Hernia Question

My son had surgery for his when he was 3. He never had any other problems, no fever, etc. His pediatrician took him in right away to confirm that was what it was, but then we had to wait about 3 weeks to get into so the surgeon. So I would try to get in to see your Dr. sooner, so you can get the process going faster. But there were no complications, the surgery was simple and there were no problems. Good luck, even the most simple and common surgeries are still very scary and stressful when they are on your child.

If your son had an umbilical hernia, you would have known when he was a baby, because that is when it is most apparent. The dr's would have caught that way before now. Umbilical hernia's are more than just hard, but they puff out really far from the belly. My son, who wa 8 weeks premature, had a terrible umbilical hernia...scared the heck out of us. He's almost a yr. old now, and there is very little evidence that he has one. Most babies "out grow" them. For the few who don't surgery is usually required when they are a toddler.
S to me, it doesn't sound like your son has one. It may just be a stomach bug he has. Our family has been thru the stomach flu twice this month.

Hi K.,

Both of my children had/have umbilical hernias. But the hernia showed up when they were just infants. My son's, he is 14 years old now, resolved itself on its own. My daughter's, she is 2 1/2 years old, seems to be doing the same. Now with that said, if your son is running a fever, says it hurts, and the area is hard (or red), I would insist on seeing the doctor now. The hardness and if it is red in color is a sign that it could be restricted and could rupture. The part about it hurting is the fact that an umbilical hernia is where part of the bowel (intestine) is protruding from a hole in the muscle of the abdomen.

I hope this helps and if you need anything please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,
C.

When I was born I came 2 months early. Hernias are more common in premature babies(or at least that is what they said back in the 80's). I had two hernia surgeries by the time I was 8 years old. While I was in surgery the first time they had found that my muscle had attached to my left ovary. Even with all of the complications everything turned out fine and I can hardly even see th scars.

Hi K., most kids out grow the hernia, but what I would watch for is if he continues to complain about that area hurting, a fever accompanied and vomiting, it could be his appendix, or also he could be constipated, or have a bowel obstruction, and that is no fun either. If he hasn’t had a bowel movement in a while you can try a gentle lower tummy massage starting from his right side and slowly work your way along his large intestines, all the way left then down just inside his left hip, then start back at the right side again.

But on the bright side, most kids from time to time, just have tummy aches and fevers for all kinds of crazy reasons, so there are lots of us that know what you’re going though.

You know your child best, and trust your instincts. Good Luck

Hi,
I have a 22 month old son & he has a herniated belly button. He has had his since birth. My doctor says they don't usually do anything until age 3 because they will usually go away on thier own. Some days my sons puffs out a lot & other days it looks like a normal inny. It doesn't seem to bother him any. I would ask the doctor just to ease your own mind about it though.

H. SAHM of 2 daughter 4 1/2 & son 22 months

Hey K.,
I don't get a chance to get on the computer every day otherwise I would have replied to your question before now. Sorry! Anyway, how is your son? Did you get him an earlier appointment? I can't say that the fever had anything to do with his hernia but if so, it was probably just from him being upset that his belly was hurting. I have a 4 year old God-daughter that I take care of right now. She also had an umbilical hernia. She had surgery to have it removed. It was a same-day surgery and very simple. I was surprised though, when the doctor said that the hernia was the size of a grape! Her navel stuck way out. Especially when she cried. Before her surgery though, she did complain about it hurting but never ran a fever. I gave her some Children's Tylenol for the pain. She would be back to her normal routine after about an hour. An old wive's-tale is to tape a silver dollar onto the hernia (not sure how long).I know this sounds crazy, but my ex-boyfriend's mother swears to it that this works. Maybe you could Google something about home remedies or wive's-tales to see if it has anything about it. Good luck with that, but he should be okay. Doctors say that those things usually go away with time anyway.