The past 3-4 nights my 6 year old has been plagued by stomach pain in the evenings that has her in tears. We've been racking our brains as to what could be wrong. At first I thought it might have been sore muscles from coughing too hard (she's on the mend from a sinus nastiness), then I thought it was constipation, that the movement was causing the pain. So we limited what we offered her yesterday and she managed to "go".
Yesterday all she ate was white rice (cinnamon, sugar and butter) and grapes and she seemed to be on the mend today. Today she had fruit loops and milk for breakfast, a chicken nugget, chocolate milk and some french fries at lunch(seemed to have no pain but lost interest in the food) and a single mini pancake at dinner and after about 20 mins the pain returned. She's now asleep with a heating pad on it's lowest setting, I'm about to go in and turn it off. The heat seems to help, at least according to her.
Could this be a reaction to the gluten in the pancake? I would have thought she would have had issue with the cereal this morning as well, but she seemed fine. Any ideas? Any education sources you've come across if you already have a gluten free life style? We're running out of ideas as to what can be causing this. Help!
Thank you all for the idea's and suggestions. It's just so frustrating knowing something is "wrong" with your baby and not knowing what it is or how to fix it. We'll avoiding following the BRAT too closely, but all the options are in the house if she should want and is willing to eat them. We are going to limit gluten and dairy for a day or two. I know it's a bit of a leap, but they're easy to eliminate for a short while just to see if it helps. If it (the pain) comes back tonight then we're hitting up the urgent care clinic.
I was just reading tonight how post nasal drip from things like sinus infections can give kids horrible upset stomachs even to the point of vomiting. Just a thought which would make sense from what you described. Do a search for that for description & advice.
Upper or lower abdominal area?
There's not enough info to go on but I would not be leaping to a conclusion of Celiac disease from a few nights of pains.
Is there a family history of Celiac disease?
If she's constipated, you don't feed her rice (it's a binding food), but rice is ok if it's diarrhea.
If it's gas, try her on some gas medication.
Could be acid reflux (is it high enough to be considered heartburn?).
Could be appendix (if it's low enough - pain start lower central then usually go to right side but this would not just be in the evening).
Does she run a fever?
She's a bit young for diverticulitis unless she has a history of constipation.
Her diet seems to have a lot of starch in it (except for the grapes).
Does she eat salad, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes and other fruits and veggies?
She might need some more fiber - prunes and prune juice are great for this.
Is she showing any signs of early puberty? Could this be really early menstrual cramps?
Irritable Bowel Syndrome can involve gas, cramps, diarrhea and constipation.
It can be triggered by stress but diet does not seem to make any difference when an attack starts up.
This happens with my son but he seems to be out growing it (he's down to having an attack about every 5 or so months which is so much better than every month or two).
Besides a heating pad, try a warm bath.
If this doesn't go away soon, take her to the doctor.
There is so much that could be going on - her doctor would be able to help figure it out.
Celiac is a big jump from some abdominal pain, as others have suggested. If she's constipated, you DON'T want the BRAT diet! That's for diarrhea and nausea, and it's great after the stomach bug. But if there's some constipation involved and she's not going every day, you need to switch her up to more fiber. That means brown rice, not white. I'd cut back on the fried stuff - like French fries and even a chicken nugget. (You could substitute oven-friend potatoes with a little olive oil, and make your own nuggets with chunks of chicken tenders dipped in whole wheat bread crumbs or wheat germ, quick fried in some olive oil just to crisp up the coating and then finish by baking in the oven.) I'm not sure the pancake alone caused the pain - probably just the accumulation of grain and oil and dairy. I notice there were no fruits or vegetables in the day's menu - that absence of fiber is probably a big problem. Can you switch her off the fruit loops and onto whole grain cheerios, even with a little stevia for sweetness?
If you're concerned about the gluten in the pancake, you have to be just as concerned about the gluten in the cereal and the nugget coating. It's just as likely that the dairy caused the problem.
But the absence of fiber and (I'm guessing) not a lot of water is a much bigger problem. She may well have a whole ton of sludge in her intestine and it just gets worse during the day, perhaps more so at night when she's not as active. If she is not pooping once a day, she is fiber-deprived.
