Stomach Problems for DD?

[Beccarollover]

Megan is 4 - her nursery teacher approached me this morning to say she was a bit worried about Megan.

She says quite regularly, straight after eating Megan appears to be in quite a lot of pain (doubled over and complaining/crying) and has also had a couple of diarroreah accidents immediately after eating.

She does often complain of tummy ache and has some problems with her poos (i put this down to a terrible spell of constipation a few months ago caused by the fear of going to the toilet after a nasty cut to her vagina and bum)

I feel bad because I often think she is just putting it on but coupled with what the nursery have said I think it is true to say that she often 1. Feels sick 2. Has tummy pain 3. Has poo accidents 4. Has diarroreah 5. Her tummy also swells sometimes

To me, if it was an adult I would think it may be IBS but is this possible in a child?

She is not using it as an excuse to not eat her dinner as most times these "pains" occur after she has enjoyed a meal.

She eats well and likes all fruit and most vegetables so I dont think its lack of fruit and veg.

Any ideas?

have you noticed any pattern?
for example, is it just after milk, or wheat? or does it seem totally random?

To be honest I havent noticed a pattern as I have just dismissed it up until now.

Yesterday at nursery it was immediately after cauliflower cheese.

This sounds very very similar to my sister at a similar age. The problem got worse and worse and she turned out to have severe food intolerances. Within a week of cutting out the trigger foods she was visibly improved.

Wheat and dairy are classic culprits. Why don't you try cutting them out for a few days? Obviously your dd would need a calcium supplement while you do so, and a bit more fat in her food for a while.

It would probably be a good idea to go to the doctor about this. Our GP was totally unsympathetic at the time ('she just wants to get out of going to school' was his diagnosis) and in the end it was a homeopath who diagnosed my sister's problems. But I think people are more knowledgeable and more sympathetic to food intolerances nowadays, and the GP is probably a good starting point.

Could food intolerances only appear at age 4?

I think I will keep a food diary for a week and take that to the doctors.

Thanks all

food intolerance can happen at any age, even adults can develop them.

when keeping the food diary remember to keep a record of pains as well, and write down times of food eaten, and amount (even if just 1 spoonful of something).

if you decide to avoid a particular food for a few days, only avoid 1 type of food at a time (otherwise you wont know which one was causing the problem)
remember dairy is not just milk/cheese/yogurt but also in things like chocolate, biscuits, cakes etc.
wheat is in bread(brown and white), pasta, cakes, biscuits, most breakfast cereals.
it is quite easy to find tasty alternatives to these foods in all health shops and supermarkets.