm sure I am revealing myself as an overprotective mother to even be worrying about it, and truly I am not thinking it's anything serious. But still ... I would like to help her resolve it. I hate thinking her tummy is bugging her all of the time. What to do, what to do?
After lots of research and some prayers, I have determined to try a lactose-free diet for 2 weeks. This will be interesting, seeing as her most-consumed foods are: hot chocolate, cheese, butter and honey sandwich, yogurt, and ice cream. But it will be worth it if it helps her. Does anybody out there have a lactose intolerant child and/or experience with recurrent abdominal pain in children? I'd love some advice.
9 comments:
I am so glad you posted this. My child 3(girl)occassionally tells me that her stomach aches chronically. It is the same thing; her activity is fine, no other symptoms, but if you ask her it aches some. She has a high pain tolerance and so she will not complain a lot about pain. Maybe I should try lactose-free diet. I was also thinking of trying her on a gluetin free diet as I have a cousin who was recently diagnoised with Celiac Disease. Keep me posted on how Chatterbox does lactose-free! Good Luck!
I have a son (almost 5) with this problem...we ended up seeing numerous doctors and such and they finally gave us miralax (sp) which you can now buy in the grocery store. It helps with "regularity." there are NO side effects, and you mix it into your drink which doesn't cause any flavor difference either.
My son's pain was getting so bad that it ended up causing reflux and heart burn, but as soon as we regulated, it took care of the problem..
As far as lactose free. I have problems with lactose when I am pregnant, try soy milk or lactaid...can't hurt...good luck.
Wow, two comments with very helpful suggestions. Thanks, guys!
KJ-I looked into celiac disease more. Ugh, I hope it's not that. However, if the 2 weeks of lactose free doesn't help, I may try going gluten free.
But only AFTER I try Charity's idea of Miralax.
A gluten free diet sounds like NO FUN (especially for the cook who already has enough trouble feeding 3 people). I really hope it doesn't come to that.
At least I live by a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods.
Courtney used to complain about her stomach all the time when she was little. I sked our pediatrition about it once.. He said that is the number one complaint in little girls and said it was something that they grow out of. Helpful huh. I never tried any special diets though. She did grow out of it, but who wants them to suffer? Sorry Im not much help.
Jillian complained about her stomach for a long time. Your post just reminded me of that! She has cousins with various issues and allergies, so I was worried, but apparently she grew out of it. Every time she said her stomach hurt I had her try to use the restroom or have some water. That seemed to help. Good luck! Wendy G. has lactose intolerant kids and Amanda M. has the Celiac disease kids, although I hope you don't end up with either of those!
Hi Polliwog -
I'm a fellow marathon mommy....
I came to your blog this morning and saw this post and had to comment....
My son has had issues with his tummy for several years (he is almost 9). He too had a diet full of mainly milk. The doctor suggested we go to only 16 oz. of milk per day (which was a huge decrease for him) and do the same laxative that Charity mentioned in water at night to get things moving....
When the doctor examined my son he said his poor colon was completely jam packed. The moment my son would start to eat dinner each night he would lay down because his tummy hurt so bad. The doctor said that his colon is full and sending messages to his stomach NOT to send anymore food down (as I typed that - it sounds so funny that his organs were talking amongst themselves :)
Anyway, keep track of how often your little one has to do a BM - my son was going days and then they were pretty painful. I hated taking away milk and dairy when he loved these foods so much, but he was old enough to realize maybe too much was causing pain...
Before seeing the doctor I decided to try Soy milk and thought maybe he was lactose intolerant, but the doctor said the symptoms were different....Good luck with the detective work.... Hope she feels better soon.
First thing I thought as I started reading was MILK! I hope it's as simple as that and you can solve the problem. Max drinks Vanilla Silk and he loves it! I find that Straight Milk is the worst for him so the occasional Go-gurt or cheese stick is no biggie.
GOOD LUCK!
(P.S. I just realized I didn't have your blog listed on my blog roll for some reason. (I probably forgot to push 'save changes' at some point.) Anyway, it's there now!)
try Amanda M back in A2. she has been dealing with that and her blog itself has TONS of recipes. best of luck!
http://mallettfam.blogspot.com/
Boy, not as if you need my comment after the others but here goes. (I'll keep it brief and try not to encrypt it too much as I have a tendency to do that.) Twin boys complained of tummy aches regularly. After a watery bowel they'd be fine until the next bowel movement (generally 3-4 times a day). Doctor was NOT helpful. Took them to a homeopath (who is also a member of the ward) and paid the $$ to hear that my boys were severely gluten-intolerant and to also eliminate cow milk from their diet. He then listed a bunch of behavioural things that I would witness if I followed the diet - all good. I painfully obeyed the diet for 6 months - not fun. But, as promised, tummy aches went away, bowels became "regular", and a myriad of other things improved. Now, we are back on gluten and milk. At the end of this month they will be tested for celiac. I pray it isn't that but if it is its been soooo very worth it - not to mention everything I've learned about nutrition because of it. Always look on the sunny side of life aye. Oh, and as a plus, Alauna always had rock hard bowels that were like labor to pass. On the milk free/gluten diet she too became regular and bowels were easy. So, there you have it.
Post a Comment