Food diary

[clazzat]

I need to start a food diary for dd2 as she is having a lot of tummy aches and this seems to be the place to start. It has been going on for a while, but it has been getting worse and over the last couple of days she has been complaining that her tummy hurt as soon as she started eating, and she didn't finish her favourite dinner because of it this evening.

I'm trying to work out what I need to do to keep a food diary - apart, obviously, from writing down what she eats  - and could do with a bit of support. I'm assuming that the best thing to do is to monitor for a couple of weeks, see if there are any patterns and then start eliminating if necessary after that?

[*Ali*]

I recently kept a food and symptoms diary for Cadan in prep for our dietician appt. I wrote down what he had when and also any symptoms he had like tummy ache or poops and their consistency.

Hugs.

[~inbalance~]

When I kept one for me (when DS2 was a baby and very fussy), I had a chart of sorts that had boxes for the days of the week in one column down the side, and then categories across the top for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and notes/symptoms.  I find charts really help with seeing patterns emerging.  I'm sure it would be fairly simple to come up with one that suits you, or I bet if you google it you could find ones that have already been made.

[ENMS]

I use an agenda where I track down all their meals and then at the end of each day I can add comments. I usually put a comment on their general mood / attitude for the day, write if anything else is specific and comment on their sleep. I would love something with charts though it looks interesting Em I will try to google it tonight!

[~inbalance~]

I had a chart that my ND gave me when I was keeping a log, but that was years ago now so I don't have it anymore.  But I like things to all be on one page rather than have to flip through, and I like it simple to look at and read, so the chart worked well for me.  I could just glance at it and it wasn't a jumble of writing, kwim?

[clazzat]

Now I'm really confused. I kept a food diary for a few days, and there was one day when everything hurt her tummy - she would be fussing about it after the first bite of everything she ate - and then the tummy aches stopped completely. I kept the diary for a couple of days after that, but there didn't seem to be much point when there clearly wasn't a reaction to a particular food. And then today she had two bites of her sandwich and starting wailing that her tummy hurt, that she was really hungry but she couldn't eat anything because it was too sore. By the time we got home about half an hour later she said it was a lot better but a little achey, but she didn't eat any more, and by the time she went to bed it was absolutely fine.

I can't work out what is happening. She had a headache today as well, but I have no idea whether that is related. She has had a lot of headaches over the last couple of months as well.

[Buntybear]

If there are no obvious foods could you maybe eliminate something that you think might be a culprit and track how she reacts to that? It must be hard to track foods when kids eat anything? Mostly on this board it is for kids from a much earlier age and their food base is much less narrow. I wouldn't know where to start on a diet as wide as hers must be!

[weaver]

This might sound a bit random but... have they ruled out a rumbling appendix??

[Khalam's Mama]

Is she constipated at all?

[clazzat]

Buntybear - I wouldn't know where to start! I had thought that dairy and gluten would be the first things to look at, and it did look like that might be the issue when I started (as she typically has cereal or toast for breakfast, often a sandwich at some point during the day etc), but she has been happily eating cheese and marmite sandwiches all week until this evening. Other than those, I'm not sure that I can think of anything that she had every day for a week (when she was complaining about tummy ache all the time) and then not again until today.

Anne - they haven't really done any sort of investigation, as it is all so vague. It comes and goes, and doesn't really stop her getting on with things, so I don't think they think it warrants any further looking at. What are the symptoms of grumbling appendix?

Km - I don't think she is constipated, although I wouldn't necessarily know as she is pretty independent on that front. Certainly she was pooing often enough in the week when her tummy was sore every day that I basically ruled that out as an option.

[ENMS]

My DD complained of a sore tummy a lot, similar to this, and it turned out she was constipated. She was going every day with what seemed like nnormal poo but she had a backlog of poo in her system, the Dr felt it and thought it looked full and an x-ray confirmed it. So I wouldn't totally rule it out iiwm.

Is there a possibility that it's a particular combo of items that causes her sore tummy? Like bread with cheese, or something like that?

(((hugs))) I agree it is so hard to find out what is the issue when they are older and eating a varied diet. I have found the weirdest ingrédients make my DD react with tummy aches and / or funky attitude.

[*Ali*]

Could it be something like IBS that is just set of by eating in general? Do kids even get that?

[weaver]

Anne - they haven't really done any sort of investigation, as it is all so vague. It comes and goes, and doesn't really stop her getting on with things, so I don't think they think it warrants any further looking at. What are the symptoms of grumbling appendix?

The reason I said rumbling appendix is that it's a stomach pain that comes and goes.  I believe the pain sort of travels around the abdomen to begin with, so someone would say they felt pain in different places on different occasions. That also makes it difficult to identify.  And it can go on for months or even years.  I'm not a medical person .... but maybe something to ask!

[clazzat]

Thanks, Anne. I'll keep an eye on dd and see if I can narrow it down next time she complains of it.

[Buntybear]

Have you taken her to the docs? I just wonder if it is food related? It is not a symptom I have come across but as I say she is older and I guess it can present itself in a different ways xx

[*Ali*]

Has she been checked for a UTI?

[clazzat]

No, Ali, they haven't done anything because they don't think that it is enough of an issue.

At the moment, she seems to be okay - we have had a couple of times when she has been complaining that her tummy is really sore, but it hasn't been every day like it was. I can't quite tell whether I should be making something of this or just letting it go - there is definitely no pattern to when her tummy hurts, and it is not linked to foods or combinations of foods. Certainly if I took her to the doctor now it would be a real waste of time as there is nothing going on, but I worry because it crops up from time to time - we have periods where she has tummy ache repeatedly - and it feels wrong to just ignore it completely.

[*Ali*]

Is she doing it for attention or when she is anxious about something do you think?

[clazzat]

I wondered about that, but I can't see anything that she would be anxious about and she doesn't actually get a lot of attention for it so it doesn't seem like a good way to get it! She does often make a fuss about small cuts etc, so I do know when she is making a fuss for attention, and this doesn't seem the same.