I have a 16 month old, who is having chronic diahrrhea. I've really started to notice it over the last four months. it seem to have almost gotten worse since we moved into out new house. He is allergic to milk, and is on all soy. If he even touches something dairy, he breaks out in hives, and his eyes swell complettly shut. I was reading a lot of these posts, and a few people thought the soy was becoming a trigger, so does anyone have a recomindation for an alternitive, rice, or goats milk? Is something better than another? Also, cystic fibrosis runs in my husbands family, and I know that chronic diahrrhea can be a flag, but wouldn't they have know about that early on? In Colorado, every baby is screened for genetic desieses at birth. If anyone has any answers, I would be very greatful.
My guess is that you might just want to skip dairy altogether because that is probably exacerbating it. You can use substitutions but it's proably all those plant fats that are causing him to have issues. Maybe consider a diet without any sort of milk or milk-like products. DOes that make sense?
My 16 month old has never had normal poop for more than a week. He has a known soy intolerance, but even when that is avoided, he always has smelly diarrhea. Like everyone else has mentioned, doctors were not concerned because he is thriving. After reading four pages of posts, I decided to increase fat and remove apples from his diet. Within a week he began having formed stools! Thank you for all of the suggestions.
kimzkidz wrote:
My son is now 19 mos old. For as long as I can remember he has had constant diarrhea. As an infant, he wans't noticably different in this regard from his fraternal twin brother, but since they have been eating 'regular' table food, Jacob definately has diarrhea--ALL THE TIME. We have been taking more notice lately so that we can report back to our pediatrician. He NEVER has less than 3 loose stools a day- often up to 5 or 6, he frequently has a distended belly (often after meals--I think). He doesn't seem to have bad belly cramps, but definately knows when the poop is coming As a result of the diarrhea, he also has fairly consistent diaper rash. We tried switching to Lactaid milk incase of Lactose intolerance--for about a week, and no change. We added some fiber to his diet, at the recommendation of his pediatrician, but have not noticed any difference. He appears to be well noruished--maintaining the 50-75% percentile on the growth charts for height and weight.
I just have no idea what is going on, or what to do. I have no idea how we would ever begin to potty train as I cannot leave him for even a few moments without a diaper. I don't want him to be in discomfort or pain.
Could he just be taking cramps in stride if he's had them all his life?
Any insight, experience or advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Kim[/quote
both of my children r having the SAME issue it is driving me crazy!!! i have been to the doctors atleast 7 times n this is the 7th week!! he has been to the hospital he is fine n hydrated all of his test r normal so far but there r still more blood test that need to b done so far i have tried a lactose free diet n the more bready food diet nothing has worked def confused n with ya there!!
*~*MeLiSsA*~*
My 3 yr old girl is going through same thing. Her ped is havin her tested for celiacs and crohns disease. She is still not potty trained and until we get diarrhea under control I just don't think its going to happen. Her stool is real pasty and causes terrible diaper rash as well. Apparently I am not alone. We need answers to what is goin on with our babies. :-(
I'm so thankful I can across this post. I am so stressed out - we are in week 5 of my son having loose stools. Like someone above, most mornings, I wake up to poop all in his crib. His pediatrician has done blood work and we submitted 4 vials of stool to the lab and the doctors said they tested him for every parasite they could think of and it all came back negative. He poops have a horrific smell and sometimes it appears that his food goes undigested. He doesn't have a fever, no crankiness (other than normal for a 14 month old), not dehydrated... tummy hasn't ever appeared distended.. just can't seem to have a normal poop. We've had him on soy milk for 4 of the 5 weeks... and no help... we took him off juice completely - no help... we did the BRAT diet but now i can't get my son to come within 10 feet of a grain of rice or bananas. We did Florastor for 2.5 weeks.. and now we're doing Culturelle - neither is helping. I am calling the pediatrician tomorrow to start the allergy testing process. As I said, I'm thankful that I found this post - to know that I'm not alone... but it's also somewhat depressing that so many people haven't gotten answers and that some have been dealing with the for 2 years or more... my son never had this problem previously... so I can't imagine that this will last forever!?!? gosh.. I sure hope not... or I might end up on medication...lol
I sure hope all our sweet babies get over this soon!!
