5 year old saying his tummy hurts.

[Anonymous]

For the past week and a half my 5 yo boy has complained of a tummy ache. He acts totally fine and is eating a ton. It’s definitely not a stomach virus. He poops regularly and his poops are normal.

Sometimes I’ll think he’s trying to get out of doing something, or trying to get TV time, but I’m not actually giving him extra TV time or keeping him out of school. But other times he just complains randomly when there’s nothing to gain or lose.

I’m really struggling with how to respond. I mean I don’t want to ignore him if he really has something going on. On the flip side, I don’t want to give it a bunch or attention if it’s no big deal.

I don’t think this is anxiety because he’s really never been an anxious kid. I’ve asked him if he’s worried about anything and he says no.

Anyone go through something like this and figure out what was wrong?

There are no other symptoms so I’m just confused. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Try lactose free milk.

[Anonymous]

I’d keep a journal this week and next. For each day, draw 3 columns. I’d make the first column listing time from wake-up to bedtime in 30 min blocks. The second column record what he eats & drinks at the corresponding time. And in the third column, note when he complains of stomach ache. You might seem patterns emerge and possible connections to what he’s consuming.

[Anonymous]

This happened with my DS in kindergarten. We finally figured out it was a nervous belly. He never had specific complaints or worries about school, etc. but it just manifested in complaints of his tummy hurting. Some extra TLC, unstructured playdates with school friends, and time made the complaints go away.

[Anonymous]

DS was diagnosed with gastritis in K. Lasted about a week. No real explanation. I don't remember if we were told to give him antacids. He would never take liquid medicines. He has had issues with heartburn since he was in mid teens and I was once dx with h pylori, IDK if that has been checked for him (he's adult now).

[Anonymous]

I don't understand all the quasi-medical questions on DCUM. Do your doctor's offices not have nurse's lines? This is exactly what the nurse's line is for. Call the nurse's line and see what they tell you to do.

[Anonymous]

Have him show you where it hurts (lower abdomen, just below ribs, behind ribs), then call the ped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happened with my DS in kindergarten. We finally figured out it was a nervous belly. He never had specific complaints or worries about school, etc. but it just manifested in complaints of his tummy hurting. Some extra TLC, unstructured playdates with school friends, and time made the complaints go away.

How did you figure out that it was nervous belly? Did you talk to him about it at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand all the quasi-medical questions on DCUM. Do your doctor's offices not have nurse's lines? This is exactly what the nurse's line is for. Call the nurse's line and see what they tell you to do.

Well, I did call the ped this morning, but I was feeling stressed about it over the weekend, and thought I'd see if anyone else had been through something similar.

It definitely wasn't worth calling the ped after hours line.

[Anonymous]

Lactose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lactose?

Could be. We already drink lactose-free milk because his little brother had some issues, and otherwise we don't eat too much dairy. But I do think that maybe I can try just eliminating it completely for a few days and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happened with my DS in kindergarten. We finally figured out it was a nervous belly. He never had specific complaints or worries about school, etc. but it just manifested in complaints of his tummy hurting. Some extra TLC, unstructured playdates with school friends, and time made the complaints go away.

Yes. My DD is 5 too. She will off and on complain about her stomach, but then will eat lunch fine, play just fine etc. She used to say it in the morning. I normally ask her if she needs to poop, and then offer some water, and a "let's see if that helps" kind of thing. I do suspect some of it is just general nerves about school, the week, SOMETHING and I don't think she can explain it. I have stared just asking "is there something about school making you feel nervous?" and occasionally I get a dumping of how some game isn't going her way or the like.

+100 on the unstructured time. My DD was just telling me how having someone else tell you what to do all the time was just SO HARD. It really is. They need time to just BE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This happened with my DS in kindergarten. We finally figured out it was a nervous belly. He never had specific complaints or worries about school, etc. but it just manifested in complaints of his tummy hurting. Some extra TLC, unstructured playdates with school friends, and time made the complaints go away.

Yes. My DD is 5 too. She will off and on complain about her stomach, but then will eat lunch fine, play just fine etc. She used to say it in the morning. I normally ask her if she needs to poop, and then offer some water, and a "let's see if that helps" kind of thing. I do suspect some of it is just general nerves about school, the week, SOMETHING and I don't think she can explain it. I have stared just asking "is there something about school making you feel nervous?" and occasionally I get a dumping of how some game isn't going her way or the like.

+100 on the unstructured time. My DD was just telling me how having someone else tell you what to do all the time was just SO HARD. It really is. They need time to just BE.

THIS. Folks, kindergarten is hard for them. Even if they can't really articulate it and even if they seem happy to go and generally are doing well, it's just a huge adjustment. When you think about it, they control so little of what they're doing and their day.

[Anonymous]

Maybe not an issue if he's otherwise healthly but at that age a stomachache complaint with my kids often turned out the be strep

[Anonymous]

He may not be able to totally connect that he's worried about anything yet. If you don't find a physical cause, then I would guess it is a little bit of nervous belly and you may be able to start helping him make those connections. Ask open ended questions to try to learn more about his days and try to go a little deeper each time. You may start to find some things through this exploration - "the teacher is always asking me to sit down" "I felt tired in the afternoon" - if you are able to get to some of these things then you can verbalize - "sometimes when we feel overwhelmed, we feel things in our body - sometimes I feel little butterflies in my belly, I wonder if when your belly hurts you might be feeling a little worried." Keep making these connections for him and helping him link how his emotions are connected to his body. This is a good skill no matter what. Then you can help with things he can do when he feels those feelings in his body (practice deep breaths, you could look up progressive muscle relaxation scripts for kids, or like others have said unstructured outdoor play after school would probably do wonders).

Often parents feel like it can't be anxiety because they say my kid doesn't seem anxious, or isn't an anxious kid. But remember that it's normal for us ALL to feel emotions in our body at different times. It doesn't necessarily mean we have an anxiety disorder. When we are extra stressed are work, most of us have physical symptoms. But we may also seem fine to others, because generally we are. They usually dissipate when the stressors are removed or when we take care of ourselves and if they don't impact our daily functioning it's just normal stress/nervousness not a disorder. So think of it more like normal responses to stress that you want to help him learn how to cope with.