What do you do of your child just has dodgy bowels?

[cjt110]

My son, 4 and a half... has ups and downs with his bowel movements.

He had a milk allergy from birth until he was about 3 and thankfully grew out of it.

His movements can go from anything, like toothpaste consistency to constipated. We had him on lactulose for a period a while back as he kept soiling himself. The GP thought he may actually be constipated, despite the sling being loose.

So... my question is... if he just appears to have a loose movement, do you still send him to school, knowing his tummy can be off?

If I kept him off each time he had a dodgy tum, he'd miss lots of school. None appear to be bug related as he is fine in himself...

I'd consider maybe speaking to the school about the issues. They may ask for a gps letter to keep on file but to save you getting phone calls etc and staff would need to be aware especially if he needs help to clean himself.

He makes it to the loo etc but it got me thinking this morning when his body seemed to evacuate itself.. Mine does precisely the same (I was also allergic to dairy as a child).

My son is exactly the same. Milk intolerance as s baby and now very unpredictable bowels. Its a constant battle with constipation then the leaking, sometime loose bowels. He has movicol regularly now and its much better. The school are aware and have nade it clear to him he can go to the loo whenever he likes so hes not had time off since early reception. Hes in yr1 now.

Has he been checked for any other allergies. My son was exactly the same, turned out to be a gluten issue.

Definately speak to the school and/or school nurse so your concerns are on file.

Send him and see how it goes.

I would also make sure the school know he has to be allowed to go to the toilet when asks to. End of yr 1 they start reminding children to go in lunch break and by yr 2 mine was telling me that you have to wait until a lesson is over. Only 15/30 mins but not good for your son.

My DS has dodgy bowels.

We've never really got to the bottom of what triggers it. He's much better now (he's 9) than a few years ago. These days he's mostly ok, maybe on average a few explosive evacuations a week. With him, it's always in the late afternoon / evening. Provided that he's ok overnight and in the morning (which he always has been) then he goes to school.

I don't say this lightly as I'm emetophobic so would never ever send a sick child to school!

I don't tell anyone this, because I know people wouldn't always understand, but my ds has suffered with gastric reflux since he was a baby and even now at 5 is sick about an hour after going to bed at least once a week. The consultant says it's the reflux and I agree so I always send him to school the next day, if I didn't he would miss 48 - 96 hours of school every week!

Are you sure he's completely outgrown his milk allergy? He may still be intolerant. My youngest dc is intolerant to 'runny' dairy so he doesn't have milk and yoghurts - they make his bowels very loose. He can manage hard cheese and a small amount of soft cheese without any ill effects.

Maybe cut back the dairy and see how he gets on?

My son has digestive issues, and is on medication to help him poo. Unfortunately it makes his poo very explosive. He also has reflux and is frequently sick. We have an agreement with school about the reflux as, like a pp, if we kept him off every time he is sick he would never be at school.

@heymammy I hadn't even thought of that... he doesn't have much dairy tbf anymore... not a huge yoghurt fan - can't remember the last time he had one and drinks very little milk.

DD can have the odd explosion but I don’t keep her off as she’s absolutely fine and it’s not D&V. She’s just inherited my rather crap digestion (boom boom!).

My daughter has been on lactulose for quite a while too. I made sure her kindy knows about it and the general rule is it's fine so long as it's a singular event. If there are two or three explosive evacuations in a short space of time then she has to stay home.