To think the GP is wrong and this isn’t normal for a one year old?!

[Ujalo]

When ds started solids at 6 months we had some watery nappies. Obviously expected this as he adapted to food. By month 7, he had more solid poos, darker in colour and regular.

By month 8 he began having awful nappies. Runny, smelly, light in colour. Went to Gp, they checked for bacteria and nothing showed up. He has always been absolutely fine in himself and eaten and drank well etc. Said it was viral. It continued. He’s now nearly one and I went back again this week and I’ve been told this is just what happens with babies and could continue but not to worry as he’s eating and is happy. Surely this isn’t right? I’m a first time mum but I don’t know any mums who have to throw away clothes or rub stains out of clothes after every single nappy. Bedding has been thrown away often as it just completely soaks it. Is this normal?? It goes all down his leg and the only time it doesn’t is if I catch it there and then and if it’s a smaller poo. Obviously when in the car this isn’t possible. It is really draining me now. Whenever we go anywhere I have to take loads of clothes and wipes and have to put first set of clothes in a plastic bag. I can’t remember the last time he did a solid poo!! Also we have done a food diary and no correlation there with anything. Please help, I am so miserable.

We received some hand me downs and EVERYTHING was stained as you described, we had to throw 98% of it out. Everyone kept saying it was washed and would only get stained again so not to be 'precious'.

My oldest did have it with bad green water for a while but that was gastro which he just kept re-catching... he clearly wasn't well though, he was in pain, screaming and not coping well.

My first thought is 'are you sure the nappies fit?' because sludgy poos are very common but they shouldn't escape the nappy. My 2 year old still produces bum lava but it virtually never leeks out of the nappy.

They have called back and said they will send off a stool sample again and also check for inflammation… is this ok for now do you think? They also said I was probably over thinking it as a first time mum!!!!! Wtf

Test for coeliac disease.
If allergy testing be careful, there are a lot of quacks out there. You need a medical professional and to get IgE testing.
Does DC ever get skin rashes?
Toddlers do just have iffy tummies too sometimes.

@housethatbuiltme I’m using pampers pull ups…

Does he definitely have no other dairy?

The formula is dairy. Does he not ever have cheese? Or butter? Or what about ingredients such as whey powder etc in things? Dairy is in quite a lot of stuff. You need to cut all of that including the formula to be sure whether it's fairy or not as any exposure could cause a reaction and you need to cut it out for 4 weeks to see as it takes a while :)

You could give him fortified soya milk if he will tolerate soya instead of cows milk. If you do the dairy elimination and he still is getting the same problem try cutting out soya too as the proteins are very similar. If that's the case you could give him oat milk instead of soya.

I would do the dairy then the soya for 4 weeks each and see. It might not be this but it is very very common for GPs to diagnosis toddler diarrhea instead of cows milk protein allergy.

The drs were useless for us.

If that doesn't make any difference I would want a blood test for coeliac disease to rule that out.

We use little angels from Asda which work best for us.

real nappies can be adjusted where as pull ups can't... they are looser and messier in general. I hate it when DD has been to grandparents and they put her in a pull up, its always WAY messier.

My daughter used to get through 16 dirty nappies a day - from birth. Asked midwife - if it's normal for her, then it's normal was the reply ( same from every other person consulted ).

Turned into 12 bowel movements a day - 5 during the night.

Until diagnosis of bile acid malabsorption at - wait for it ..... 18 years old.

We just had to learn to manage - still do.

The thing I didn't like was being told it's normal when you know it isn't.

It's like the emperor's new clothes - gaslighting by 'professionals'.

They contradict everything you say.

Gut reactions won't show up on Ige allergy tests unfortunately. Gut reactions tend to be non-ige allergies.

GP and mum to boy who had toddlers diarrhoea. It’s a real thing… Also aunt to x2 coeliac children.

I share your pain- frequently cutting DS out of clothes 🙈 eventually we established citrus was not his friend after I kept a diary. But although he had diarrhoea (in the words of my childminder ‘there’s something terribly wrong with that child’) he was happy, healthy and growing. I was never particularly worried about it.

Re allergy Vs intolerance…

Allergy can be split into igE mediated (the hives, rashes, swelling etc) and non igE mediated (the gastrointestinal symptoms such as those you describe).

Those saying ‘you must push for testing!!!’… alas, there is no lab or medical test for this; it’s arduous elimination and reintroduction of likely food groups, one at a time. A test would be nice as it would make the process a lot less intensive but I’m not aware of any robust ‘test’ that’s of any use.

Coeliacs is the one thing you can check for in bloods. But must be taken when child is on a gluten inclusive diet (or you can get false negative tests).

If I were you this is what I’d be doing:

1. start a food and symptom diary.
2. see a GP, request coeliac testing, plus full blood count and iron levels. However a negative coaelic antibody test means he is not allergic (great news!) but could still be intolerant.
3. request referral to community dietician for help re trial eliminations
4. if you are comfortable, try starting single food group elimination yourself (there is lots of good advice about how to do this- personally I’d start with dairy, remembering standard formula is considered dairy)
5. Ask your GP for a letter confirming his diarrhoea is not infectious in cause (nursery)
6. Don’t panic. He is otherwise thriving. There’s time to get to the bottom of this (excuse the pun)
7. definitely a decent nappy. Not pull-ups.

