Abdominal pain around the navel in a child

Pain in the abdomen in children is difficult to recognize. Babies and toddlers do not know how to complain about specific symptoms. At the age of 5, a fully conscious patient understands what pain is, thumb shows the place. If a child has a stomach ache in the navel, then the observation of adults is necessary to find out.

Usually, behavioral disorders, irritability, crying before crying, diarrhea or constipation, and other additional symptoms come to the fore. They help in diagnosing the causes.

Attentive parents are interested in how you can recognize the dangerous pain caused by the pathology of the digestive tract. We will try to present information about the most significant diseases in childhood, manifested by a complaint from the baby - "the stomach is hurting around the navel".

How to determine the characteristics of pain in a child?

A feature of children's diagnosis is the lack of a description of the nature of pain and inaccurate localization. What adults call "sharp, cutting, pricking, aching" pain, is not available to the child. On the duration can be judged by crying, sinking, pressing hands to the stomach, refusing to eat. Newborn babies are pricked with legs in colic caused by a violation of the gases.

In infants, indigestion begins with the stomach, then descends into the loops of the small intestine, projecting into the area around the navel. Children more adults are sensitive to the diet. In the infant age, pain in the abdomen can occur with the introduction of mixtures, the transition to artificial feeding.

In older kindergarten groups and primary school, nutrition depends on the quality of the dishes cooked at the food unit. Poisoning and intestinal infections usually cause pain near the navel not in one child, but in several. It helps to find out the common cause, to examine contact and those who have not yet showed symptoms.

Schoolchildren may notice the association of the pain syndrome with physical exertion. A teacher at a physical education class should closely monitor how exercises are performed. If a child has a stomach ache near the navel, he lags behind the tempo, tries to sit more, presses his belly with his hands, often goes to the toilet.

Stunting can be caused by bowel disease

Children of adolescence competently enough can describe the signs of pain. Acute nature arises:

• at food poisoning;
• gastroenteritis of an infectious nature;
• a fit of appendicitis;
• intestinal obstruction caused by worms;
• Crohn's disease;
• infringement of umbilical hernia;
• congenital diverticulitis;
• passage of sand from the ureters into the bladder.

Dull aching pains above and under the navel accompany a dysbacteriosis after a flu or a viral infection, inflammation of the gallbladder, onset of hepatitis, functional pancreatic insufficiency. Older children are embarrassed to talk about diarrhea and constipation. Although this symptomatology painfully affects the behavior and attendance of the school.

Errors in the definition of localization

Precisely determine the localization of the most painful area can only the doctor with sparing palpation of the abdomen. At this time, it is decided where exactly the painful place is located: above the navel, just below or almost above the pubis, on the right or on the left.

Simultaneously, the doctor tries to determine the edge of the liver and spleen, checks the symptoms of appendicitis at a typical and atypical position of the appendage. This should be taken into account by parents and teachers, when they understand why a belly has a stomach near the navel.

Adolescent girls need to be shown to a pediatric gynecologist. Abdominal pains are associated with a period before the menstrual period or during, and also accompany endocrine diseases with a delay in sexual development.

Adolescent boys are at risk for Crohn's disease. Especially if the family already had cases. Paroxysmal contractions along the bowels appear in the ulcerative process, they can cause a covered perforation in the adjacent loops of the intestines, the bladder.

The most common pathology in children

In childhood, chronic pathology rarely develops. The most common causes of diseases with pain around the navel are:

• functional insufficiency of digestion;
• poisoning with poor-quality products, "adult" food;
• transition to artificial feeding and intolerance of certain products;
• helminthic invasion;
• intestinal infection;
• inflammatory diseases;
• developmental anomalies.

Enteritis

Group of bowel diseases of an inflammatory nature. May be caused by rough food, allergic mood, intestinal infection and parasites. Children complain of pain around the navel, refuse to eat, vomiting, nausea, rumbling in the abdomen, frequent loose stools.

In infants with improper lactation, there is often a regurgitation of large, curdled flakes. Intolerance is accompanied by allergic manifestations: rashes on the cheeks, in the places of bending of hands and feet, on the body, skin itching. A rise in temperature and a loose stool with an admixture of green indicate the attachment of the infection.

The child quickly dehydrates. The skin begins to peel off due to dryness. Enteritis always violates the suction function, so children fall behind in weight, lose vitamins, develop poorly.

