“Can stomach problems make it difficult for a child to sleep?”
My 10 year old son says he can't sleep because his stomach hurts at night. Can stomach problems make it difficult for a child to sleep?
9 Answers
Absolutely, any type of pain can cause sleep difficulties. If this is a consistent problem it should be investigated by his care provider.
Yes, stomach problems can be painful. Do you know what the cause is for the stomach pains? Is he eating enough? Is he on any medications? Is he constipated or have anxiety? If you find the cause and treat it, then his stomach pain and sleep should improve.
Hope that helps and I hope your son gets some relief.
Hope that helps and I hope your son gets some relief.
Yes it can
Thank you for your question at FADT. Yes of course it can. In fact, gastrointestinal problems and sleeping difficulties can affect each other. For example "I am anxious and this leads to my belly hurting and inability to sleep" or "my belly hurts, and this leads to inability to sleep due to the pain, plus it stresses me out because I am afraid there is something wrong with my health". I hope this helps, thank you! Dr. Dodd, MD.
You bet very common. That suggests that he may have difficulty digesting some of the foods he is eating. Clean up diet remove additives and hormone disruptors from diet and environment. Consider removing inflammatory foods (dairy, grains, sugar) with this level of severity he may have a dysbiosis (imbalance in the GI bacteria that digest his food) consider probiotic use-but again with the severity may be best to begin with CDSA-comprehensive, digestive stool analysis-most GI specialists will not go this direction and just put him on acid blockers - DO NOT DO THAT. GPL(Great Plains Lab) is a good lab for CDSA and can often identify a good local practitioner that uses their testing.
Yes, of course, pain from anywhere can make it difficult to sleep. If the stomach pain is unexplained, then a visit with a pediatric gastroenterologist might be able to find out the cause of pain to get at the root of the problem.
Absolutely, we have many adults that suffer from something similar. He should see a pediatric GI doctor and get worked up. Make sure there is nothing really bad going on. If everything comes back negative. you should get him on a healthy probiotic daily and taking enzymes with every meal.
Absolutely. There are so many possible causes of abdominal pain, from a simple intolerance to a food group to a disease such as Crohn's. Seek out a pediatric gastroenterologist as soon as you can.
To answer your question, yes, stomach issues can affect a child’s ability to fall asleep, but it depends on what the specific issue is. If the issue is stomach pain, my recommendation would be to speak with your doctor about determining the cause of the stomach pain and treating it accordingly. Aside from stomach pain, other stomach issues such as acid reflux and constipation can also disturb sleep or affect one’s ability to fall asleep, so the best thing to do would be to speak with your doctor about finding out the specific cause of the stomach issue your child is having and treating it accordingly, and then seeing if your child’s sleep improves. You can also ask your doctor to refer you to a sleep specialist so that your child can have a formal sleep evaluation to rule out any other sleep-related issues that may be affecting your child’s sleep. Hope this was helpful!