You can of course pay to see someone privately to speed up the dietician etc but make sure they are legit, recommended, registered etc.

Good luck!

Ps here’s a good link to some info about non IgE mediated food allergy if you’re interested

https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/allergy/Non%20IgE%20Food%20Allergy.pdf

There’s a difference between allergies and intolerances. Allergies can be identified with a blood test, intolerances cannot. Coeliac can be tested for with blood but the only way to know for sure is a colonoscopy which obviously isn’t relevant for babies.

Had loads of issues between my 3 children along similar lines, I would suggest cutting out dairy, oat milk has been a great alternative for us, also try rascal and friends nappies - they’re from larger Tesco stores, they’re the only nappies which contained my youngests explosions.

Had the same experience as pp with my ds and coeliac disease. Although he wasn’t diagnosed until 11. He seemed healthy but small but looking back we can see that from about 8 it must of ramped up as he stopped growing - only really noticed when younger brother caught up in height. Never had a solid nappy but I thought it was normal.

I would be asking my GP what is stopping them from referring you to paediatrician at this stage. Whilst toddler diarrhoea is not uncommon, you have to be sure it is not something else. I would not be comfortable doing a food exclusion approach with a young child in the same way I would possibly consider if with an older child or adult. In your situation I would fill in an online form saying that you want to be referred to paediatrician at this stage unless there is any reasons that means they cannot refer you. Agree with PP - health visitor would be a good person to ask for support to get referred. Also if I could afford it I would book an appointment privately and get this investigated.

more often than not, things get better on their own or they get more pronounced - in this instance, signs that a child isn’t thriving might appear. I had grumbling UTI issues that never went away but didn’t get worse and it was only when a vet friend said ask them if there is a reason why that haven’t done a blood test yet that the GP took action (urgent referral to urology). Basically urine samples came back clear every time but the bloods showed inflammation makers were high. So I didn’t flag up as needing a referral until I pushed for more but I did need the referral. And I ask for what I want now because the GP sees me for 5-10mins so unless I hit a trigger theyre not going to automatically do more unless I go back and say that I’m personally at the point where I feel I need it.

Children can now be diagnosed with coeliac disease from 2 blood tests, if the antigen (?) levels are high enough.

So true about GPs.

I took dd to the GPs as a baby and was fobbed off with "a teaspoon looks like a ladle" regarding her spit up / vomiting after feeding. Despite explaining I couldn't go anywhere without at least 3 changes of clothes for her, even using a bib for feeds too (all while bfing). Which then became "toddler diarrhea" when a little bigger.

It took until she was almost 3 I think to actually get referred to the dietitian for dairy intolerance.

That sounds like a food allergy.

Formula is made from cow’s milk so he’s having a lot of dairy in his diet. Unless he’s on a special formula? Cut dairy for 6 weeks. Check food packets because milk powder is commonly used in every day foods. If no change, cut each major allergen food one at a time to see which is causing issues.

Are nappies really better than pull ups then? If so I’ve been making a big mistake!

@Ujalo a phrase that has helped me is "can you please note in the medical records that I have complained of these symptoms and you have refused to investigate them at all" and ask for their complaints procedure. Funnily enough, that has got me an appointment, diagnosis and medication every time. It has never got me a "sorry we tried to fob you off" though.
Or just register at a different GP surgery if there's another in your area.

In Australia, a dietitian can be seen any time you like. Ring one and ask how to see them. It may be the same.

You MUST see a dietitian before you start. Elimination and challenges must be appropriately supported to be successful.

@Tiiredofthiss thanks. I am going to do these stool samples for them and then after that I will do exactly what you say. I don’t like confrontation but it’s absurd to not actually look at this properly.

When my eldest son was 1, he started having serious diarrhoea. I went back and forth to the GP, got antibiotics, etc. It didn't clear up, so I started cutting out gluten (no food labelling in those days), so no bread, pasta, breakfast cereals. I managed to get a book from The Coeliac Society, and that helped me a lot. In time, my son was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance, and was on a very strict diet until he was about 4. Now, he's a 6ft 2, broad, 40-something man.

They can... it’s relatively recently worked it’s way into U.K. guidance (in Europe they have used x2 positive blood tests to confirm diagnosis for much longer), removing the need for an UPPER GI endoscopy/ biopsy (not a colonoscopy as advised by a pp).

If there is a compelling suspicion for Coeliacs and blood tests are negative that is when a camera and tissue biopsy is useful, antibody negative coeliacs is rare but not unheard of.

But important to remember- food intolerances and toddler diarrhoea are still MUCH more common that coaelics. And kids grow out it. If every child with phases of diarrhoea was referred to a paediatric gastro specialist you’d be looking at years and years of waiting lists. Affecting the children who really REALLY need to be seen in a timely fashion.

A good and sensitive GP should be able to help navigate most cases to resolution and keep the specialist referrals for when nothing is improving despite sensible tests and treatments in the community. In this case it doesn’t really sound like they’ve tried anything in primary care.

@Ujalo confrontation is hard but you're doing the right thing. If GPs had taken my mum seriously, I wouldn't have lived with horrible food allergy and intolerances for 20 years, so it really irks me to hear they're fobbing you off. Hope you get to the bottom of this soon!

As others have said it sounds like an allergy. The GP needs to be pushed to send him to dietician.