Can pyloric stenosis return years later?

My son had a pyloromyotomy when he was 22 days old. It was very successful and he made a quick recovery.

He is now four and a half and has always (since he could speak) occasionally said that his tummy hurts. It usually happens during or after eating and sometimes a bowel movement follows within the hour. His bowel movements have always been firm but regular. The pain has always passed very quickly and not caused me great concern. He is always hungry but can't manage large amounts so often claims to be starving, eats a few mouthfuls of his dinner, complains that he is full up and then an hour later pleads hunger again. He has always been like this and I put him down to being a little-and-often type of person. Recently though the frequency of 'tummy hurts' has increased. He has also started belching quite a lot too. Sometimes he tells me that he gets a bit of sick at the back of his mouth (reflux?). Today he barely had a mouthful of dinner before complaining that his tummy hurt, he then also showed me the lump above his belly button (olive? my husband has one too as he also had a pyloromyotomy as a baby) and said it was larger than usual and very sore to touch. As the pain didn't subside I gave him some baby ibuprofen and he seems fine now. No-one else in the family suffers from any sort of gastric disorders and my son is generally healthy.

I will make an appointment to see a doctor tomorrow but am worried that this is something serious. I would really appreciate some reassurance or information.

Many thanks in advance.

[74jami]

Oh well, he hasn't had any symptoms since I posted that so maybe I was worrying for nothing.

[Vandy459]

It's a fair time since you posted and updated this. How has your son gone since?
From what you mention I thought of 2 possible causes that others on the MedHelp pages have posted about after effects of PS surgery.
One is a problem with the scar (hernia, rupture or stitch residue). One man I've corresponded with still had bits of thread emerging from his scar after 45 years!!
The other is adhesions, which 90%+ of us have after abdominal surgery. If severe enough these can cause the kind of problems you list, and worse. One poster on MedHelp had to have the adhesions after her pyloromyotomy cleaned up at age 5, again many years later, and she fears she may be heading for the OT again.
See your doctor if these problems persist and push for an answer.
These are good reasons for doctors to consider the medical alternative to pyloromyotomy more seriously when a PS diagnosis is non urgent.