Toddler, chronic diarrhea, no weight loss....????

my son started with excessive diah. at 13 mths....noone can seemed to figure out y either...the docs wont do any tests, they just blow it off...he has a congenital heart disease T.A.P.V.R and had open heart surgery at just 9 hours old!! so this scares me hes now 18 mths and ive went as far as putting him on flaxmilk!!!it seemed to work for 3-4 days but now his diah is black and super liquified!!!!! i have no clue what to do and he is always in pain, has open sores/ blisters on his butt and ive tried every rx and otc rash cream..nothing works!!! im at a loss what to do!! ) :

I am going through this with my 23 month old. They just sent his stool to the lab. As far as the diaper rash goes, make him up a batch of "Happy Hiney". The ingredients are on the internet (look in seach engine) and use corn starch as a diaper powder. My sons rash got so bad it was bleeding and after 3 days of use, it is almost completely gone. Oh, and also, we started wiping him down with a wet washcloth after using baby wipes and patting him dry before applying the cream. Hope that helps.

my granddaughter is doing exactly the same thing. They put her on soy milk and it got better for a few days and then started all over again. they tested her for Cyliac disease and was negative. were just dont know what else to do. Hers also has a distinct odor to it that is awful.

Hi. So sorry your little one and you are going through this! My son had similar symptoms. Honestly, your best bet is seein alternative practitioners. A GI specialist at Childrens hospital offered us nothing other than praising us for having him on probiotics! For us, a combo of dietary restrictions (gluten, wheat, dairy, corn, soy) and treating Giardias and now NUCCCA (a form of chiropractic care0. Treating Giardias stopped the diarrhea & stomach pain. Food restrictions helped behavior & NUCCA has him sleeping all night-1st time in 3.5 years!

Wow, I could have written that post myself! After years of constant diarrhea, bloating, belly pain and nappy rash and getting no success from conventional methods/specialists, we have finally had success. It has been a long frustrating road, with the need to constantly re-assess and adjust as necessary, but the long and short of it for us was taking my son (now 3yr) off wheat, yeast, dairy, corn, fructose and giving a good quality probiotic daily. We tried many different probiotics, but my son had his first solid poo ever after 3 days of being on Lacta-Flora probiotic. He hasn't had a episode of diarrhea now for months. He even ate half a wheat bread sandwich (by mistake) last week (which sent me in to a state of panic) and had no visible side effects. This is evident that his gut is slowly repairing and becoming less reactive. The best advice I can give is be patient and don't give up.

I have a 25 month old son that has chronic diarrhea with the same symptoms. So far my pediatrician has no answers either. Did you ever get any answers?

My son began to have diarrhea when he was 12 mths old! Like most of you they tried many things. First taking him off of any milk or any thing with milk in it. We did this for one month and had no changes. They then had me collect stool samples that came back that he had fat in his stool. This lead them to test him for cestic fibrosis. Three test later we got a negative. My baby boy continued to have diarrhea with no answers for 4 yrs! At 5 yrs old his diarrhea went away! We were so happy but confused as to what had been going on. He then began to have sever leg cramps at age 6. After lots of blood work, they told me he had a vitimin D deficiency! I was told to give him a muti vitimin. At age 7 his diarrhea returned!  It now comes and goes but we are now seeing a GI specialist who will soon be running a light up and down to see what is going on in there! So now they think it my be celiac disease! This causes diarrhea, vitimin deficiency's, malnutrician's! There is no cure for this disease, but they treat it with a gluten free diet! I was told not to start the diet until all the test are done because once someone with this disease stops eating gluten, there intestant heals! But will become inflammed if ever exposed to gluten! Hope this may have given someone some ideas and good luck! I know its a long road! I will keep everyone updated on how the test turns out or if i find out anything else!

Just wanted to add that this is happening to us as well.  My five year old had runny stools and stomach problems since he was a baby.  Even soy milk was causing problems.  We had blood work done but multiple doctors always said that if he's gaining weight then it isn't a problem.  I don't see how constant diaper rash and diarrhea is not a problem.  I started eliminating different things from his diet to try and figure it out.  For him, it was sugar.  He could only have a few grams per meal, so we switched to sugar free almond milk (he liked the flavor better than other options) and low or no sugar everything else.  By around 3 and a half he outgrew the issues.  He has can have anything to eat and drink including regular cows milk.  He is a very picky eater now and we deal with constipation more than anything but it's easier to manage than the diarrhea.  Now we are dealing with our 18 month old and havn't got it quite figured out yet.  We have always limited his sugar and cut out dairy but he still has runny stools.  We are trying some probiotics and hoping that will help re-set his stomach.  We've brought it up with his doctor who said the same thing about it not being an issue as long as he was gaining weight.  Some things never change.

