4 years old get pain in lower belly each time he eats

[Babyhealthy]

my toddler had a virus 3 months ago, since then he is not right.
He just had cereal with Milk and he is complaining of lower stomach pain under belly button. He says pain is severe.

And he makes regular normal stools but once in every two weeks he gets an episode of water diarrhoea. I don’t know if it’s another virus or related. Gp says not worried but I aM worried because he complain of pain each time he eats. Also he is burping a lot after food . Any advice is appreciated. Doctor gave me stool sample to drop off Monday to rule out h pylori, but I just want to see with anyone similar situation

There's a virus that causes temporary milk intolerance. By temporary, we're talking about months or even a couple of years, not days.
I'd ask the doctor about that.

I stopped milk completely but made no difference

If it carries on for more than a few weeks you could ask your doctor to carry out a faecal calprotectin test to check for inflammation.

My now 11 year old son going on 12 loved milk as a toddler and would have it a lot and we use to joke we were single handedly keeping the dairy industry afloat

All of sudden, say around when he was 7 or 8 years old he started complaining of tummy pain and we went to GP several times with no answer or solution until I stated keeping a diary of his food intake and found that his much loved milk was the culprit and tummy problem stopped as soon as he stopped cow milk although he's got no tummy pain if milk is used in preparing a meal but he can't drink cow milk like before so he uses soya milk for cereal.

But take him to the GP

Ask GP to test for coeliac disease too

Following as my dd has something similar

What milk substitute are you using? As you mentioned in the OP he'd just had cereal with milk.
Because some have the same allergens in so if you're allergic to milk it's quite likely you're allergic to them.
And are you checking ingredients as well for milk products? A lot of stuff has that in.

Take him to GP and request bloods. It could be a number of things that need attention such as coeliac disease, Crohn’s disease, Inflammatory bowel disease or like my niece had Pigment gallstones (not caused by being overweight before anyone asks)

Why do you think it’s inflammatory bowel disease. We don’t have that in the family !

I will try lactose free milk again and see. This is so frustrating!

i will take him Gp again tomorrow and hopefully I have an answer. He had blood tests done already and he is negative for celiac and all blood tests clear. They refused calprotectin stool test because his weight is good etc and they said child with IBS will be underweight and extremely sick. Today he was extremely sick and was crying for lower belly pain and rushed into the toilet to poop many times. It feels like something he is reacting too.
he had milk cereal
bowel of fruit
cheese sandwich with salad and cheesy pasta. But other days he has same diet and no pain or reaction. So I am confused

Is your child a toddler or a 4 year old OP?

Lactose free milk is still dairy. You need to cut out all dairy - milk, cheese etc. It sounds like he's had a lot of dairy today and reacted badly so I bet that's the culprit.

I don’t get it because he had the same diet other days and was fine so I am not sure dairy is a trigger

Just take him any milk including lactose free milk for a week and see how his stomach is.

Make sure you read the ingredients in products as lots have milk in them.

I know lots of people different ages and sexes who can't tolerate milk some are allergic others just have intolerances. The severity of their symptoms vary and varies on the amount of milk/milk containing products they consume as individuals. This includes lactose free milk.

Oh and they all have stomach aches linked to their milk consumption.

Do you expect to have burps, stomach cramps followed by toilet visits and diarrhoea. What doesn’t make sense, it is consistent ! But I bought everything diary free so I will try it . Googling made me suspect gairdia too

Sorry typo
meant to say symptoms are inconsistent and random!

The thing is with lactose intolerance is the amount of lactose an individual can cope with is completely individual.

Hence what looks like inconsistent symptoms is actually consistent.

We don't have ibd in the family either, but one of my kids still has Crohn's.

However, she was underweight and pale with limited energy by the time she was diagnosed.

Incidentally calprotectin stool test is very cheap and would rule out an inflammatory condition, so I would ask again.

@MumofCrohnie Thank you mumsnet for your replies. I dropped off today two stool samples for gastero and h pylori. If that comes back negative, I’ll chase up calprotectin. I read Gardia causes burping and it can stay active for months and months, causing bouts of symptoms. I am hoping it’s gariadia. Because I know IBS don’t cause burping. He is currently in lactose free diet for a week and I’ll discuss his diet with Gp next week.

I am tired of seeing my child struggling and I am very terrified and so unhappy. I want this to be over and something as simple as temporary lactose intolerance or gardia !

Is the child anxious as in children it often shows as tummy ache?

He is very anxious, angry and get upset easily. But would emotional symptoms show as diarrhoea, burping and bouts of severe belly cramps under belly button!

Have you removed all cow's milk protein and all soy protein at the same time? You need to check every single packet. A huge number of things contain milk that you wouldn't expect eg bread.
The fact that it's worse on a heavy dairy day does suggest viral induced CMPA.

I just had a phone consultation with Gp and they prescribed laxative. They said it’s constipation. How does someone have regular bowel movement after meal has constipation. He has no soiling
they refused calprotectin and they said we don’t do it in kids under 12 because it’s unreliable !