4mo with bloody nappies, unpleasant poo (as far as poo goes anyway), and various other symptoms that may or may not be related.

[CBear6]

DD is 17wo and, by and large, is healthy excusing the usual sniffles, etc babies get.

At 10 days she had blood clots in her nappy so was in hospital overnight. They did a blood test and it came back normal. At 4 or 5 weeks it happened again (on a weekend again, she picks her moments) and again at about 9 weeks, 12 weeks and 14 weeks. The out of hours said to see our GP if it happened again.

Her nappies are a normal colour for baby poo but often they have strings of mucous in them, perhaps 2 in every 5 is like this, give or take. Usually she poops once a day but since Friday she has been pooing around 5-6 times a day. The consistency and amount is the same, it's just the frequency that has changed. It seems to be within a short time after each feed that she poops.

She's happy enough in herself and certainly not off her milk (she was BFd for six weeks and FF since then), now and then over the last couple of days she makes grunting noises followed by a griping sort of cry.

I'm ringing my doctor in the morning for an appointment but has anyone had anything similar with their DC? What did it turn out to be?

My DS had mucous in his poo. The mucous is normally a sign of inflammation, so would definitely get it checked.

Good luck.

DS had blood and mucus in his poo as a result of a cow's milk allergy but never anthing like clots. Definitely one for the doctor.

She's got an appointment this morning. Hopefully it's nothing but she's been up three times in the night for a dirty nappy :(

She has a bit of baby eczema which flairs up every couple of weeks but never really goes away entirely. She's also does frequent possets of milk that are really thick, ropey, and curdled looking. Prior to these last few days of multiple poops a day she was only going once a day but it was always an up the back and belly down the legs change of clothes job. Does that sound consistent with a milk allergy?

I know only the doctor can tell me, I'm just try to look at what sort of things I should be bringing up and what questions I should be asking.

I might be a little late to reply but
that sounds like my son, with the strange poo, but apparantly doctors kept on telling me it was normal baby poo, untill my HV wrote the hospital a letter, to see my son as a matter of urgency, as he was slipping away.
If ur child has good weight gain, which mine didn't, they probably will not do alot about it, but be persistent.
It sounds like it is an intolerance to something.

My GP is referring us to the hospital but he's not sure how much they will want to do/be able to do. He doesn't think it's an intolerance as she's gaining weight (7lb 10oz at birth, now 13lb 8oz at 17 weeks) or a blockage because she's feeding and obviously weeing and pooing. She's really fussy today but that's teething.

Hopefully we won't wait too long for the referral appointment.

Thank you for all of your replies.

Weight gain is not a sure-fire indicator that nothing's wrong. The curdled-looking sick is very consistent with my son's presentation of cow's milk allergy. Eczema is also sometimes an indicator of cow's milk protein allergy.

Sometimes with milk allergy, the symptoms can take quite a few weeks to come to a head. With DS it was about 5 weeks after the switch to full formula feeding that all the wheels started to fall off.

Up-the-back poos can be completely normal though, lovely eh?!?

My son (3 yo) has, we think, lactose intolerance. He is not allergic to cow's milk, but had occasional mucosy poos, stomach pain etc as a baby. Your daughter's sounds much worse, but the first thing I thought when I read your post was that it sounded very familiar. It's obviously much easier to support a lactose intolerant 3yo, though, as we can avoid cheese etc. I don't know how it works with a baby as we only just got a diagnosis for DS.

However, at the hospital they will be able to test for cow's milk allergy, if nothing else, and may be able to suggest alternatives to the milk she is currently having. DS gave a stool sample (nice) and also had a blood test.

And that's where my knowledge ends.

Narmada - for me, you and other parents its not, but I have heard many parents say, that because the child is gaining weight, GP and hospital professionals will not do any further tests.

I've gone through a pack of nappies since Friday! She's happy in herself, a little whiny which isn't usual for her but she's not inconsolable. If she's no better by the end of the week I'm going to take her back and push for a speedier referral.