DD gets tummy ache every day at exactly 4pm, what's up?

[AnnieLobeseder]

DD1 (4yo) was poorly at the beginning of the week, vomiting all night on Monday night and during the day Tuesday. Wednesday morning she was fine during the day, but said she had a tummy ache come evening. And every day since, she's a picture of health with a normal appetite during the day, but come 4pm she starts complaining that her tummy hurts and gets gradually worse during the evening. She won't eat her dinner, passes out on the sofa (which she never usually does) and cries her little heart out. On Thurs I thought it was all an act to not go out dog walking and stay home and watch TV instead, so I dragged her out walking anyway but when we got home she threw up and passed out on the floor! (I felt dreadful!)

Right now she's in bits upstairs, howling while DH tries to get her bathed and off to bed, and she hasn't eaten her dinner again.

I'm at a loss as to what this could be, since she's absolutely fine all day and in so much pain after 4pm, and it's been going on for nearly a week.

Any ideas?

no idea, but if it was ds he'd be at the doctors - you could try NHS direct for advice. I know they get slated a lot, but I've called them 5 times in the last 5-6 years for ds and they've been great everytime, just this morning called as ds had pain in back when peeing and had an appointment with out of hour doctor this afternoon.

Hope she feels better soon.

hunger? could she have a little snack (crackers etc) at 4 and see if that helps. As a child I often got hunger pains coming up to tea time and terrible wind afterwards

doesn't happen these days I'm pleased to report (possibly as I never really stop eating!)

Of course you should have your DD checked by a doctor, but you're looking for suggestions as to what it might be and I think it might be IBS.

I suffered from this as a very young child & still do to some extent. And it's always worse in the late afternoon. I think I suffer from 'slow

digestive transit' - is your DD constipated as this can make it worse. I've found certain foods help it & others make it much worse. Probiotic

yogurt & linseeds help while I suffer quite badly if I eat too much sugar & chocolate or am under stress. I also tolerate light meals better, if I

overeat I know I'll suffer later. I can understand why your DD passes out on the sofa - I've always (since childhood) found that lying down

helps ease the pain better than anything. Hope she's feeling better soon.

ohh i too have IBS, that might explain why I had stomach pains as a child too? (everything makes a bit more sense now)

Snacks don't seem to help, not sure about the IBS since it's only been happening this week - does IBS happen all of a sudden? She's not constipated, and has an Actimel every night with dinner.

If she's not better by Monday I'll definitely take her to the GP but was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts in the meantime.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks!

Could it beabdominal migraine? The symptoms sound quite similar.

Wow, that abdominal migraine link is very interesting! I had no idea such a thing existed. I suffered from terrible migraines as a child, perhaps it has a hereditary element.

She's been fine today, I hope it's all over!

Abdominal migraine would be a symptom not a cause.., so, what did your dd have for lunch during the week?
Stomach needs approx 1.5-2 hrs to process the food, if something wasn't digested properly and moved down, the gut would be struggling to handle it - hence the pain.
I would start by keeping a food diary.

One thing I'd be bearing in mind is that some D&V episodes can apparently[#] create a temporary lactose intolerance. It might be worth seeing whether eliminating dairy products from her diet improves things.

[#]i.e. I can't remember where I read it, but I think it was somewhere reliable

Is she having the same thing for lunch every day? Or is there one common ingredient?