Approximately 20% of children will seek attention for abdominal pain some time during their childhood. The pain could be acute or recurrent in nature and often may be associated with other symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhoea.

The abdominal pain may arise from gastrointestinal causes or non-gastrointestinal causes. Common causes include constipation, infant colic and gastroenteritis. However, some of these children could be suffering from more serious conditions such as obstruction of the intestines, bleeding in the intestines and appendicitis, which need medical attention as soon as possible.