Brief Answer: Detailed answer follows. Detailed Answer: Hi XXXX Thanks for writing to health care magic. I can understand your concern. If a child is having pain only when he is being fed it could be (mostly) because of force feeding. This is more so if he is otherwise active and playful and symptom free during other times. Children some times tend to have recurrent abdominal pain and if all the investigations are normal along with a normal physical examination we tend to think of stress factors for the children. The stressor could be a rude school teacher, childhood bullying, force feeding etc. There are several causes for stomach ache in children. It is very difficult to come to a conclusion with out having a physical examination and investigations at hand. If a child is having pain in the upper part of the abdomen we tend to think of causes like acid peptic disease etc. A lower abdominal pain could be because of urinary tract infection or colitis etc. Some times constipation in children could be a cause for abdominal pain. Give a diet rich in fruits and vegetables along with plenty of water. Avoid junk food. Try and remove any stressor if possible. Do not force feed the child. Encourage him to self feed. Give respect to child's taste. Do not try to give a particular vegetable if he does not like. Rather try giving the same at a later date. Presence of blood in the stool, recurrent vomiting along with pain, burning urination, increased frequency of urination, severe uncontrolled pain, growth failure, fever, etc indicate that you should consult your doctor at the earliest possible. Recurrent antibiotics may not help unless the cause of abdominal pain is urinary tract infection or bacterial infection of the gut. The same can be proved or disproved from a urinary examination or stool examination. Continue to ask further queries as required. Hope this helps. Take care. Dr Y V Siva Sankara Murty M.D.(Pediatrics) Associate Professor of Pediatrics

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