For Children With IBS and Their Parents

April is IBS Awareness Month. Much of the attention in the IBS community at this time of year, as well as year-round, is focused on adults with IBS, but some readers may not be aware that children and adolescents can get IBS too. According to IFFGD Fact Sheet #846 , Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in Children, one source estimates that 14% of all high school students and 6% of middle school students show symptoms of IBS. (The overall prevalence of IBS in all ages is widely quoted as 10-20% depending on the source, and anywhere from 9-23% in different countries worldwide.) The international diagnostic criteria, Rome III, for pediatric IBS specifies ages 4-18. While in adults, IBS is statistically more common in women than men, IBS affects boys and girls equally. Children and teens who are known to or may have IBS and their parents are an important subset of our community who also deserve mention.

Our friend Magda at the parenting blog Ask Moxie has generously given space on her site today to a guest post on IBS in children written by the IBS Impact founder, Nina, with input from our webmaster Shawn. Shawn also tells part of his own experience developing and coping with IBS as a child many years ago. If you have not done so already, please read the post and feel free to comment and/or to explore the rest of the Ask Moxie site for other general parenting topics and discussion.

If you’re a parent or guardian who is reading this blog for the first time as a result of the guest post on Ask Moxie, or one who has found IBS Impact recently through other means, welcome and thank you for visiting. We hope you will find this blog, our main website or our advocacy and awareness-focused Yahoo group interesting and useful. We have many original articles and links to reputable resources in several countries and, as a grassroots site, are always open to your suggestions and submissions.

In particular, we’d like to highlight our brand new page of links specific to children with IBS that has just been added this month. Our family and friends page has articles and resources for loved ones of people with IBS of all ages. Most resources on our site and on sites that we link are applicable to both adults and children with IBS.

• Posted in: Awareness ♦ IBS ♦ IBS Impact ♦ Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Tagged: children, family and friends, parents