Abdominal pain in children
Description
Abdominal or abdominal pain is among the most common reasons for a mother to bring her child to her GP’s office. The complaint “my stomach hurts” can be confusing to both the parent and the doctor.
The possible causes of abdominal pain are variable and can be from completely trivial to life-threatening. If the child is small, it would be difficult for him to describe well exactly where and how much it hurts, hence the difference in the complaints of harmless pain and life-threatening such is very small.
And that is why every parent and person who cares for a young child is faced with the challenge of determining whether a complaint of “my stomach hurts” requires emergency medical attention or not.
What are the symptoms?
The parent or caregiver can usually notice that the child has a tummy ache. Infants and very young children may cry and show that something is in pain with their facial expressions and start to cower. Toddlers are usually quick to tell that something is wrong.
Teens usually tell their parents if something hurts, and in that case the parent should try to get a clear description of what the teen is feeling. You can ask them the following questions:
• Duration of pain – most harmless causes of abdominal pain do not last long. Most of us have had gas pains or the stomach or intestinal flu, and we know that the pain goes away within 24 hours. In all cases, when the pain in the stomach lasts more than 24 hours, the affected person should be examined by a doctor. , that the child rubs this place with his hand. But it is disturbing if the pain is felt elsewhere. This is especially true for pain located low, in the lower right part of the abdomen. Pain in this area should be defined as appendicitis until proven otherwise.
• Appearance of the child – if he looks very bad, apart from being in pain, medical attention should be sought. When abdominal pain appears, you should consult a doctor if the child looks pale, sweats, is constantly sleepy and apathetic. A clear sign that the child’s condition is not good is when he cannot “forget” the pain with play or refuses to eat and drink water for several hours.
Treatment of abdominal pain in children
• Rest – the child in most cases, when his stomach hurts, will just lie down. The pain caused by intestinal gas will be relieved if the child lies on his face, but the optimal body position is the one that is most comfortable for the child.
• Diet – children can not to feel the lack of solid food in their menu for a long time, but care must be taken with adequate fluid intake. Dehydration takes time to develop, so additional fluid intake will most likely not be necessary at first. But if the child vomits often, his body will not be able to retain large amounts of water. In such cases, doctors recommend giving small amounts of water or, better, water with added sugar and salts in 50 ml portions. every 15-20 minutes. Avoid giving your child fizzy drinks and caffeine, fatty or excessively salty or sweet liquids.
• No water or boiled milk should be given to babies, because this can upset the salt balance of their bodies.
