Hey all, wondering if anyone has experience with older kids who seem to have issues with gassiness and reflux. My daughter is 5, and she had reflux as a baby and spit up until she was 1, but then everything seemed to settle down, but in the last 6 months or so, I'm noticing that she's pretty gassy after meals, especially if she eats carb-heavy, and recently I think she might be getting some reflux again (burping more, coughing a bit). None of it bothers her, and it's not socially bad, but I'm wondering if I should be concerned. I spoke with her doc at her 5 year old checkup and they recommended decreasing some of her pasta intake, but otherwise said there didn't seem to be much to be concerned about. She eats a pretty good diet - loves veggies and fruit of all kinds, meats, pasta and rice. Not a huge fan of beans and eggs, so yogurt and something carby like a homemade muffin (usually zucchini or banana) tends to be her go-to breakfast, and then a mixture of proteins, veggies, fruit and carb for lunch and dinner. We also give her a chewy multivitamin with a probiotic, which seems to help with the gassiness a little. Any other ideas or something I should be mindful of?
-
What about dairy? Could she be lactose intolerant?
It could be hidden in the carbs she's eating. -
Yeah I second trying to do a reduced dairy diet to see if that makes any difference
-
@jennlin821: That's an interesting idea. How would dairy be hidden in the carbs? She does have some dairy, but primarily in yogurt and cheese, which she has a serving or two of per day (one yogurt cup and a cheese stick, usually). She doesn't drink much milk, if any, and most of the dishes she eats don't have milk as an ingredient, but I'm honestly pretty ignorant on lactose issues. Will do some research.
-
For reflux one thing you can do is serve fermented foods with meal. Something like sauerkraut. It acts almost like a digestive enzyme and has many more probiotics than anything in a capsule. The gassiness and your observation would indicate to me that she’s probably having trouble digesting complex carbs. So yes both the suggestion of cutting down on carbs and dairy would help with that. ( lactose is a disaccharide).
-
Lots of bread has some kind of dairy in it, so that could be an issue. What about butter, on toast etc? Even just the little bit of dairy she is eating could be causing her problems. My DH has severe heartburn issues, and when we did the Whole30, he didn't have dairy for the whole month and it really helped him. It could also be what you are pairing the carbs with... tomato sauce or other acidic foods? Bananas are also a trigger for DH.
Along with what others have said, she could be having trouble digesting the carbs. I have many digestive issues, and one thing that can be a problem is grapes! I can eat about 10 just fine, but any more than that causes a ton of gas, extreme belly pain, and makes me look 6mo pregnant! It has something to do with the type of sugar that's in them.
Anyways, good luck!
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
5 comments