2 year old DS cannot stop pooing/over active bowels.

[BethyBoop]

Hello everyone.

This sounds such a rubbish trivial problem compared to serious illnesses out there.

But my DS is 2 and a half and he cannot stop pooing!
It's not loose, he doesn't have sickness or vomiting or complain of stomach pain or discomfort. But his bowel movements are constant.

He has a healthy mixed diet. He loves oranges, grapes, dried fruit and nuts. He also loves chicken nuggets, cheese, yoghurts and chips!
Our health visitor suggested changing his diet. I cut out all wholegrain, no brown bread, no weetabix, no digestive biscuits. The doctor suggested give him more fruit, then a few weeks later suggested giving him none. Nothing's worked.

He goes at least every 90 minutes, plus 3 or 4 times during the night. It's starting to really get me down being wrist deep in dirty nappies all day long. I can't afford the rate at which he goes through them. I feel like I haven't slept in a year. Potty training is out the question at this rate. It's becoming a life stopping problem for both of us and I'm beginning to get mad at him, when he comes over for the 12th time in a day and says "I've pooed" - I'm holding back yelling at him and asking why, why has he done that again, what's wrong with him, although I know it's not his fault.

As I say, it's not loose or particularly foul smelling, with no other symptoms, it's just constant. Has anybody else been through something similar or have any suggestions as docs are useless/clueless and I'm at my wits end with it?

Thanks for reading. xx

I think I'd ask for a referral to a specialist - has he ever been allergy tested? That is ALOT of poo.

It's a shocking amount of poo! Considering he only eats half his meals every meal time and has no interest in between meal snacks, I have no idea where it's all coming from!

The only thing we know for certain that he's allergic to is pineapple, but we came to that realisation ourselves when the first time he ate it, his face swelled up, turned purple & his lips inflated until they split! =S

But no, no allergy test. It's a good suggestion, thanks. We've toyed with the idea that possibly he's intolerant to some kind of grain, hence the reason for cutting out all wholegrain/wholemeal foods because they seemed to aggravate it even more, but I think a visit back to the GP is in order. x

I would ask for a referral to a paed. My DS had 'toddler diarrhoea' which he has now grown out of at 4, but this was much less severe than what your DS has - several poos throughout the night is not usual at all at this age.

Try taking fructos out of his diet he could have fructos malabsorption

Ds had toddler diarrhea which got worse after he had a minor bug when he was 2.4. He was pooing small amounts every couple of hours or so. After a bit of research I changed his diet to more fat (cheese etc) and a little veg and absolutely no fruit. Anything to slow the transit of stuff through his gut. That worked a bit. What really worked for us was potty training as I noticed if he had his nappy off (nappy rash due to multiple poos) he didn't do it as often- he was holding it in himself. Potty trained him in a couple of weeks or so and poos sorted themselves out. His bowel had just got lazy.
I would get doctor to refer you to someone although our GP was a bit useless and told me to go to Mumsnet.

Referral to gastro is needed

That is strange, particularly if they're not loose which might suggest allergy or illness. Id push for a referral to a paed... certainly you might expect the odd poo at night but not on an ongoing basis.