Can a toddler all of a sudden develop a lactose or CMP intolerance??

[SleepForTheWeek]

Quick back story - DD is 2.7 and up until recently has suffered from constipation and withholding which she takes Movicol for. This works well and she has a regular bowel movement everyday when taking it.

9 days ago she started to get quite runny poos, at first I thought it was a bug as she was also sick sometimes (while pooing) but we are now going on to day 10 and it's not got any better (no Movicol since this started). I wouldn't go as far to say diarrhoea but very loose, messy and quite mucousy too. Can be anywhere from 4-7 times a day. She's otherwise well, no temp or signs she's ill. Still eating and drinking normally.

Took her to the Doctors after 5 days and he said to bring her back if it had been going on for 2-3 weeks for further investigation but because she's acting normal not to worry.

I'm now thinking it could even be an intolerance to something - she eats a lot of dairy - although she's never shown any intolerance before.

Can I just happen?

Or, is this just a normal bug and I should be grateful she's not acting unwell?? She's never had a tummy like this - it's usually the other way round!!!

You can get a temporary lactose intolerance after a tummy bug so maybe it's that

Children can also suffer from toddler diarrhoea which isn't related to intolerance too

It's the mucus in the poo that would make me think CMPA.

Constipation is a cmpa symptom too so it could well be hat dairy is the culprit for her previous poo issues too

As pp said-CMPI can cause constipation as well as diarrhoea/mucous poop. This sounds exactly like my dd1- she developed eczema at about 2 yo, had constipation since about 18months and was on lactulose /movicol (depending on which gp saw her). Movicol was never reliable- we either had all or nothing iyswim. Bumped into a friend who suggested trying goats milk as different make up to cows milk- within 48hrs eczema gone and poops improved. Still have bad stretches but maybe try switching to goats or a plant based milk.

Thank you everyone. We are getting much more solid poos now but still a bit mucousy, going to start her back on Movicol tomorrow before she starts withholding again.

She would be absolutely devastated if she couldnt take cows milk - cheese and milk are her life!

How long would a trial of dairy free show results?

It takes about 2-4 weeks for all the proteins to leave the system but could well see improvement in a week. My dd can tolerate goats milk too but it's not advised. I'd try her on oat milk - the grey oatly carton is good and is v similar to cows milk.