Could this be an allergy(stick with me, long!)?

[Yanda]

My DD is 2.5 and has always generally had quite loose poos (they are more loose than solid most of the time) and she recently potty trained, and although wees are a success, poos are a problem. If she does one of the occasional solid poos then she always gets it in the potty. Often she is doing it in her knickers, but not for want of trying to hold it in and she was getting quite upset about it. I have also increasingly noticed that this doesn't seem to be normal, as nursery have commented too.

So I took her to the doctors today and they seem to think it could be a food allergy and I am to keep a food diary for a month. Which is no problems, but it seems like a huge task if I don't really know what I am looking for!

She also gets excema on her face, creases of legs and scalp. Looking back, I can think of several occasions when she has had a "tummy bug" (vomiting) but not seemed that unwell IYSWIM

I have had excema, allergy to raspberries when I was a child and psoriasis and my dad has severe excema on his hands and asthma. Would this family history put her at higher risk of food allergies?

Also what sorts of foods should I be most suspicious of? Are there any other symptoms I need to keep an eye out for?

I am only familiar with my DDs stuff but I will share anyway. DD2 is allergic to nuts but it never affected her poo so I don't suspect much there.

DD3 was intolerant to eggs, loose poo, vomiting and ezcema. She is OK now according to the tests but she won't eat them! She is also intol to wheat, again, tummy bug like sympoms, eczema and loose poo. She can have pretty much all wheat but not pasta. I stopped her eating 'pure wheat' cereal such as shreddies and weataix and also pasta in August and now she is much much better. I only give her oat based cereal and rice pasta and suspect she will grow out of it.

Does your DD have a lot of wheat?

Sadly I do think the psoriasis link is relevant but I have absolutely no medical background to back this up. DH has psoriasis and DD1 had loose poo with cheese until she was 12, DD2 is allergic to nuts and whole host of other things and DD3 is as described above.

I would look out for diary (yogurts mainly) and wheat.

I am sure there will be lots of people along on this one, there are a lot of very well informed MNers out there about allergies, you will get really good support.

Hi, my dd had exactly the same as this - only a little excema. We discovered she is intolerant to wheat , i took this out of her diet and her poo became solid and normal within 24 hours. Gve it a try for a few days. Also it may be dairy as I think this can give similar symptons. Happy to advise if it turns out to be wheat.

Thank you for replies, it is reassuring to know its not just us! She does eat lot of wheat beacuse she loves shreddies and eats them every day, she ore often than not has a sandwich for lunch too. Hmm, might see if cutting back does make a difference then.

Allergies in the parents make problems more likely. However digestive problems are not usually allergy but intolerance. Allergies involve IgE reactions and can be fatal, intolerances can make you very ill but are easier to deal with. Main culprit for digestive problems would be wheat or gluten and dairy. Main culprit for eczema is possibly dairy.

If it's really an intolerance just cutting back won't stop the problem, although it may help. Something like porridge (made with rice milk) for breakfast could replace the shreddies.

An alternative to cutting things out is to add digestive enzymes. Lactose helps digest milk and you can get it in liquid form from websites. You may find a health food shop selling it although I've only found tablets.

There are also digestive enzymes that help with gluten - see this discussion www.celiac.com/gluten-free/lofiversion/index.php/t47298.html I use glutenzyme myself but it's a capsule and I'm not sure a child could swallow it. Also you may want to have a blood test for coeliac disease before you start doing anything with wheat. If you exclude wheat and it helps you won't want to put her back on for months to have a coeliac test. However blood tests in young children are quite traumatic.

If the problem is gluten then dairy intolerance can be secondary to that. Dealing with gluten may allow the child to have milk.

Thank you Tatt for your detailed reply, its very informative as I really don't know much at all. Is coeliac disease hereditary as now I have thought about it I realise that a distant relative was had it. Also is it possible to be intolerant to certain fruits?
Sorry for my very uninformed questions.

bit rushed so sounds a bit abrupt - sorry about that. I think coeliac is more common in relatives of those who have it, it's also underdiagnosed. I'm not sure how reliable tests are in young children but it's something to reseach (on mumsnet?)/ ask your gp about.

The enzymes are pretty expensive but an exclusion diet is tough unless you have advice from a dietician.

We all start off knowing nothing and I've learnt a lot on here, never be shy of asking questions.