Tummy ache but only at night

[IllegallyBrunette]

Dd2 (8), recently keeps complaining of tummy ache of a night, she said it starts as son as she gets into bed.

My first thought was worms as I know people on here have said that it causes tummy ache and is worse of a night, but she isn't complaining of an itchy or sore bottom at all.

Is there anything else it could be ?

Come to think of it she also said she had sore bits the other day, but when i asked her the day afterwards if she still had it she said no, and hasn't mentioned it since.

I am not sure if it is an attention thing.

Am hoping it is now LOL.

Is she having problems at school? Could be stress.

Any diarhhoea/fever?

No dioreah or fever.

Stress could be it, as she is easily stressed, very very moody and generally unhappy lately but we haven't yet found a cause, she just says that she is miserable.

Oh,
ds used to get alot of tummy ache and diarhhoea. It turned out to be stress because he was unhappy at school.

Have you had a chat to her teacher to see if there's any problems she's not told you?

Does she eat different thigns at night compared to the day? Like dairy products or wheat?

Have spoken to her teacher as she is currently being picked on about her teeth which I know is getting her down. It has died down alot since I went in and dd said the boy has been nicer to her.

One of dd's problems is that she thinks too much. She has mild OCD wrt to hand washing, and also has a slight obsession about me or her dying. Both of these rear their ugly heads from time to time but haven't done for a while.

She is very insecure and can get quite jealous of her siblings.
When I got up this morning I noticed that she'd changed the wallpaper on my mobile from a pic of Ds to a pic of her.

WP - Generally she doesn't eat after her main evening meal which is normally around 5:30.

Hmm perhaps she is hungry ?

Hmmm. I would be tempted to try and get a referal for a child psychologist or a therapist. It sounds like she needs some help if she's having tummy pain. It's a sign that she's getting really upset and her body's reacting to this. Play therapy can really help. She does sound very miserable and would benefit from this.

She has seen a psych before and tbh I wasn't impressed. They basically blamed me for everything and said I needed to be harder on her.

She got refered mainly because of the hand washing and the sessions mainly consisted of the psych telling me that it was my fault and insinuating that it wasn't really much of a problem anyway.

She then forced offered me parentoing classes. I did them and they were crap.

You're right to think about the psychological issues but I would also consider that this may be something physical and possibly easily treated.

I have instructed dd to tell me when she next has a poo so I can look at it.

She looked at me like I have finally lost my marbles.

I have to tread carefulyl with dd if it is worms, as she will want to know how she got them and the explanation is bound to set off her handwashing again.

If there are no other symptoms, no diarrhoea, no nausea etc, then it is unlikely to be anything physical.

School nurses are really useful. Could you have a chat with yours and see if she can help? You can contact her/him through the school office. You don't need to tell the school what it's about, she can come to your home aswell.

They really are very helpful. The ones I worked with were fantastic.

Thanks Phantom, I was just going to ask if the school nurse would be any good.

Once I have investigated dd's poo I will see about contacting her.

You can tell if she has worms, her pants will be crusty when she changes (gross and TMI, ds has had them twice at nursery).

Ahh right, will check that too then.

Have also just remembered that she also has indigestion alot and hiccups, but am not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Have told her she needs to try eating a bit more slowly.

Where abouts is the tummy ache? Is it always in the same place? All over or in a specific area?

She always just points to her tummy in general tbh.

She is also a very windy child.

I suffer with IBS and was wondering if she could be developing symptoms, but surely she is too young.

There's more to IBS than pain, there's slimy poo, constipation/diarhhoea aswell. Certain foods can set it off, however, it's best to take her to the GP if you think it could be this. Stress does make it worse aswell.

I would have a chat with the GP and school nurse to see if they can help.

Don't agree with the idea that if poo is ok this is not physical. Children often have problems localizing pain. Well-known for example that headache/ childhood migraine can present as tummypain.

Research says an 8 year old can localise pain and can give basic indication of how severe it is (tiny, bad, severe). I have looked after alot of children of all ages, I'd say a 5 year old can point to where they are in pain.

My DD (10) did this for a long time. In the end we decided it was anxiety.

Well maybe it's better put that the human brain can't localise pain very well. you may be able to say where you hurt but that not be the actual cause.

Sometimes psychological problems do manifest themselves as physical ones. This normally happens when the problems get quite bad, it's the body's way of getting some help, it just doesn't do it in the right way so a clinician has to look at the signs and read inbetween the lines. It's easier when all of the other physical causes have been removed. Belly pain is 75% of the time due to stress in children as they can't communicate their feelings the same way as adults.

It's best to get the physical problems checked though, just incase.

I am having the same problem nightly. My 9 year old is fine all day long then as soon as nighttime hits, she feels really sick and keeps running to the bathroom but nothing happens. I thought maybe she was hungry because I won't feed her late, but its not because there have been nights that I will allow her the later snack. I am wondering if it has anything to do with water intake. She hardly drinks any water. She drinks other drinks (non are soda or anything like that) but not a lot of water. She is also on epilepsy meds. I am also a single parent so this is stressful on me night after night. I am going to make a dr appt but I'm almost positive they aren't going to figure it out either.

Gosh, my dd(7) has woken up 3 nights in a row with excruciating abdominal pain, which disappears during the day. Gp said it's poss viral, but I'm not convinced. He threw up last two nites too....so sad watching him in so much pain