I sure hope all our sweet babies get over this soon!!
My son had chronic diarrhoea from the age of 7 months (around the time I started weaning him onto solids) He had a Coeliac screen and stool screen for lactose intolerance, pancreatic insufficiency, parasites and infections. All came back negative and it was only when I mentioned to the paediatrician that he ate a lot of pasta that he suggested I cut out all wheat products. I noticed a lot of people on here have tried cutting out dairy but wheat and egg are also common foods for children to have intolerances of. When we cut out wheat I started giving him more egg (he doesnt really like meat so I figured he needed the protein) and it turns out he's allergic to that too. When we totally cut out egg and wheat he just changed totally. He wasn't so irritable anymore and he slept better, probably because he didn't have a tummy ache so much. He eats really well, although its tricky when we're eating out as not many restaurants offer gluten AND egg free options. He also doesn't suffer with asthma or eczema anymore, which we've found out was caused by his allergies. I'd always speak to your paediatrician about an elimination diet. But if Coealiac disease is suspected, always ask for a Coealiac screen first, as the results will be negative if they're been on a GF diet.
Wow! It is amazing to see how many parents are dealing with this issue. I am comforted to know that it isn't just my baby, but I'm practically in tears reading how long some of you have been dealing with this and have found no relief. I was so hoping to find an answer. My son is 13 months old and has yet to have solid BM. He basically still poops like a newborn. His stools are still loose and yellow, which is perfectly normal for an infant, but no so much for a child who is over a year. At the age of 9 months, his stools changed from yellow to BLUE! That continued for 2 months when I discovered that the formula he was on had added prebiotics. After the dr. witched him to a different formula, that helped with the blue poop, but they were still loose and back to the yellow color. The dr. said that they would probably firm up after he started eating more solid food. They didn't. Then the dr. said that they would firm up after putting him on whole milk. They didn't. I took him back because I was starting to get concerned and because of the diaper rash associated with this issue. She doesn't seem concerned because he is gaining weight and isn't chronically fussy. Even though he is gaining weight he is still small, staying within the 3rd to 5th percentile on the chart. He also had a low birthweight, only 4lbs 12oz and was not premature. My ob/gyn estimated he would be about 7lbs, so we were all rather surprised when he was so small. All is metabolic screenings came back normal at birth. Basically the diagnosis was "toddler diarrhea" and suggested giving him infant rice cereal again and giving him a probiotic 2-3 times per day. The rice cereal is helping some with making his still more mushy than loose, but he still does have loose ones and they are always very yellow in color. I have not yet given him the probiotic because I am concerned that I will simply be treating the symptoms and not the cause. Are the rest of you that are experiencing "toddler diarrhea" with your babies finding that their stools are still very yellow or are they brown? Should I be concerned about the color? Should I just started making changes to his diet on my own, i.e. lactose free, gluten free or take him to a GI specialist? I am just reluctant to accept the "toddler diarrhea" diagnosis first when nothing else has been ruled out.
I wouldn't advise putting him on GF or any other exclusion diet without speaking to a doctor 1st. You could be restricting your baby's protein intake unneccesarily, plus any tests he might need to have won't be viable if he's not eating the thing that disagrees with him, as the antibodies will no longer be present in his blood and therefore wont show up on the test. I'm assuming you're in the US. I live in the UK and things work slightly differently here, you can only self refer to see a doc if you're paying, if you want to see a specialist doctor within the NHS you have to be referred. The paediatrician my son sees deals with all childhood problems, but his specialty (luckily) is GI. If you can go and see a GI doc without going through your GP then I say go for it. Can I ask what kind of things he eats? If he's only eating rice then its unlikely to be Coeliac or Gluten intolerance, but if he's on a cows milk formula, it could be lactose. That can be excluded with a stool sample, no bloods neccessary so maybe ask for that to be excluded before you go into blood tests etc, which are never nice for tots. Let us know how you get on, I remember very well how it feels. You just want to tear your hair out, especially if he's getting nappy rash from all the loose stools. As mums its our job to protect and look after our children and when they're ill and we don't have any help finding out why, its easy to lose faith in doctors and medicine. Just be persistent. Oh and one thing I've found out form all my various visits to doctors etc is the worst thing you can say is 'I googled this' or 'I've looked online and..' or 'my mum/a friend of mine said...' because they never take you seriously from that. If you're gonna explain a theory that you have, just come out with it, like, 'what about gluten intolerance or Coeliac disease' or maybe 'I'd like him/her to be tested for....'
