What are functional gastrointestinal disorders?

Functional gastrointestinal disorders are when your tummy doesn’t work quite right, but not because there’s a broken part inside it.

Imagine your stomach is like a toy car, and the track it rolls on is the path of food through your body. When everything works, the car moves smoothly from one end to the other. But with functional gastrointestinal disorders, the car still exists, but sometimes it gets stuck, goes too fast, or just doesn’t want to move at all.

For example, some kids might feel bloated and gassy after eating a big meal, like when they drink too much soda before dinner. That’s like the toy car getting jammed in the middle of the track because there’s too much liquid pushing it around.

Another kind is irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), where your tummy might hurt or you might feel like you need to go to the bathroom very soon after eating, it's like the toy car has a mind of its own and decides when to zoom ahead or stop suddenly.

These problems aren’t because something is broken inside you. They are just the way your tummy sometimes works, a bit messy, but still totally normal!