Does hernia hurt when a child has it?

Some parents will suddenly find that their child's lower abdomen is swollen when their child is unwell. In fact, this is a hernia problem in the child. Children's hernia is related to their emotions, but some children are very young and cannot express themselves. So does it hurt when children have a hernia? Let’s understand how the child feels.

The hernia will become larger when a child coughs, cries, or holds his breath. It will also grow larger when the child runs and jumps during the day, but there are no obvious symptoms of pain. It will shrink when the child goes to bed at night, and become less obvious if you move it with your hands. When the child cries, exercises, or has a bowel movement, the lower abdomen will bulge, the abdominal pain will worsen, and vomiting, bloating, and cessation of defecation will occur. The reducible mass in the umbilicus is the most important clinical manifestation, which is more obvious when the baby cries. There are generally no other symptoms. Since the baby's abdominal wall and hernia ring are relatively soft, incarceration is very rare.

What people usually call pediatric hernia, from a medical point of view, mainly refers to congenital indirect hernia. This is because the boy's testicles descend to the scrotum through the inguinal canal before birth, and the peritoneum moves downward to form the processus vaginalis. If the processus vaginalis has not closed after the baby is born, it will become a larger cavity. The contents of the abdominal cavity will protrude from here to the body surface, forming an indirect hernia. Because the right testicle descends slightly later than the left, the processus vaginalis closes later, so there are more right-side inguinal hernias. Of course, girls can also develop indirect hernias due to weak abdominal walls, but the incidence rate is very low. Children usually don't feel any pain when they first develop a hernia, but after a certain period of time, they will feel pain.

Children must receive special care when they have a hernia, otherwise they will easily feel extreme pain. If the baby is an infant, it is important to maintain a healthy diet. If the baby has already started eating, special attention should be paid to eating more light foods that can help supplement nutrition.