Toddler Diarrhoea-food elimination?

[dietstartstmoz]

Hi, My DS has very runny poo most days, not full diarrhoea but some days worse than others. We are awaiting referal for other issues, and we will mention his bowels to the paed, but wondering if we should try and eliminate certain things from his diet to see if that help. He is 3.4 and is going through a very fussy food stage so not eating very well. Have been googling but lots of conflicting advice over what to increase (fibre) and what to avoid (fibre). Have stopped weetabix but wondered if anyone had any other ideas of what to avoid.

Marking place, sorry I can't help but my 14mo has the runs too....

Juice is a culprit here.

We will ask the paed about food intolerances, but we have seen a great speech therapist who said it could be toddler diarrhoea as her son has it, but that and many other issues is making toilet training impossible as the pants have been too awful to cope with, espec 3 times a day.

I've just posted above about my ds aged 6 - three years of this! Sympathies, it wears you down. We were told to reduce fresh fruit and juices but it made no difference - I think the culprit for us is wheat but we were advised NOT to make major changes to diet without the medical sayso.

Ours was dairy. If DS2 (2.10) has any standard milk, yogurts, chocolate or cheese he has very runny mucusy poos. By switching to soya we have eliminated it (unless he sneaks some like chocolate biscuits from his 4 year old brother!!)

Does he drink lots of squash?

That can be a big factor in toddler diarrhoea.

He doesn't drink a lot of squesh, but does have lots of dairy and bread as he is a fussy eater but will eat his favourites-cheese on toast, fromage frais and loves a beaker of milk in morning and at bedtime. It's very confusing as some websites say less fruit and fibra as the bowel can't absorb it and others say more. Will ask the paed if we can test for food intolerances next week but if anyone has the answer we'd love to hear it.

as far as I know food intolerance testing is basically elimination. You eliminate certain foods for a few weeks, then slowly reintroduce them to see if a reaction occurs.

food allergy testing is different of course.

dd had diarrhea, constipation and tummy pains for over a year and a half. She was exhausted and GPs suggested food diary while gastroenterologists offered a laxative. In her case it turned out she had giardia a parasitic amoeba in her bowel which a week on an antibiotic seems to have just sorted. I'm sure giardia unlikely but just thought i'd mention as i wasn't aware it could be found in UK and wish we'd known long time ago

Hi, we have 14mo who has had diarrhoea on and off (mainly on) for at least a couple of months (seems to coincide with starting at childminders?) . Seen docs who sent off stool sample which came back clear, no help from anyone but childminder sends him home if has diarrhoea and i have missed 3 weeks of work now (since sept) . A&E doc on sunday night suggested toddler diarrhoea and reducing fruit. (we were there after he screamed and pooed for an hour with a red raw bottom but had been pooing every few minutes for 24 hours)

HV said keep food diary and I found this link on netmums

www.nnuh.nhs.uk/viewdoc.asp?ID=1040&t=Leaflet

since reading that yesterday we have cut out porridge, fruit except bananas and are feeding him loads of cheese, yoghurt and white bread also rice crispies and cornflakes. He's not really interested in anything else. But today hasn't had a poo since 2pm (was 10+ a day every day for the last week)

My questions are...

• this diet feels really unhealthy especially to eat so much dairy (we are veggie) but he doesn't seem to want anything else. Is this ok? ie will he return to more normal food once settled down? Can this much dairy give him other problems? He likes soya stuff too but I'm unsure if this is ok as it says to reduce pulses? We will keep diary and reintroduce stuff gradually once we know he has settled down.

He is BLW (baby led weaned) and was quite adventurous but doesn't seem very interested in much now

• is there anyone we can ask our gp to refer us to for help/ advice etc? (will wait till speak to hv again before that) they were nice but really not at all helpful

• He is still breastfeeding and seems to want an awful lot of milk - not sure if that is cos he is thirsty, has poorly tummy, or if this is causing probs? or even if this amount is actually normal (he's my first)

any tips? (sorry - for long post)

I have a 3.3 yr old with exactly the same issue. Will try and exclude juice!