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.

@Ujalo i went through all of this my son I kept going to the GP and it was constantly diagnosed as toddler diarrhoea. It turned out he had Crohn’s disease. I’m not saying that your child has Crohn’s but because toddler diarrhoea is so common I think it is definitely the first port of call for a diagnosis.

I had to be persistent with the GP as I knew it wasn’t normal. The drs surgery can do tests such as stool samples (test for calprotectin, amongst the other standard tests). Caeliac can be tested for too (might be a blood test I can’t remember). We eliminated soya and dairy from our sons diet and there was no improvement.

My son appeared ‘fine’ until he was 3 years old and then he started to not be fine. I’m not trying to worry you! but try the elimination of food types from his diet in the first instance and keep seeing the GP - be firm if you believe that more investigations need to be done.

I can only speak from my experience. My 5 year old had this and after a couple of years I realised it was triggered by cold food and drink. So example ice lollies, juice, fruit. Now I make sure she has eaten a meal with something to line her stomach before she is allowed cold drinks, cold food or frozen desserts. We also went for allergy tests and gave stool samples and got nowhere. The runny poos lasted days and sometimes weeks. And always when we went out and gave her cold treats. It was a nightmare on holidays. I hope she will just grow out of it as she gets older.

My daughter is allergic to oats, rice, soya, egg, milk and I know a lot of children are allergic to banana etc.

Can you keep a food diary as the allergy clinic will want to see this if you can get a referral.

I would push for one as babys symptoms definitely sound allergy related. Definitely not normal.

My child is nearly 3 and had never had a hard poo but he's putting on weight and doesn't seem bothered

I think sainsburys nappies are good

Does he have to have yoghurt? Even if it's one of his favourites, it wouldn't hurt to eliminate it for a couple of weeks to rule it out x

Please don't cut out dairy without being under the care of a nutritionist. As a previous poster said, expert advice is essential when it comes to baby's diets.

It could be normal - toddler diarrhea is a thing. Ds2 suffered with it, but did grow out of it eventually.

It's not unusual fir a 1 yr old to not be doing solid poops.

Food allergy/intolerance

Haven't read the whole thread, but I would ask for coeliac screening.

Two months after weaning at six months my son had constant diarrhoea and poor weight gain. I went backward and forwards to HV and GP and was fobbed off.
When he 16 months old he caught a stomach bug and became dehydrated and was admitted to hospital. It was our saving as they kept him in for 2 weeks because of malnutrition and severe anaemia. He weighed 13 lbs when admitted. After lots of tests he was diagnosed with coeliac disease after they ruled out cystic fibrosis.
He is now a healthy adult.

I thought pull ups were for toilet training so at his age I would stick to nappies. You can get them much tighter.

I just wanted to add that if you are if you are doing exclusion diets you might want to speak to a dietician. You can do it privately and it's really not that expensive, £50 to £100 a session. They will make sure your child doesn't miss it nutritionally.

If you are going to try dairy free the key things a dietician will tall you is iodine and calcium. Good sources are Oatly oat milk (not the organic one) and the Oatly yoghurt. There are others, just check the packet that iodine and calcium are included.

I was thinking the same as Pumpking.

You Def need to go back and ask about allergies and talk about doing an exclusion diet.

But meanwhile have you tried different brands? Is he in nappies or nappy pants? Have you tried doubling up the nappies? Will be cheaper potentially that replacing clothed and bedding?

It is possible to develop an intolerance or allergy at any time, so it could be his gut changed after weaning
Mine had this during teething and also" toddler Diahorrea" but it seems more than this
If the stool tests come back " normal" then I'd pay for allergy testing
Costs would balance by not paying for new clothes/ mattresses
Maybe try another nappy brand
Depending on body shape. Mine leaked in pampers as their waist was higher"

Instead of formula you could try any of the nut milks for example depending on allergies

I'm clearly the sole voice in 'planet pullup' here, but I personally find them a lot better in general, though with v loose poo it might be with going back to nappies for a bit.

I didn't think people still used pull ups tor toilet training though, as that's thought to be very confusing for the child. We used pull ups as soon as they went into size 3 and they were an option.

Don't use pull ups they are for toddlers who are nearing toilet training etc. They are very loose, around legs and can only catch solid poo. You need proper nappies that you fasten around and they'll be much more fitted around the legs. At 12 months poo is still a lot less solid so proper nappy required.

But if really runny, I agree with others that likely is allergy issues.

Got some normal nappies and put a pull up nappy over it too… I’m wondering if I would even have been as concerned if it hadn’t been leaking… it’s the leaking that’s driven me to despair but if the nappy was catching it all then I would think he was fine in himself because he’s not lost weight etc

I've never known anyone use them for toilet training, and they are often used from crawling age. My daughter had liquid poo for a very long time wearing pull ups and that were fine, as long as they fit properly.

I posted this earlier and you might not have seen it as there have been a lot of responses, but I do think it would be worth a try as it is easy and non-disruptive, so I am just posting again in case it helps. Feel free to ignore if you like.😀

My Ds2 had lactose intolerance when he was little. That led to similar symptons to what you are describing. It is due to a lack of lactase enzyme in the gut. You can get a small bottle of lactase enzyme which you can add a few drops to every milk feed and that does the job of the missing enzyme in the gut. It was amazingly effective for my son. Eventually he grew out of his lactose intolerance. However he was older than your son when I realised what the cause was so I have never tried it in formula. Googling it though it looks perfectly safe to use and you wouldn't need to change his routine or cut out dairy completely.
e.g. lactase drops
but there are lots of options.

This happened to me for ages ! Poo upto to chest of dd and all down legs ...I changed her formula to the non organic version and immediately changed to solider poos