4 Year Old Is Nauseous After He Eats. What Could Be Going On?

My daughter who is 12 was often nauseous after eating last summer and it turned out she was completely compacted/constipated (from drinking too little all summer). She also had some cramps below her belly button, so not stomach. I thought perhaps she was starting her period and since she is 12 and told me she pooped every day, I did not know what it was. After seeing the pediatrician about 3 times over 4 months (who said "drink more and take Miralax" which did not really help) I asked to see a GI specialist, who took an x-ray and could see that her colon (from where the small intestine feeds into it until the rectum) was completely filled with hard stool. She did poop daily, but later told me it was "pellets" which was just the end of the compacted stool in her colon breaking off and coming out. When we used Miralax over the summer she seemingly would have diarrhea the next day, but the GI specialist explained that food is liquid in the small intestine and was just seeping around the compacted stool in her colon. The colon is where you absorb most of the moisture out of your food.
The treatment was a 2 day clean-out routine similar to when you have a colonoscopy: I believe it was taking 1 full dose of miralax in 8 oz. of water, twice about 15 minutes apart, and then a Dulcolax stool softener, and 24 oz of water the rest of day 1 with only light meals like soup. The same on day 2 perhap minus the Dulcolax and light more solid meals allowed. After about 2 hours the first day she started going to the bathroom hourly and felt sooo much better mid day. Then after the 2 day clean out she is now on 1 dose of Miralax in 8 oz. of water daily. Doc said to stay on Miralax twice as long as it took to get constipated (for a total of about 6 months). She also needs to drink at least 24 oz. of liquid daily, so we bought a 20 oz Camelbak bottle that she takes to school and drinks by the end of the school day. Then some more juice and milk at home and she has been nausea-free since then! Good luck.

I might take him to the dr. but sometimes after a tummy bug it can take a while for things to get totally back to normal.

When my son was little he would get barfy with strep too, as weird as that sounds. Sometimes he wouldn't have many other symptoms. It was the weirdest thing.

My son was very sensitive to gluten, too (wheat, rye, barley . . .).

Good luck - hope you get it figured out.

When my youngest was about that age, he had a lot of random stomach pain. He occasionally had a low grade fever.

Then he got strep throat. We went through one round of antibiotics. Then went back to the doc who said he still had it and we needed one more round. After that 2nd round of antibiotics, he didn't have the stomach ache any more. I think that strep had colonized in his stomach and was making him randomly sick.

Just my experience.

Sometimes intestinal viruses can hang on for a while. Sometimes they can make us temporarily lactose intolerant. Have you noticed it happening particularly after he has dairy? I'm thinking that it might be helpful if you keep a food diary for a while and see if it happens after he has certain foods or drinks. If you don't see a pattern maybe you could try eliminating dairy for a month.

Talk to your pediatrician, though.

As some suggested, are his bowel habits good, i.e., he's not constipated? If he is constipated/has issues with going to the bathroom, and he's also exhibited these intestinal/digtestive problems, I would look at food.

Becoming nauseous after eating leads me to wonder if he is allergic or intolerant to something he is eating. Does his belly bloat up, does he have any stomach pains, does it gurgle? Throwing up/the feeling of wanting to throw up is a reflex action that results from an issue with the digestive system.

All of the symptoms I've listed above were the same things that I was experiencing when I was 40 years old. I had to go to a naturopathic doctor to be tested and discovered I: was gluten intolerant, allergic to casein (one of the proteins in cow's milk), soy intolerant, and there were 21 other foods that my body didn't like to various degrees.

It would be a good idea to have him checked to see if he has any food issues. Celiac disease will also cause the issues your son is having; that is an autoimmune disease. If he has Celiac, he will need to quit eating anything and everything with gluten in it, because gluten is attacking his body systems.

After my food allergy/intolerance diagnosis 4 years ago, my lifelong battle with constipation finally was resolved, and I'm the healthiest I've been my entire life.

Then again, if he had a really bad tummy flu, it could take a while for his system to get back to normal. Is he taking a good quality probiotic, so that his gut/colon can repopulate itself with good bacteria? Because if he threw up a lot or had diarrhea, the good flora in his colon/gut could be off, and that would need to be corrected. Florajen3 (with all of the different strains) would be the best to give him. One in the morning, half hour before eating, and one before bedtime, half hour to an hour after the last thing he ate. My daughter takes it, and it helps immensely.

If it continues, however, I would investigate further.