Toddler diarrhoea and potty training

[angstybaby]

DD (3.5) has had persistent diarrhoea her whole life. She literally had about 7 solid poops. She is currently diary, soy and tomato-free but her nursery is vegetarian so she eats a lot of fruit, veg and fibre there. We've been in regular contact with the dietician and he's now suggested, after exhausting the most common intolerances, that it might be toddler diarrhoea.

does anyone else have experience of this? We want to start potty training (she wees in her potty but has never pooped in there) but I'm quite frankly terrified at the prospect. does anyone have any advice or tips? The diarrhoea shows no sign of improving (though it stopped causing red bum/horrendous nappy rash when we cut the diary). IS potty training with toddler diarrhoea even possible?!

One more question: do kids with toddler diarrhoea feel the need to poop like other kids? Or does the fact that it's so soft mean that they're not getting the physical sensation of needing to poop? Is it like adult diarrhoea where you get a sudden urge?

Many thanks

DS was the same. We waited until he was 3 (he had a severe speech delay) and he was reliable on the toilet after a month. So in my experience yes it's possible (we didn't see a solid poo til age 5!) my only advice would be to buy very cheap pants and keep a pair of scissors in your changing bag as when accidents happened it was easier and a lot less mess to cut pants off and throw them away!

Too much fibre can be a contributor to toddler diarrhoea so I would look at what sort she is eating. Also recommended to increase fat in the diet.

www.nnuh.nhs.uk/publication/download/dietary-management-of-toddler-diarrhoea-10-1-9/ - don't know if this helps

Your poor dd. I know how difficult it can be for them and you. When dd has a outbreak of TD she just can't control it. She was potty trained prior to diagnosis, so it was more of a regression.
We increased fibre to help with DD 's TD. Increased wholegrain to harden the stools. Also increased fat through dairy with milk and cheese. This helped a lot. It's worth looking at trigger foods as well. DD can't eat grapes, raisins, high sugar, jam, sweetcorn, and absolutely no fruit squash or juice. Banana is good but we've reduced citrus fruit.
The flip side has been bulking her up too much so she's been withholding, but this is also bring treated now.
We've spent a lot of time speaking with DD about how poo is made and she understands why her tummy isn't doing what it should. This helps with the emotional side of it. Also if she wants to have a little piece of birthday cake with her friends, she decides whether she wants to risk it. I think this will probably vary between children, but she's the sort of child who needs to know what's going on

I would speak with nursery about the diet and see if they can cut trigger foods out. Dd's nursery are amazing with this and we couldn't do it without them.
As hard as it is, the most important thing is not showing the frustration that it causes. I really hope that things improve for you.

thanks squeezed. how old is your DD?

when she has a period of TD, does she have to go really urgently? I'm not sure whether TD means just soft poop or also the urgency that we get when we have diarrhoea as adults. If there's no urgency then potty training seems more manageable. otherwise, it's making it even harder...

the nursery is veggie so lots of whole grain, but also lots of fruit...

Thanks for the post

thanks demented and pixie. i'll try to increase the fat in her diet. she has a fake cheese which is made from coconut, eggs, meat but because she can't have dairy or soy, it's actually quite hard to get a lot of fat in.

had yogis cut out lots of foods before you realised it was TD? and did you reintroduce them? I was under the impression (probably wrong!) that diet was kind of irrelevant to TD. we've cut out lots of things and seen little improvement. i'm tempted just to let her eat whatever she wants....i guess 3.5 years of diarrhoea will do that!

thanks for your posts. it's been very frustrating and it's such a relief to know that we're not alone

Dd is 3.5 and was already trained so a bit different than in your case. When it is bad she can't anticipate it and what comes out it is horrendous with large quantities (sorry tmi). When it is more firm she can anticipate it better. The difficulty is that td does seem to vary between children and you just keep trying until you get a diet that works best.