Really struggling. My 6 year old daughter has been getting anxiety stomach aches and every mealtime is an awful battle with her clutching her stomach in pain.
We've seen a paediatrician and ruled out medical causes so we know it is psychological. She is in otherwise perfect health.
She threw up after eating too much ice cream a couple of months ago and since then she says panics it's going to happen again, so she struggles to eat.
However, it's also coincided with me going through a trial separation from her dad. Although she still sees him daily, she told me that that this is also causing her worries and makes her tummy hurt when she thinks about it. I've been seeing a therapist who has guided me through helping my daughter cope with the separation and I thought I was doing a good job but I guess not!
If she's distracted while she eats (i.e, the TV is on), she is pretty much ok. Unfortunately if I let her do this (which I am reluctant to do), she then takes far too long to eat.
Sadly, in any other scenario - eating at a restaurant, eating with friends, eating at the dinner table, creates the same reaction. Dinner times are the worst but as the weeks go on, it's happening at every mealtimes. I keep being late for work because breakfast is so stressful.
I am absolutely certain this is genuine anxiety and not a behavioral issue (it's not just because she wants to watch TV at dinner time). She's an extremely well behaved child and eating out used to be something she loved. I know she's very upset to be suffering this and she misses enjoying her mealtimes.
It doesn't matter whether it's me eating with her, her dad, or even (on rare occasions) both of us. The outcome is still the same.
For the first time tonight she told me she was nervous to go to her summer club tomorrow (we live overseas and already on school holidays) because the teachers check how much food the kids have eaten and it's making her stomach hurt. I've Whatsapped them tonight to make them aware of the issue but its a sports camp and now I'm terrified of her not eating enough to get through a day of running around in the heat.
She starts big school in a few weeks (different start age here) and I'm absolutely dreading how it's going to impact that. She's been in childcare since I went back to work when she was 1, so it's not that eating in 'school' is anything new to her. Just this anxiety has never been an issue before.
I'm also due to take her on holiday just the two of us in a couple of weeks and at this point I'm ready to lose all the money spent just to not be battling this for 3 meals a day for 2 weeks.
I have got in contact with a child therapist to get her an appointment but if anyone can offer me any advice at all in the meantime, I'd be very grateful, as I'm at my wits end.