So, tonight was my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday party.  We traveled 3 hours to get to the city where the rest of our family lives, with plans to go out to dinner with her kids, grandkids, brothers, etc.  There was a nice group of 15 of us altogether. 

About half an hour into the road trip, daughter #2 says that her stomach hurts.  Now, she complains about that a lot, but this time had us pulling over on the side of the highway to avoid having her throw up on her siblings.  We made it to a gas station, where she threw up with a vengeance.  She felt a lot better after that, for several hours, but the upset stomach came back again during the party.  This time she was just miserable, but she didn’t throw up. 

Concerned relatives kept tossing around the words “stomach flu,” but what is really happening when a child has this kind of stomach trouble? 

There actually is an illness known as stomach flu–it’s called gastroenteritis.  It’s the condition that results when the lining of the stomach or intestines is inflamed or irritated as a result of a bacterial or viral infection.  It can result in stomach pain, vomiting, or diarrhea.

But tummy troubles might also be from something more permanent, such as a food allergy or lactose intolerance.  These can have the same symptoms as stomach flu, so let your doctor know if these are long-term or recurring symptoms. 

Another cause of stomach pain in kids is gas.  Severe gas can be very painful for both kids and adults, sometimes causing aching all the way up into the chest and shoulders.   Sometimes the pressure of gas pains mimics nausea, or that’s the only way kids know how to describe it.

One major heads-up about persistent or severe stomach pain–be on the lookout for appendicitis.  Now, I know that’s not daughter #2′s problem, because she had an emergency appendectomy 2 years ago.  But the events leading up to that surgery included stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.  I only took her to the doctor because I was concerned that she was getting dehydrated, not because it ever occured to me that something life-threatening was going on. 

Most stomach bugs pass in a few days.  Give your child mild foods, plenty of fluids, so they don’t get dehydrated, and lots of TLC, even if they are sick at a terribly inconvenient time.  They can’t help it, and wouldn’t have chosen it, either.

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