Before you go do a whole lot of invasive tests, why not make some simple changes by going to "darker" version of basic foods (whole wheat flour in the pancake with added wheat germ - she'll never taste it!), whole grain cereal with some fruit (anything but bananas which are on the brat diet and therefore the opposite of what you want), healthy chicken nuggets (I can give you a detailed and very simple recipe of what my son LOVES), sweet potato "fries" instead of white potatoes (or at least oven-fry them instead of deep frying), brown rice with a Chinese veggie & chicken stir fry, and even fiber-rich hamburgers on whole grain rolls. And water water water. Try some apple slices dipped in or spread with peanut butter or almond butter, veggie slices dipped in hummus, and that sort of thing.
maybe she is getting too much air in her tummy. i get that sometimes and it hurts badly. if it happens again give her some baking soda in warm water. it doesnt taste good but if its gas it will do the trick. hope shes better soon.
Or milk.
Don't let the urgent care diagnose. Let them treat symptoms and get an appointment with the ped and allergist. And then an RD once you have the diagnosis. The RD (I am one) can help a lot for meal planning. But we won't diagnose anything.
I know how hard this is!!!
I had an issue with food (hives). I kept a meticulous food journal and still could not figure out the cause for months. Then I realized that I had not written down a cough and allergy medication I was taking with saccharin in it.
Then there were the intestinal issues with severe diarrhea and that took a long time to figure out and it turns out I have an immune reaction to eggs.
I do also have a reaction to gluten.
My kids have some issues, including intestinal malabsorption and cannot have gluten and dairy and some other foods. For them constipation was an issue.
There is a Celiac blood test for gluten antibodies, but it is not totally reliable. Even the IgA (intestinal response) test through Enterolab.com has something like a 1 in 400 possibility of a false negative due to a person's inability to make sufficient IgA type antibodies. Then there are the IgG reactions... that's a blood test but one of them can be done at home with a finger prick. About 3/4ths down this post is a list of some types of food sensitivity testing: http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2011/08/brain-health-cut...
So even though the IgG testing can give some false positives, I did that, and it was at least a good starting point for figuring out what foods were causing problems.
And then, of course, don't neglect the IgE testing which must be done in the doctor's office - usually by an allergist. Apparently even the IgE immune reactions are not always obvious.
Some people think anything except IgE is not "real" but one of my reactions (to saccharin) eventually landed me in the hospital with every joint in my body inflamed. I was treated the same way as someone having an IgE anaphylactic type of reaction.
You can try eliminating what you think is the cause for at least three solid days then try adding back a small amount.
Anything made from corn is a good and easy alternative to start with. Corn tortillas used in place of bread. Hash brown potatoes /eggs for breakfast lots of fresh fruits and veggies no breading on meats they usually have gluten. Good Luck!
J.
mom to six
Why don't you try a BRAT diet? Bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. See if that helps.
What does the doctor say about it? Sounds like it's time to take her back in...
So sorry,
Dawn
I think she needs to go back in to the doctor. Stomach and abdominal pain have many, many causes and can be very difficult to diagnose. They will start with simple things first. I have IBS and my younger son suffers from chronic constipation so we have some experience with abdominal pain and digestive issues. I agree with another poster than an abdominal x-ray to determine if there's any blockage or backed-up stool would probably be one of the first steps. Kids with constipation actually exhibit with diarrhea sometimes so that's one of the reasons the x-ray is needed. You can't always tell by physical symptoms. When my younger son gets backed up or gets gas sometimes the pain can be so severe he doubles over. I don't know if it's real or psychological, but like your daughter he claims heat helps (like a warm bath or heating pad). Good luck.
I think she might need an X-ray to see if she's blocked. That was the only way we found out that my granddaughter was.
The doc felt of her and listened and thought she was fine, it all felt and sounded normal. But decided to do the X-ray just to be sure.
It showed a small blockage. She started drinking a medication and it really helped. She gets constipated still, she doesn't drink enough water for sure, and with the help of the medication she gets past it.
