Cramping

[kittyme]

How long until she stops waking up in the night to tell me her tummy hurts? Its been 6 months gluten-free. I don't want to give her meds unless I have to. But, I don't like to see her in pain all the time.

[FeedIndy]

I'm not saying this is necessarily true for your daughter because no one but her can know how she feels, but it is possible the middle of the night "my tummy hurts" has just become a habit. I know I have kids who are expert stallers and would give anything for an excuse to get out of bed. The tummy ache is a favorite, though I always try to eliminate sources first.

I would try some positive reinforcement for staying in bed all night for a few days before panicking about gluten sources. Here are a couple from a recent Family Fun magazine: Give her a "get out of bed free" card to use once each night. After that, she loses a privilege the next day. Or you could try placing 3 coins outside her door. Each time she comes out, take one away. Any that are left the next morning she gets to keep.

Outside of that, my only tip would be to eliminate dairy as well. I had a flair up last weekend and checked all my ingredients repeatedly-everything was gluten free for a week ahead. I noticed that my dairy intake was much higher than usual so I've cut that out for now as well.

[super-sally888]

Hi, is your daughter complaining of tummy pain at any time other than during the night? Have her toilet habits become ok - no D or C? If she has pain other times or toilet not normal maybe there is still something in her diet to be looked at. If not, maybe it is becoming a habit.

Hope you work this out.

Sally

I'm not saying this is necessarily true for your daughter because no one but her can know how she feels, but it is possible the middle of the night "my tummy hurts" has just become a habit. I know I have kids who are expert stallers and would give anything for an excuse to get out of bed. The tummy ache is a favorite, though I always try to eliminate sources first.

[Cam's Mom]

That is a really tough one. How old is your daughter? I know it is hard to try behavior modification if you are unsure if your child is truly sick.

My daughter is 6 and would often complain that her tummy hurt at bed time. When pressed on the subject she would claim it is true although she had no complaints at any other time of day. So after falling for it for a few months she and I sat down (NOT at a bedtime) and had a talk about listening to your body and really understanding what it is telling you. We talked about the difference between feeling tired vs. feeling sick. We also talked about how important it is to be able to describe what is going on with your body and how extremely important it is to never, ever lie about your body since the only way adults can help sick kids is by being told exactly how they are feeling.

Then we made a new rule that at night she should only say that her tummy hurts if her tummy truly hurts. Then we made up a word to describe when you are just feeling yucky and tired - now at least 3 or 4 nights a week she says "mom, my snickerdoodle hurts" and I kiss her and tell her I hope it feels better in the morning. She is satisfied and rarely ever complains that her tummy hurts at bed time.

Just an idea . . .

[kookaburra]

How long until she stops waking up in the night to tell me her tummy hurts? Its been 6 months gluten-free. I don't want to give her meds unless I have to. But, I don't like to see her in pain all the time.

My son experienced the same thing. To get us through the first few months, I found two things to be quite helpful in settling his stomach. One was probiotics at bedtime. Mainstream studies are popping up all over the place confirming that it actually works to support gastrointestinal distress. Although beware that people with milk sensitivities (as many celiacs are) can be sensitive to acidophilus (U of Maryland did a study to that effect), so you might want to try bifidus from a non-milk source (metagenics makes one) instead. We also use Flora Stor and although it is from a milk source, I've heard it is usually ok for the milk sensitive. I've heard good things about VSL-3 as well, but haven't tried it. I usually put the powder forms in a drink at bedtime.

The other thing that helped was a calcium carbonate at bedtime. Some say calcium helps you sleep, but more importantly it is a mild ant-acid which settled his stomach. My son likes the taste of the Solgar wafer a lot. I wouldn't do this for the long term, (it's not recommended for the long-term) but it might help in the short term. It would take my son through to about 4 or 5 am which was a big improvement over waking 5 times a night. Now he doesn't need it at all, although we still do another form of calcium at night which is not an ant-acid.

I'd also get her tested for IgE (immediate response) and IgG (delayed onset) allergies. Many celiacs pick up allergies due to their compromised stomachs. I've been told that after the tummy heals, though, and after being off the offending items for a while, many of those allergies can go away (unlike the gluten thing). So if you can figure out what they are and limit those for a while, you might be able to re-introduce those foods after a year or so. (Everyone is different. We're still waiting to see. Anyone out there able to re-introduce allergens after time?).

I also think in our case, our son had a lot of anxiety from previous pain. After he healed, it took him a while to realize he didn't hurt anymore. Also not to associate sleep with pain (the gas/acid would build up as he was lying down so sleep literally hurt him). It took longer for him to be confident about sleeping without our involvement in the night.

Finally, I think night waking in general can also be from lack of certain nutrients and celiacs often suffer from malabsorbtion of their nutrients. I've heard calcium & B-12 mentioned.... Any experts out there?... I have a feeling timing matters, too. As in, calcium at bedtime. I've heard, too, that overdoing certain nutrients can hype, too (magnesium? B-6?). I've heard melatonin mentioned as a sleep aid.

How old is your daughter? Good luck to you.

[kittyme]

My daughter is just about 4. And I think you guys are right. She was just used to being in pain. I talked to her about the problems with saying that she was in pain and not really being in pain. Mostly I told her the doctor would have to do more tests (the dreaded needles). After that she only has told me that her stomache has hurt once and that was last week when she got another flu.