Tummy ache in 3 year old after eating

Question

Last week my 3 year old son had too many varieties of snacks and puked 3 to 4 times in the night. He started complaining of tummy ache. It became worse, anything he drinks, he was throwing it up, even little amounts of water. We took him to the pediatrician and she diagnosed it to be a stomach virus. He was treated with an shot to stop vomiting, and she gave ORS and advised bland food. From past couple of days he also having some loose bowels. We would be visiting the doctor again tomm.

But this tummy ache which he complains after eating anything is almost for a month. My wife puts a warm cloth on his tummy to soothe the pain. But nothing was serious except from the last week incident.

Has any of you seen where the child complains of tummy ache after eating? Any similar experiences?

Thanks.

Answer 1

If he had a stomach virus, his levels of healthy germs could be off. A probiotic supplement may help and, at the very least, is unlikely to make the problem worse.

Answer 2

A problem when diagnosing children's ailments is their inability to describe their symptoms in a useful way. My daughter often has a sore stomach, but it has only been relatively recently that we have been able to get more useful information, such as:

• sore musculature - sometimes after a long swimming/taekwon do training day she only notices the aches after she has cooled down and then eaten. For years we thought there was a problem in her eating, but now we know it is just the aches of a hard workout.
  • sore cramping pain - we have started to realise this isn't due to food, but as she is nearly 10 years old this is more of a monthly thing. Again - as she couldn't describe it we really didn't know for a while.
• upset stomach - she can now describe the feeling of an upset stomach such as a stomach virus, and how it differs from just having too hot a chilli or curry.

You should go back to the doctor, as anything which lasts a while can be a concern, but it could just be down to lack of ability to describe correctly what is going on.

Answer 3

Does your son have milk with most meals? He could be lactose intolerant. You could try a soy based replacement for milk. Remember, foods like pizza and ice cream also contain dairy and can cause the same symptoms.

Answer 4

Getting over a stomach virus can take a long while. I happen to catch one last month, had cold chills and all the symptoms. For a week after I had gotten all well, I would get so hungry, feel perfectly fine, but immediately after eating wouldn't feel so great. So it does take time for your system to recover after something like that.

Here are the important foods to avoid during this period, to help improve recovery times. Avoid all dairy products, leafy green vegetables, fatty foods and fatty meat. These things won't settle well in the stomach.

For breakfast warm oat meal is best. For snacks, apples, whole wheat bread and crackers with grapes. For lunch, soups are best with toast. Tuna sandwich is good to. Dinner as normal, but without any sauces or other rich foods.

For me, when I could finally eat, it was a few weeks but it was amazing. Like enjoying food for the first time. Pore little guy, I know what it's like.