Abdominal Pain in Children Treatment
Call 911 NOW if:
- The child is not moving or is too weak to stand.
1. Have Your Child Rest
- Avoid activity, especially after eating.
2. Treat Symptoms
- Provide clear fluids to sip, such as water, broth, or fruit juice diluted with water.
- Serve bland foods, such as saltine crackers, plain bread, dry toast, rice, gelatin, or applesauce.
- Avoid spicy or greasy foods and caffeinated or carbonated drinks until 48 hours after all symptoms have gone away.
- Encourage the child to have a bowel movement.
- Ask your child’s doctor before giving any medicine for abdominal pain. Drugs can mask or worsen the pain.
3. When to Call a Doctor
Call your child’s doctor immediately if your child has any of the following:
- Persistent pain on the right side of the abdomen, which could be an appendicitis
- Pain confined to one part of the abdomen
- Severe or rapidly worsening abdominal pain or pain that doesn’t go away within 24 hours
- Pain or tenderness when you press on the belly
- A swollen abdomen or an abdomen that is rigid to the touch
- Pain in the groin, or pain or swelling in a testicle
- Unexplained fever
- Lots of vomiting or diarrhea
- Bleeding from the rectum
- Blood in the stool or vomit
- A recent abdominal injury
