Bloated belly 7 yr old

[BeLoftyOliveOP]

hi there, my DD7 has been getting quite a large and uncomfortable belly lately. She eats a healthy diet with the odd junk food from time to time. Her belly is quite hard and firm, she has had a few episodes of constipation from time to time and im wondering if its that or something else, thanks

Hey there, it sounds like constipation to me. How much water is she drinking? And how about high fibre foods?

she drinks plenty of water, she is fussy when it comes to vegies but will eat a few, I do give her porridge with chia seeds for breakfast most days but overall she doesn't eat many fibre foods

fruit, veg?

eats some but not all types

When did she last open her bowels and how often does she normally go? If its constipation, I'd get movicol or laxido sachets. They can be used on children doing de-impaction regimes and aren't additive to the bowel like senna preparations can be. Also get a squatty potty, large tins, bathroom stool etc to raise her feet up. It makes it much easier to poo.

she had a bowel movement about 3 hrs ago but that was the first since wednesday

It was a symptom of my son’s food intolerances. As soon as I worked out what was triggering it, he stopped looking like he was pregnant. I remember giving him a small hot chocolate and 15 minutes later, his stomach looked like a balloon.

Food intolerances aren’t the same as allergies so they can’t test for them but cutting them out made him much more comfortable. It was trial and error to work out what the problems were but even as a young adult, he sticks to the foods that don’t trigger him.