HACKENSACK, N.J. - A kindergartner worried so much about school, she suffered chest pains and had to be rushed to the emergency room.

A 5-year-old was plagued by anxiety attacks that left the child gasping for breath.

A 12-year-old complained of intense abdominal pains and chronic headaches. His pediatrician blamed the dizzying pace of the boy's life - band practice, the travel soccer team, private piano lessons, tennis lessons, homework and hours spent preparing for his bar mitzvah.

Increasingly, physicians across the country are seeing patients as young as 5 suffering from stress-related health problems typically found in harried adults. Pediatricians are reporting a rise in chronic fatigue, stomachaches and sleep disorders. Therapists say they're treating more and more children for anxiety and depression.

The stress of multiple activities, the hectic rhythms of households, the pressure to succeed academically, athletically and socially is literally making children sick.

"We're overprogramming and overscheduling our kids," said Dr. David Namerow, chief of pediatrics at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood who recently treated the 12-year-old boy with stomach pains. "Their bodies are crying out and saying 'enough."'

In the last decade, parents have pushed much younger children into multiple sports, music lessons, and clubs, and paid closer attention to their academic performance. The result: an increase in young children suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, chest pain, tension headache and fatigue.

"Parents are surprised to know that stress can do this to children," said Dr. Fred Hirschenfang, a pediatrician at Hackensack University Medical Center.

In Washington Township, a 5-year-old boy is taking yoga to treat his chronic reflux, which Dr. Lawrence Rosen attributes to stress. Earlier this month, a 12-year-old arrived at Hirschenfang's Hackensack office complaining that he has had headaches since the beginning of school.

For many children, the aches and pains are the result of hours spent on the SUV shuttle - racing from hockey practice to music lessons to the tutor, and eating take-out burgers on the way.

In interviews with more than a dozen physicians and therapists, most agree that a crisis is brewing.

"It's crystal clear when you talk to doctors, teachers and nurses that this is very real," said Dr. Wayne A. Yankus, a former president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is the medical adviser to the Board of Education in Ridgewood, a town that made national headlines when it urged parents to schedule a family night to ease the relentless activity.

So many children are now suffering from stress-related illnesses that some hospitals have begun offering yoga, massage therapy and other alternative medical services to help young patients relax.

In September, Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood opened its Complementary Medicine Center to children under stress or with chronic illnesses. Two dozen young patients a week attend the center for music therapy, acupuncture, and cranial sacral therapy, a massage that releases tension in the body. Yoga classes help relax children suffering stress-induced head and stomach pains.

In pediatric offices, some physicians are beginning to recommended these alternative therapies to parents who are frustrated by their children's constant stomachaches and throbbing heads.

Overwhelmingly, when physical causes are ruled out for these illnesses, many pediatricians try to persuade parents to pull the plug on some activities, often with little success.

"Our kids are just that - kids," Namerow said. "They should be treated with more TLC than we've been giving."