Does this sound like a dairy intolerance?

[Moominmamato3]

DD (2.5 yrs) has always had a bad tummy. Right from birth her poo has never been formed, it varies from paste to complete slop and is foul smelling. She was and still
Is very windy both ends.

When she was about 9 months old I took her to a private doctor as our GP didn’t think there was an issues. The private doctor had us try a dairy free diet for 2 weeks and then switch back. In the two weeks her poo started to firm up but because it remained fine after we switched her back to dairy the doctor said it wasn’t an intolerance. After about a month we were back to loose stools.

We kept her on low amounts of dairy thinking if it was an intolerance she would outgrow it and apart from the loose stools and wind she is happy in herself.

However in the last few weeks her poo is not only really sloppy but smells absolutely rancid. This morning I’ve had to open all our upstairs windows, wash sheets and the mattress protector and out of the wash there is still a lingering smell. Her changing mat also smells like there is poo on it when I have disinfected twice. DD also smells after her bath and a full wash/hair wash.

She has also woken in the night twice last week and is inconsolable until she suddenly burps a few times and is then happy to go back to sleep.

Does this sound like a dairy intolerance? Should we just switch her diet? I have put a call into the GP and hoping to see a different one but wanted to get other parents options that may have dealt with this before.

Thank you

It could be. It could intolerance to something else.

How is her skin? Does she get any dry patches/spotty bits? How is her sleeping?

My DS2 is intolerant to diary (Cows milk protein and lactose). He had awful nappies. Dreadful sleeping. Windy, reflux, vomity.

It takes about a month for majority of dairy to exit the body but you can usually tell earlier (we noticed a happier baby in a week).

Ask the doctor to refer you to a dietician at paediatrics. They will go through the process.

But if they are delaying you seeing someone I would personally remove all dairy and see what happens because it really destroyed my DS's digestive system and he ended up having some operations regarding ulcers etc when he was a toddler (But this is not usual).

Keep a diary on foods had/nappy states/reflux etc. Take photos (grim!)

I would retry a dairy free diet and see your GP again, possibly ask for a dietician referral
I would give dairy free 4-6 weeks to see if it would help. You should see improvements in 2 weeks but it can take 4-6 weeks for the gut to heal so I suspect the private Dr was a bit hasty in trying to get you to try dairy.
If you do see an improvement after 4-6 weeks I would then start the milk ladder to see where there tolerance currently is.
As
It could also be toddler diarrhoea. My daughter had both delayed food allergies /intolerances and toddler diarrhoea. It improved loads after 3.5. She still can't tolerate any of her allergens.

Her skin is fine but always been a bad sleeper ~ our health visitor thought maybe night terrors but she will just wake inconsolable and then after about 20 mins half hour of passing wind she will give a big burp and then settle down. She pulls her legs up a lot too during these times. She did have bad reflux as a baby until she started solids

I got a doctors appointment but the earliest they can see me is last week of September so I’m going to take her off the dairy and keep a food diary along with photos as suggested.

Sorry to hear your little one had to have operations @Sheelanogig and hope he is doing better now

Two weeks is quite quick to say it wasn't dairy,

As others have said it's a good idea to give it longer.

It definitely sounds like an intolerance of some sort. My son is dairy intolerant.

I find that, thankfully, he can handle trace amounts of dairy/dairy in highly processed forms (milk powder in hot chocolate mix for example) but generally we avoid it all.

He presented with spots on his face after having dairy-heavy things, escalating to bouts of severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

The private doctor had us try a dairy free diet for 2 weeks and then switch back. In the two weeks her poo started to firm up but because it remained fine after we switched her back to dairy the doctor said it wasn’t an intolerance.

It’s not as clear cut as that.

In my experience, some people with lactose intolerance are OK with small amounts of dairy… until they aren’t and the diarrhoea comes back. It’s like your body is OK with your dairy consumption staying under a certain threshold, but the effects are cumulative and once you reach a tipping point - gastric misery.

If I were you I’d cut out the dairy and see if the symptoms improve. Give it a longer trial this time.

The fact you think she still smells bad after a bath is very odd I must say.

I agree it sounds like Cows Milk Protein Allergy (the term intolerance isn’t used anymore) non IGE allergy means it can’t be identified by a blood test or skin prick test, hence you being told to trial cutting it out. IGE allergies can be tested for but they’re both allergies.
My child gets a build up reaction, she’s ok for a couple of weeks then starts suffering and it takes ages to calm down again when we cut it out. We try the milk ladder every 3-6 months.

Thank you so much everyone, it seems everyone agrees we didn’t give it long enough and although I thought the private doctor was a bit dismissive as allergies was his speciality I just assumed he wouldn’t have said not an issue if there was one.

I have a GP appointment so will exclude the dairy from now on and keep a record of what she eats and how she gets on

@Jellycats4life the smell is absolutely awful and just clings like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Even If she poos while awake and I can change her straight away I have to change her clothes and that’s when the nappy has caught everything. Unfortunately she seems to go in her sleep so doesn’t cry for a change until morning and although I check on her before I go to bed she hasn’t always gone by then

Sounds like she’s got a non IgE cows milk allergy . I would take her completely diary free for a minimum of 6 weeks , see how things go if it improves do a further 6-8 months diary free . Then re introduce using the milk ladder and you might find she tolerates lower steps baked milk etc but not higher yoghurts etc x