Gavin and the Mystery of the Tummy Owies

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About a month or so back, Gavin started complaining about “tummy owies”.  Before that, he had never really complained about tummy pains, although that doesn’t mean he never had them.  For instance, we suspected tummy pains one night when he woke up crying and pushing his shirt up to expose his tummy.  However, he had never specifically told us before that about a “tummy owie”.

Initially, I thought it was Gavin’s growing awareness of hunger pangs and the occasional discomfort associated with the need to poop. I would ask him, “Is it a hungry owie, a poo poo owie or a different owie?” Sometimes he would say it was a hungry owie, sometimes a poo poo owie, and sometimes a different owie. On occasion, he would say it was a wee wee owie.

The problem about getting a toddler to describe his pains is that sometimes I’m not sure if he really knows. Unlike adults who have grown accustomed to the sensation of hunger pangs and stomach upsets, a toddler is gaining awareness of the sensations from his body and learning the right words to describe them. Secondly, it can be difficult to decipher his explanations because he has a habit of using words interchangeably. For instance, he would tell us he wants to go to the toilet to do a “wee wee” and end up pooping.

Sometimes he would complain it was a “hungry” owie even after I had just given him something to eat, which made me wonder if he was confused about hunger pangs. Then again, I do recall times when I thought I wasn’t hungry until I started eating something and my brain registered that my stomach was hungry.

Occasionally, he would tell me it was a “different owie”, and I wouldn’t be able to do much but rub his tummy – which Gavin seems to derive some comfort from.

And if it wasn’t already difficult to understand the cause of his tummy owies, it doesn’t exactly help when he complains about them when he’s in the car wearing a seat belt.  Is it because the seat belt is pressing on his tummy and making it feel worse or is it because he just wants to get out of the seat belt – which is often the case?  Then there are the times when he’s being told off for some misdemeanour and he suddenly tells me his tummy has an owie.  Is it a coincidence or did the tummy owies really happen to strike at the same time?

A couple of nights ago when Gavin woke up complaining of tummy owies, I suspected that something sinister had to be up.  We applied the Chinese medicated oil for stomach wind and he seemed to sleep a little easier after that, although he kept waking up at various times during the night.

Lactose Intolerance – A Probable Diagnosis

I took him to the doctor the next morning for a professional diagnosis but the only thing the doctor could suggest was possibly a mild intolerance to lactose.  It was something hubby and I suspected as well because it was fairly recently that Gavin started consuming more cow’s milk due to my declining breast milk supply.  Although I wasn’t exactly monitoring, it does seem that his complaints about tummy owies started around about the time he started drinking more milk.

When the doctor examined Gavin’s tummy, he couldn’t find anything wrong.  Normally, tummy upsets due to wind would present with bloating and the tummy area will be firm.  To be quite honest, I’ve never really seen Gavin’s tummy in that condition.  Although you could still have some wind without the bloating and the firmness.

Since there were no other signs or symptoms (e.g. rashes, diarrhoea, pain on urinating, etc.) and no other changes in diet except for the increased consumption of cow’s milk, we had to conclude it was the milk.  Cow’s milk has a higher lactose content compared to breast milk, which might explain why Gavin is having difficulties digesting it.

My only difficulty with this diagnosis is that lactose intolerance in children is very rare.  This is mother nature’s way of protecting children who depend on milk as a large source of their nutritional intake.  To have made lactose intolerance a common childhood problem would have been evolutionary suicide.

Although lactose intolerance is a common problem among Asians, it usually manifests only in later adulthood.  That was the case for me – I drank gallons of milk as a child without any problems and only developed lactose intolerance in my late teens.

Then again, “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”.  So we’ll have to accept that Gavin’s tummy upsets are a mild intolerance to lactose.

So what are the options?

1. Offer a low lactose milk alternative.

Pediasure is one milk formulation with low lactose which the doctor suggested we could try.  However, looking at Gavin, the doctor felt it wasn’t necessary for us to offer Gavin too much Pediasure since the formulation is intended for underweight children – a category Gavin clearly doesn’t belong in.

Other milk alternatives are soy based which I seriously doubt would go down well since Gavin has never liked soya based anything.  We’ve tried a number of milk formulas as well without much success.  The only milk Gavin seems to like drinking is regular, plain, unadulterated cow’s milk.

When I was in Australia, I used to drink low-lactose UHT milk which I think was packaged by Devondale. Although I have seen Devondale milk sold in Village Grocers in Bangsar Village, I have yet to see the low-lactose version.

A friend who also suffered from lactose intolerance (but loved the taste of milk too much to give it up completely) also told me once that you could buy special enzyme tablets that you can add to a carton of regular milk.  The enzymes target the lactose in milk and break it down to glucose and galactose.  The end result is something a little sweeter than regular milk (because of the glucose) but is otherwise unchanged.  Unfortunately, I have no idea where you buy those tablets or if you can even get them in Malaysia.

2. Dicyclomine

The doctor prescribed a bottle of dicyclomine to be administered whenever Gavin complained of stomach pains.  Dicyclomine is generally prescribed for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.  It acts by relaxing the contraction of muscles in the intestines, which I presume helps to relieve the discomfort or pain caused by the gas.

3. Probiotics

Although we had initially given probiotics to Gavin to improve his appetite, probiotics is also good for children with irritable bowel syndrome and helps improve tolerance to milk.

The doctor explained that there are quite a number of probiotic formulations in the market, but what you should look for is one that has at least 5 different types of good bacteria in the quantity of 10 billion.  Lots of probiotic formulations only contain 1 billion good bacteria.

Nevertheless, if probiotics is good, then anything that contains good bacteria is recommended, even if it isn’t quite as effective as offering a super-strength probiotic formulation.

Vitagen and Yakult both have good bacteria as well, although as far as I understand, Yakult is the better option because it contains live strains.  Unfortunately, Gavin still prefers the taste of Vitagen, although he never says “no” whenever one of those promoters offers him a taste of Yakult. However, when we bought Yakult to take home, he wouldn’t drink it.

4. Cheese and Yoghurt

If milk doesn’t go down well, then hard cheeses (like cheddar) and yoghurt are good alternatives to offer that contain all the goodness of milk without the problems that lactose induces.  Thankfully, Gavin loves strawberry yoghurt and is semi-fond of cheddar cheese.

5. Apply Yu-Yi Oil

I was never really a believer in this, but the results do seem to speak for themselves.  Whenever we apply Yu-Yi Oil to Gavin’s tummy, he seems to sleep better at night.  Does it really work or is it merely coincidence, I don’t really know.  All I know is that there is no harm applying it, so apply it I will.

Yu-Yi Oil can be purchased from chinese medicine shops.  I have also seen it in some pharmacies.  It is very hot, so you need to apply one drop to your hand and rub your hands together before rubbing it onto your child’s belly (navel area).  Make sure your child’s belly is dry because the presence of water makes the oil feel hotter.

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Other posts that might interest you:

• On Expanding Tummies and Cramps
• Bubbles in My Tummy
• What’s Bothering my Toddler? Part 2
• Earlier Posts About the Pregnancy
• 10th Visit to the doctor

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