Lactose Intolerance help!

[Bizziee]

Hi all, I'm hoping for some advice on food intolerances or allergies.

My little ones dad who I'm not with anymore is lactose intolerant. I have a horrible feeling that my 2 year is also lactose intolerant or has some form of allergy to certain foods. IBS, gluten allergy or something else.
For the last few months he's had on and off diarrhea, sometimes going up to 5 times a day and is really gassy. I've caught him holding his belly too and complaining. His poos are never ever what I think is a normal poo, they're stodgey or sometimes watery and go from being very dark brown to bright yellow. He's your usual fussy toddler but I do my best to give him a balanced diet. He mostly drinks water only and only has treats for dessert unless I'm feeling indulgent. He loves his fruit and vegetables and we do a lot of home cooking. I've been told to give him a dairy free diet for a month as they're hesitant to do blood tests and we've been at it for a week now but he's still so gassy and still having bad poos! I'm going a bit crazy now as I just want to get to the bottom of it and help my baby. I've started keeping a food diary but I'm still really struggling to pin point any trigger foods.

Does anyone have any advice or in a similar situation?

Thanks all

Lactose intolerance can be linked with coeliac, has that been discussed?

@PragmaticWench very briefly with my doctor but she wanted me to stop dairy before we moved on to anything else

We're in a very similar boat OP. I believe it takes a good few weeks of cutting out the 'offending' food for the gut to be able to 'reset' and repair, then you can try reintroducing very slowly to see if there's an amount he can tolerate as opposed to going totally dairy free x often kids grow out of intolerances too xx

@newtolineofduty I hope he grows out of it. I'm finding it quite hard to make things for him that he can eat. I'd be quite happy switching to dairy free stuff myself but partner isn't as optimitic lol. Have you noticed any trigger foods with yours yet?

@Bizziee I'm actually starting to think she has more of a general IBS tummy rather than any more general intolerances. We MAY try cutting ALL milk products out for 6 weeks though if things don't improve soon, then try reintroducing slowly. Nursery said it's the most common intolerance so it's a good place to start x

@newtolineofduty yes I sort of wondered the same. I was pressured to give up his bottles at 12 months and once I did he absolutely would not touch milk and I read that that can cause complications. Whether that's actually true or not I don't know but I do sometimes wonder if that was a contributing factor. Hopefully we get to the bottom of it soon and I hope you do too!! Poor kids, their tummys are so fragile!

I had to start cutting out fruit to get DS's tummy under control.
Have a Google of Toddler Diarrhoea.

@MaizeAmaze did you find it made a difference? X

@MaizeAmaze how much was he eating and how much did you cut down to? X

Definitely takes a few weeks for the gut once an offending food has been removed. I'd do dairy free for a full 4 weeks before considering removing gluten or more tests / adding dairy back in

It was a long time ago now (he's at secondary).
Yes, it definitely made a difference. As to amounts, probably 4 sets of fruit a day (snack, pudding, snack, pudding). He is also the child who, at nursery, cleared the whole rooms snack of melon slices while someone's back was turned..... He ate lots of everything, but seemed limitless with fruit.

Iirc, we turned snacks into biscuits, and kept fruit with meals. He was, and still is, skinny, so extra calories weren't an issue. He's healthy, but buying trousers is a nightmare skinny.

Interesting. I was told to limit some fruit and to peel the skins from apples as they can cause tummy problems. My little one is the same, will eat fruit like it's going out of fashion. Actually gets sad when his bowl of strawberries runs out lol

@Bizziee inspired by this thread I read up on fructose intolerance yesterday. My daughter eats grapes like they're going out of fashion which I think are up at the top with the most sugary fruits, so I think we're going to try cutting those out for a week or so. We cut apples out a while back after reading they are high in sorbitol which can cause similar probs as you said! X