Baby diarrhoea no explanation, surely GP can’t be right? PLEASE can anyone help?

[Baby3022]

This has gone on now for around five weeks. It’s explosive, it’s ruined clothes, bedding etc. The smell is horrendous. There are some days where it’s fine but they are few and far between. The weird thing is that there is no correlation with any food. She also seems absolutely fine in herself, eats and drinks as usual, perfectly happy, has her snacks. It’s so bad that she immediately gets a rash even if I change the nappy that second. The GP has done tests, not sure exactly what they were but they didn’t find anything. GP isn’t concerned as no temperature and not loosing weight. These are not normal nappies!! She’s almost 1. Anyone got any ideas? I have to bath her after every poo nappy and I am so exhausted with it.

Wheat, barley, rye and oats

@caban she has cereal but was ok with that for many weeks…?!

@Justgonefishing yes lots of veg, just missed that off!

Hi,

I would ask your gp for a referral to a paediatrician. Our little girl had/ has terrible poos if she eats certain dairy products, she can’t tolerate milk, cream or cheese but is fine with it in smaller quantities like chocolate , butter .

We couldn’t find a correlation with food until she strictly went dairy free for three months- dairy is hidden in loads of things.

There’s blood tests and stool sample tests the dr can do

@Lavendertearoom thanks, wouldn’t she have been intolerant to formula all this time though? I will go back to the GP

I wouldn't totally discount a dairy allergy unless she was having unprocessed whole milk before it started, in which case I believe it would be unlikely to be dairy related. Cows milk protein allergy can have a delayed reaction (like starting even days later, then lasting a few days), and also they can have different sensitivity to different types of dairy (like for example yogurt could be ok but not cheese or whole milk, which are less processed). Ideally you should see an allergy expert but you could also try cutting out any kinds of dairy you started more recently eg cheese for 2-3 weeks to see if it makes a difference.

I don't believe in homeopathy generally but homeopathic teething granules worked like magic

@Summonedbybees we have Teetha, might that stop this?! Desperate…

Hi @Baby3022 did the beginning of the diarrhoea happen to coincide or come after any illness, like a bad cold or tummy bug or anything like that?

I only ask because my LO had similar when he was a couple of months old, and it started after a bad cold. Paediatrician told me that, especially in smaller children, a virus can damage the lining of their stomach which interrupts their ability to produce lactase, which they need to break down lactose, so they end up with temporary lactose intolerance. It can take 8-12 weeks for the stomach lining to heal. My LO had really smelly super liquid diarrhoea for a full 11 weeks (!) but was otherwise well- he made a full recovery after that with no lasting issues. I was told that given that he was gaining weight etc, the benefits of breast milk outweighed the negatives, but she said if I had been formula feeding she would have recommended going to lactose free formula for a couple of months.

Obviously this might be nothing to do with what your LO has but thought I'd let you know, as it wasn't something that I was aware could happen!

Good luck

I was going to suggest the same as a PP re temporary lactose intolerance. Mine had the same. We also had the ‘burnt’ skin type nappy rash even when they had the nappy changed straight off.

@overworriedmum @DuvetCoverNightmare thanks, yes she did have a cold just before it! It’s like the skin is scorched when I remove the nappy. Yesterday I removed it that moment and it was so dark red and blotchy, I was really surprised. She is totally fine, eating well and drinking. It’s so exhausting to cope with! Perhaps it is that and I need to wait it out. Even when it’s a thicker consistency it’s still not right, was it a lighter colour too? Hers used to be dark brown but this is almost orange!! Very light brown.

Remember my LO had awful diarrhoea for two weeks. I was really worried and went to the HV and GP - I was so annoyed when they both suggested teething but lo and behold, a few days later, 2 teeth popped out.

I know there’s no proven medical link but it’s definitely a thing.

And BTW, one of my DC ALWAYS did bum scorching, acidic poos. Used to make their little bottom bleed if I didn’t change their nappy immediately. Possibly linked to them having reflux.

Temporary lactose intolerance is a good shout. Other options might be giardiasis or if that cold was covid some sort of longer termsymptom from that.

As a PP said, it's wheat, barley and rye. Oats only if they are gluten free (often cross contaminated in the factories).
I won't lie, it's in an awful lot of things, even cereals that are not made directly from wheat contain it (such as rice crispies and cornflakes).
Buy its totally doable to remove it from your diet once you get used to reading labels and finding substitutes. UK law states all allergens must be in bold on the label, so you can easily scan it, and nowadays, apart from the bread, I've found the gluten free alternatives pretty good (I now make my own GF flat breads and bake my own cakes). There is loads of info online and recipes etc, and there are of course a lot of food naturally GF!
But if you are going to have her tested, she needs to be eating 2 meals a day with gluten in it for the tests for at least a month to register any antibodies.
When I got tested, I made sure I did this and actually made myself very unwell because I was have such a reaction. Necessary to make sure you get an accurate diagnosis.
Definitely speak to your GP again.

My daughter had something very similar, several foul nappies every day, massive weight loss, no medical explanation. Turned out she had an intolerance to fruit. Stopped all fruit for a few months and gradually reintroduced it when she was a bit older and she was fine.

Apologies if you have tried this, @Baby3022, but are you putting on a barrier cream after each change? Vaseline or sudocrem would be my choices.

I also think that toddler diarrhoea plus teeth might be the explanation.

@Baby3022 yes it was a weird light colour, I remember that. Easy way to check would be remove all lactose from her diet for a few days and see if it helps! If it does, you can try slowly reintroducing it once 8 weeks have passed and see how she gets on.
I also found metanium cream excellent for sore nappy rash- you just put on the thinnest layer, it's really thick but it cleared the soreness up really well for us. We also switched to reusable wipes (we used cheeky wipes but basically any wet flannel will do) as it made clean up much easier!

I feel for you though- we had 3 months of explosions and nappy leaks, it was grim!

@Baby3022 the good news is if it is temporary lactose intolerance and you are already 5 weeks in then you might not have too long left 🤞

No. Lactose intolerance can suddenly come on at any stage, it's thought that an initial tummy upset can also lead to becoming lactose intolerant, but the research isn't clear into why.
Go completely dairy free for the next fortnight and see what happens. Also to slow the bowel movements down, mix a teeny tiny pinch (and I do mean really teeny, like a few grains) of salt with a slightly bigger pinch of sugar into some luke warm water or in some luke warm orange juice, you'll probably find things calm down. If not go back to your GP.

I think all medical text etc say there is no connection between teething and runny poos (and stinky). But most parents see a connection, even if it can't be explained in a medical way.

Both of mine had this with teething. ‘Teething’ nappies have a very distinct smell - kind of sour.

Teething poo.

they’ll tell you it’s not a thing. But it so is.

My LO had this after contracting covid at 3mo (previously totally fine with formula). I had wondered if it triggered lactose intolerance (quite rare) after having the virus. We went completely dairy free and it stopped altogether. Will flare up again when reintroducing dairy. Perhaps she has some gut issues caused by a virus?

My DD was like this. After lots of testing it was found to be dairy and soya allergy. Which is in so many things!

I see the link PP posted mentions dietary fat being important. That’s what we were told too, not to give low fat foods. DS grew out of it, though.