"MUMMY, my stomach is hurting," must easily be one of the commonest complaints that a mother hears, from her child who is in the school going age.

A large number of children who visit a doctor do so for this very complaint.

And although more than ninety percent of stomach pains are benign or harmless, there is a ten percent group of children in whom stomach pain can be a sign of serious disease.

How does a mother decide whether to ignore her child's complaint of stomach pain, or to take action immediately?

Here is a brief look at stomach pain in children, ranging from the harmless to the dangerous causes, with a rough guide for mothers to know when to take action:

In order of occurrence, the three commonest causes of stomach pain that mothers should know about are constipation, worm infestation and indigestion or infection in the intestines.

Photograph: stock.Xchng