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
Thank you for responding! Actually I have made the decision to take him to a GI specialist. With my health insurance I do not need a referral. I actually have a cousin who is 17 years old now, but was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 13 mos. Long story short, after his brain surgery he required a feeding tube. So my aunt recommended the GI specialist that they saw. I am going to see him since he is a familiar face. It's nice to see a doc that a family member can vouch for. I am going to keep feeding him as I normally would for 2 weeks and keep a food/stool diary. He truly eats anything and everything and he is on cow's milk. I know what you mean about telling docs that you "googled" something or read something online. I feel like they just roll their eyes b/c we are not doctors and should just leave the diagnosing for them to do. I hate to feel like I am making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, but I truly believe that sometimes you need to advocate for child and trust your instinct when it comes to what is best for your baby. I would feel much more comfortable ruling some other possibilities out before I accept the "toddler diarrhea" diagnosis and this is just how it will be for the next 3 or 4 years.
The doc my son saw suggested toddler diarrhoea to us as well! Hope it goes well for you and the doc takes you seriously. Nobody knows a child better than its mother and in most cases doctors know this, sometimes you just need to remind them!!
I don't know what is going on! My 14 month old hasn't had diarrhea as long as everyone else but I am still worried. It has been two weeks and he seems to be fine during the day apart from having 6-10 dirty diapers a day. I've tried getting him into see his doctor but they don't seem to think that it is anything to worry about. He stays up screaming and passing gas all night and i just don't know what to do except to try and get him into the doctor. There is something wrong!! It has mucus and sometimes it turns and orangeish redish color and it just explodes. I have to change his diaper mid poo so that it doesn't over flow.
Hi, I saw your post and was thinking of buying the Bentonite clay for my 17 month old son. He has had messy diapers ever since we started him on table food at 11 months. Did you use Psyllium Husk with the Bentonite clay? I plan on starting us all on a more natural diet and am hoping with the cleansing and the diet things will improve for him.
I have exactly the same issues with my daughter, now two. Chronic diarrhea, at least three per day, but she has a healthy pink skin colour and is gaining weight appropriately.
I took her to my G.P.'s many times. The last visit she gave me some blood tests for a variety of disorders. I took her to a naturopath instead, who started her on a gluten-free, dairy free diet. It worked! We have to be careful with her diet but she now has one normal stool per day. After two years this is such a relief!
Before taking her to the naturopath, I suspected her digestive issues were from her diet, so I tried her on different things, Goat's milk, soy milk etc. But in order to do this properly she needed to be taken off of even the smallest source of dairy or gluten, which is why it never worked for me before.
She had allergy testing, however allergy testing works well for allergies with fast responses, it does not really find the allergens that cause diarrhea or GI upset.
If you and your doctor have ruled out Inflammatory Bowel Disease, cystic fibrosis or any other disorders I would recommend visiting a naturopath or a dietitian.
I took her to my G.P.'s many times. The last visit she gave me some blood tests for a variety of disorders. I took her to a naturopath instead, who started her on a gluten-free, dairy free diet. It worked! We have to be careful with her diet but she now has one normal stool per day. After two years this is such a relief!
Before taking her to the naturopath, I suspected her digestive issues were from her diet, so I tried her on different things, Goat's milk, soy milk etc. But in order to do this properly she needed to be taken off of even the smallest source of dairy or gluten, which is why it never worked for me before.
She had allergy testing, however allergy testing works well for allergies with fast responses, it does not really find the allergens that cause diarrhea or GI upset.
If you and your doctor have ruled out Inflammatory Bowel Disease, cystic fibrosis or any other disorders I would recommend visiting a naturopath or a dietitian.
I was just wondering if you ever founf out what the cause of your sons diarreha was? My son is 19 months now and has chronic diarreaha. He is on a lactose fre, wheat free, gluten free diet. His stomach was always round and I have noticed in the last day that its going down but he still has the diarreha.