Therapy provides for mandatory screening of feces for pathogenic microorganisms, diet compliance and the use of antibiotics.

Dysbacteriosis

The condition is formed on the background of long-term treatment of the child with medicinal preparations, especially with antibacterial effect. In the intestinal flora, the first to die bifido- and lactobacilli, which normally determine up to 95% of all useful microorganisms.

This mechanism falls on the period of recovery from an infectious disease, influenza, viral pathology. The child feels heaviness in the abdomen, there are diarrhea or constipation, sometimes cramping colic around the navel. It is necessary to use drugs-probiotics and their assistants - prebiotics.

Umbilical hernia

Through the umbilical ring in the fetus feeds on the vessels. After birth, the muscular wall quickly fuses, but not all babies. Perhaps the slow development of tissues. This causes the presence of a fossa-ring under the skin of the abdomen, through which the intestinal loop, gland or part of the mesentery loops when croaking, straining, coughing.

It is recommended to wear a baby bandage with an umbilical seal that strengthens and supports the anterior abdominal wall. Surgery is resorted to, if the ring does not fuse or the hernial sac is trapped.

Children's surgeons believe that by the age of three, the umbilical orifice itself grows in most babies, so they do not tend to operate right away

Infection with parasites

Ascaridosis is the most common form of helminthic infestation among children. Adult ascarids live in the small intestine, reach a length of up to 40 cm. Due to the lack of ability to attach and insert into the wall, intestines are forced to constantly move towards the food lump.

Development in the intestine is not the only individual contributes to the release of toxic poison. The stomach is constantly abdominal, rumbling is heard. Periodically disturb the colic around the navel. Because of intoxication, the patient lingers in development, does not gain weight, is constantly pale. There is increased sweating, rashes on the body, itching of the skin, shortness of breath and cough.

A tangle of parasites can cause acute intestinal obstruction. Then the pain is sharply increased, the gases do not escape, the stool is delayed. Treatment is carried out by special means. In case of obstruction, surgery is necessary.

Crohn's disease

Complicated and severe illness with an unclear reason. More often affects boys of school age. Possible cases of illness of brothers in one family. The essence of the lesion is the areas of transverse erosions that turn into ulcers with penetration through the wall of the small intestine into the abdominal cavity. The possibility of prolonged latent flow in childhood is not ruled out, therefore, in young children it is rare.

The child suffers:

• from pain along the bowels with strengthening after eating and defecating;
• diarrhea 10 times a day;
• nausea and vomiting;
• constant subfibrility (the temperature is slightly above 37 degrees).

Lags behind in weight, height, hard to bear physical load and school program. In adolescents, the development of sexual characteristics is delayed. The diagnosis is made by gastroenterologists after excluding the possibility of other causes and biopsy confirmation.

Abdominal migraine

Vascular disorders of tone in the arteries of the mesentery cause a lack of nutrition in the intestinal tract. This is manifested by acute attacks, which pass by themselves. In addition to the pain syndrome, the children have pallor, nausea, weakness.

Sometimes this condition is due to the connection with nervous loads, endocrine changes in the body. Then in treatment use weak soothing agents, hormonal preparations.

Attack of appendicitis

The pains do not necessarily go through the classical stages - first in the epigastrium, after a few hours the transition to the iliac zone to the right - the atypical position of the appendage can cause an acute attack with growing pain in the navel area. The child has a fever, vomiting.

Palpator surgeon reveals the most painful point, the presence of signs of appendicitis

Observation of the analysis and course of the disease is allowed no longer than 24 hours. The lack of positive dynamics, the growth of leukocytosis in the blood require immediate surgical intervention.

Intestinal form of influenza

Pain in the intestine with influenza occurs against the background of severe intoxication: nausea, dizziness, vomiting, severe headache, blocking and high fever. Palpation of the intestine is painful. In the stool, blood appears.

The diagnosis is helped by information about the flu in the family. Because of the possibility of intestinal bleeding, pediatricians warn of the limited use of drugs containing Aspirin during the rise in the epidemiological incidence of influenza.

You can not try to independently treat abdominal pain in a child. The most important action of adults is to provide peace, to bed, to give only water. As soon as possible, call an ambulance. With indications for hospitalization and surgical treatment should not be abandoned. Time works for complications and weakening of the protective forces of a small patient.