 

oh my god i am so glad ive found this page!!! i am going through the same with my 13 month old girl, my mother in law even said she was going to contact social services because my daughter must "have caught a disease in my house" which has led to arguments and family fall outs and ultimately her not seeing my daughter!! i am at the very beginning of this, having seen my gp numerous times to no avail apart from "your doing everything fine" heres dioralyte!!  today i begin with taking lactose out of Bronaghs diet, and seeing how we go! will repost and let you all know, any tips welcome!!

Hi,

I am sorry you guys are all going through tough times but it is kind of comforting to know that other people are going through similar things. My youngest has had constant gastrointestinal problems since starting solid food - he is now 2.5 years old. He seems to constantly get onto the verge of being seriously ill but then manages to recover just enough so that I get the old 'toddler diarrhoea' 'immature gut' 'he'll just grow out of it' story which can get frustrating at times. He has had all sorts of tests and investigative procedures, he does have an iron deficiency anaemia, and a few other non-specific findings on blood work but all the other tests have come back negative and I think that the Drs are waiting for him to either grow out of it or get worse so they can work out what is wrong with him. It is very hard to see him in pain and miserable - that's the bit the Dr's just dont see or appreciate as they only see him for a few minutes and he is scared and subdued in that time.

As far as pain goes try wheat bags or hot water bottle (not too hot obviously). I have also had good sucess using homeopathic pain remedies, And of course there is the trusted paracetamol - do NOT use ibuprofen for gut related problems. It is worth doing the whole dairy free, wheat free, trials but you need to be super strict and do them for several weeks and I probably wouldnt go ahead without checking with your Dr first. Also trust your gut (no pun intended!) if you really feel that there is something seriously wrong then push those Dr's for an answer. I have to say that my first child did have toddler diarrhoea and she did just seem to grow out of it a few months after she was potty trained - I am not certain how I will potty train my youngest as the diarrhoea just flows out of him!!

I really hope you all find the answers that you need and that your little ones get the help they deserve.

I just wanted to update everyone on some information that I have gathered from our new doctor. My son is now 3 and has had Diarrhea since he was 4 months old. We currently have him on Culturell, its a pro-biotic that doesn't cure his problem but we have seen major changes in his bowel movements. We empty 2 capsules in his Almond Milk before bed every night. It's tasteless! We were just giving him 1 cap. but his body became immune so we had to up the dose to 2. I am not saying that it is a cure by any means but for the first time in a long time we do not have to change his clothes 10 times a day. I will continue to keep everyone updated on my sons progress but as of now if we do not find a diagnosis then we will be looking into going to the Mayo Clinic. i hope everyone has a blessed Christmas.Ramona 

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It seem like it was just yesterday when i started researching but this shows t was over a year ago.

It makes me so sad to read about so many families dealing with such a frustrating situation, feeling so helpless and unable to get any beneficial guidance. All I can do is share my experience and hope that some others may benefit from this. My son had diareah for as long as I could recall, often he would have explosive watery motions 6 times a day and his immune system was so low he constantly got colds. At about 2yrs of age he had a gastroscopy including 3 biopsies of the gut, he had blood tests and numerous stool samples, all which came back clear. We then decided to try homeopathy without success and then dieticians and chiropractic. We did have some success with elimating wheat and dairy out of his diet, but it still wasn't enough. After another 12 months of research and talking to various health professionals, I finally found someone who I am so grateful to have met who conducted a food sensitivity test (this was done in the Flannery Health Food Store on the Gold Coast by a women named Sheetal Khagram). We were given a very comprehensive list of all the foods my son was reactive to. For him this included wheat, yeast, dairy, high fructose foods and certain vegetables particularly tomatoes and peppers. Since we have avoided these foods, over a period of a couple of months his stools became solid more and more frequently. He has now had good health and consistently solid poo for six months now (except for 1 incident where I cooked a meal with paprika. Poor kid had a belly ache for a couple of days and watery poos, I felt so bad). I just wanted to share our experience because I remember feeling so helpless and frustrated and so worried every day for so long, and now I am so grateful that we found a solution. I have been told that my boys gut is likely to of been compromised as a baby by the use of antibiotics in addition to him being a CSection birth and not being exposed to the natural bacteria when coming thru the birth canal. Who knows for sure? The other crucial element has been a good probiotic. We tried a few, but the best we found was Lacta Flora. Good luck and don't give up searching for a solution. Mel

Celiac? Try an organic gluten dairy free diet. Go to a food allergist for tests too.

my son is 3 and has had diarrhea since he was born doctors havnt found anything yet they think he may have a fructose intolerant but even cutting out the fruits he still has diarrhea im so glad i am not the only one now i can ask his doctor bout these things for him to be tested they wont test him tho for the fructose test until 7 yrs or older bc its like a breathalizer but ithink a 3 year old is old enough to know how i am gonna make a "diary" of the diets hes been on like cutting out dairy then fruit ect but has anyone noticed with this that your little one just wants to drink drink drink and not eat bc they drank so much?