Tummy Pain: Do you need to worry?

Short answer? Probably not!

Do you worry that tummy pain is waking you baby up from sleep?

Or that tummy pain is causing you baby to be unsettled?

It might sound crazy at first, but did you know it's actually the other way around?

Hear me out…

It's developmentally normal for babies to grunt, squirm and draw their legs up.

Unlike older children and adults, they can't control when they pass wind or a bowel motion, so they use these techniques to help their guts move things along and out.

It's not unreasonable to observe your baby doing these things as they are waking up or becoming unsettled and draw the conclusion that these tummy activities have caused the wakeful or unsettled behaviour… But actually it's usually the reverse.

As your baby wakes or gets upset, their sympathetic nervous system is activated (see my other post) and this then activates their gastrointestinal activities.

The behaviour you then see in your baby, like grunting, squirming and drawing their legs up is the result of this and while you'd assume an adult or child behaving like this would be in pain, rest assured you baby is not.

It should be said though, that a small minority of babies do actually have gut problems, things like reflux disease, gastrointestinal infections and food allergies.

Signs of this might include:

• trouble gaining weight
• vomiting and fever
• blood or mucus in their stool
• a family history of gastrointestinal conditions

I truly believe in the power of a parent's instinct and if you are worried despite my explanation of most babies above, then please see me or your GP for a comprehensive assessment.