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Reviewed By: Brunilda Nazario,
SOURCES: 2007 Medical Reference from Medstar Television. Alicia Neu, MDPediatric Nephrologist, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, MD.
© 1999-2011 Medstar Television
For 7-year-old Matthew Sweitzer it started with a few belly aches.
It hurt.
Over time, the pain got worse.
He was very uncomfortable. He was crying. He was doubled over. I knew something was definitely wrong.
There was! Matthew had kidney stones.
Often the kids will present with a little bit of stomach pain, but have bloody urine and that's what the parent will notice.
You wouldn't think kids could get kidney stones, but doctors at Johns Hopkins say they're seeing the condition more often.
We actually have seen kids as young as two and three and four years of age with kidney stones. More commonly, it's in a little bit older child, you know, a pre-teen or adolescent.
A diet loaded with salt and too little water could be the culprit.
Too much salt in the diet can increase the amount of calcium in the urine and increase the risk for calcium stones.
To reduce your child's risk for kidney stones, limit salty snacks like chips and pretzels. Avoid high-sodium processed foods, including soda. Get them to drink plenty of water instead.
If two or three hours goes by and they don't feel like they need to go to the bathroom, then they're not drinking enough.
Most stones will pass out of the body on their own. But some kids, like Matthew, will need to have them surgically removed.
Five. Woohoo!
Kidney stones are rarely a serious condition, but they are painful. Especially for a kid. For WebMD, I'm Damon Meharg.
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