Bloated tummy in 8 year old

[Mumkey]

My 8 year old dd has still got her toddler rounded tummy shape, and although she's not overweight she's started to notice that her friends mostly have flat tummies and it's making her upset. I'm telling her that it will naturally go as she grows and changes shape, but I did think that usually that bloated shape went by the age of 3or 4. My ds is 4 and he is very long and lean. I wonder if certain foods might bloat her as her tummy feels very hard sometimes. Also she says all her friends can do sit ups and she really can't, so maybe it's muscle strength that she's lacking? Anyone come across this before? Don't want her to get poor body image already.

I don't know that I have come across that before, but if she was bloated she would probably have associated gas and indigestion, right? If you have noticed that, that could be part of the problem. I understood that our little girls were shaped like that because their reporductive organs are almost full sized and they grow into them so to speak. I am all for everything natural, so I would take her to an Osteopath (SP) or maybe a sacral cranial specialist to see if they can find anything that would be stopping her from thinning out naturally. My DD is 9 and she never really had a flat tummy, but she did lose her toddler shape. Hope this helps, maybe someone else has had experience. Sometimes dairy products are the culprit to indigestion, sometimes it is just combining the wrong foods together-hard to know.

Bloating can be associated with wheat intolerance (which is very common). However removing wheat form the diet is a nightmare (both boys are gluten free so I speak from experience). So I would tend to trial that after trying easier things first of all. I would also recommend an osteopath.

Another thing you could try is enzymes. Kirkmans enzymes are available from nutricentre and break down gluten and milk products. They can help with intolerances (but not allergies). The nice thing about them is you can try them without any fear of them having an adverse effect as they affect the food and not the body iyswim. I use them with my 4 year old without any problems.

Hi Mumkey

I have the exact same concern now with my 8 year old daughter and came across this thread fter googling looking for possible causes. I know your initial post was 17 years ago but I wondered if you found my thing out that helped or if your daughter grew out of it?
Thanks.
Penny

@Penny16 Hi my dd had a big bloated belly at 8 where the year before she was slimmer but I didn't think much of it.
She started to complain of tummy aches a lot and would vomit every now and then so after several trips to the doctor I asked for a referral to hospital.
It turned out she had an impacted bowel, she's 11 now still a a biggish belly but has certainly gone down a lot and the tummy pains and vomiting have eased off.
Not saying this is the same for your daughter but my doctor was useless and it took near two years to find out what it was!

Thanks for getting in touch, really helpful to hear your story. I am thinking of so many different things and like you said sometimes doctors aren't always the biggest help and it's a slow process. Just not sure where to start without drawing attention to it to my daughter!