Really pale poo

[Biscuitsandtinsel]

Hi,

I wasn't sure where to post this, so sorry if this isn't the best place.

DS's poo seems to be really pale. DH noticed it on Sunday and the next poo he's done (today) was like it too. Is this a sign of anything? At the moment he only seems to be pooing every couple of days. They seem fairly hard for him to pass, and on occasion over the past couple of weeks we might have more than a day of him being wriggly and trumping before a poo actually comes out.

I'm trying to keep lots of fluid and fruit going in (but he's not great at eating fruit).

Any thoughts? Thanks

How old is your DS and what type of foods has he been eating recently.
Have you added anything to his diet at around the time of this constipation?

This sound similar to my friends DD when she was about 2, although she ate a good diet she drank bucket loads of milk (cows). My friend cut her milk back to one cup during the day and one before bed, this increased the amount of food she ate and seemed to right itself.

Ds1 had this when he was about 3. It turned out to be a fecal impaction, which is a pretty big deal. From the sound of his other constipation symptoms I really believe you should take him in and get it checked out.

Ok, ds is 3.2, nothing added /changed about diet recently, but he has just had a bit of a stomach bug. The weekend before last he was sick once but then had a temperature for the rest of the weekend, then last week he seemed better but didn't eat much, then last Friday he was sick again with a loose poo. So not a raging sickness bug but definitely something not right there for that week. This week he seems to be eating more and still seems well in himself.

Would that make any difference?

Milk wise he drinks cows milk and has milk on his cereals, a cup at bedtime, sometimes one in the morning too and occasionally perhaps a milkshake or something if we're out in the daytime.

Not liking the sound of faecal impaction - the poos he's been doing are pretty big - could he push out a big poo if there was something impacted up there?

Thanks for all reading and answering

Oh and constipation wise, he does only poo about every other day but that isn't terribly unusual for him - he's not necessarily a regular one a day boy! We potty trained him a few months back and he hasn't done a poo every day for all that time, or at least not consistently.

However, the wriggly trumpyness before the poo made me wonder if it was a bit more uncomfortable than it should be?

If it was this impaction thing, what do they do?

DD2 had pale poo a while ago, and I googled it did some research, and found out that it is quite common after a tummy upset, as the stomach regains the good bacteria it has lost. Or something. But it was definitely common after a tummy upset and should right itself soon enough.

DD1 only poos every couple of days too and isn't constipated. She does tend to run around the house clutching her arse for a few minutes/hours pre-poo though!

It could be like Debka says, that the stomach bug has knocked his internal workings for six and he is just getting back on track.
The problem with impaction is that if a poo is difficult to come out, the child often stops trying to let it out - its called withholding. The more they do this, the more the pain is likely to occur - vicious circle. Poo can seep out round an impaction, and end up giving the appearance of diarrhoea.

Ah well hopefully we don't have impaction - the looser poo he did on Friday was within 3-4 hours of him being sick and still had a solid part, and a loose part, so hopefully it was tummy related.

Since then the pops on Sun and Tues have been pretty substantial and firm in texture. Big enough that DH was a bit on Sunday that such a big poo could come out of such a small person! I don't know that they are exactly painful for him to get out - he's definitely putting some effort in, but no crying or anything. And doesn't seem unwilling to let them go when they're there.

Withholding would be difficult to spot though as he's only just getting the hang of the poos on the potty training front so doesn't always know when they're coming iyswim. But when the poo is coming he seems ok with it?

Hopefully just the left overs of his tummy bug. I'll keep my eye on it for withholding etc and hope it rights itself....

Also, if it was stuck in there you'd think he would still be fidgety and uncomfortable and 'pre-poo' today but he's not at all - seems quite comfy and a lot less fidgety suggesting he's emptier inside?

Ds1 had some huge poos even though he had an impaction. As was mentioned earlier you can also have diarrhea symptoms from seepage around the impaction. I do not wish this on anyone but I really think you should rule it out as it will not take care of itself if that is indeed what is going on.

My ds has this if he drinks too much cows milk, like oreos

I'm going to see what colour the next poo is and if still pale take him to the docs

Also, how does the doctor actually determine if there is anything impacted? and how do they treat it? Laxatives?

Hi. I took DD to doc with very pale poo (magnolia coloured) after she had chicken pox. Doc said she was having a bit of lactose intolerance and that it is very common after an illness / tummy bug. He suggested soya formula for a while. That seemed to work OK. He said he would only worry and test her for a full-blown milk allergy / intolerance if she were losing a lot of weight and condition.

Some good information here although I must stress that ds1 never had the typical "look" of constipated poo. I never saw the small hard poo that would have alerted me to the fact that he was having such problems.

So Jabber, may I ask what alerted you to the problem with your DS? Was it just the colour of the poo?

And what did the doctor do when you went to see them? How did they diagnose it for your DS and what treatment was it?

Thanks

His poo just didn't look normal. At the end of the day I just followed my mother's instincts and took him in for a check. It is a physical check where the pediatrician actually does a rectal exam. Very quick and no mistake that there was a problem.

We did miralax (I think it's lactulose there) for a year but then we began to change his diet to make permanent colon rehab changes.

Ah, ok, so he never seemed hugely in pain with it? Just funny poo.

And what sort of diet changes did they make? More fruit / veg / fibre?

No, no pain, no complaints of any kind.

It was a bit of a process getting things taken care of. First an enema to dislodge the impaction, then miralax(I think it's lactulose in the UK) to keep things soft enough so that he didn't re-impact -although even with that it still happened two more times.

We eliminated dairy. He tolerated goat's milk which is molecularly quite similar to breast milk and easier to digest. Bananas are also a no-no. Omega 3's/cod liver oil supplements and probiotics were another a key factor in his recovery.

Ah ok - thank you very much for all your advice. Oh, and I guess any rectal exam / enema etc was a bit stressful for him - any tips in case it comes to that?

We talked in advance that, since he had poo problems the doctor might have to do a certain type of check that could be a little uncomfortable but would be over very quickly. We also were very clear that this was OK because 1) we were in the room with him and 2) it was his doctor doing it. I was really proud of him for letting the dr. do the exam without making a big fuss.

The enema was a little trickier but that was later at home of course.

That's an excellent point actually of how to explain it in advance - and good points to make about it - thanks

Poos look back to normal now. And there's been one a day for 3 days now so I'm a bit happier.

He was even kind enough to do one in his pants at nursery today so I could examine the colour . But it was at least 'normal'.

Thanks for your advice though - I'll be keeping an eye on things going forward!