9 All-Natural Tummy Ache Remedies

Your little one has probably come to you with hands wrapped around the waist while crying, "My tummy hurts!" Abdominal pain has many different characteristics -- it can be dull, sharp, or crampy -- and doctors judge severity based on when children stop playing and on how their eating and bowel habits change. "Tummy aches are extremely common in children, especially around the ages of four to eight," says Deborah Lonzer, M.D., a pediatrician and the Chair of the Department of Community Pediatrics for the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital. The main reasons: diet, stress, and growing pains. "The pain is usually not due to an irritation inside the stomach but from the cramping or stretching of muscles on the outside," says James M. Sears, M.D., a pediatrician and cohost on the CBS daytime talk show The Doctors. The next time your kid complains of an upset tummy, consider these nine natural remedies.