Can’t figure this out :( toddlers stools! Any insight please??

[HotChocolate16]

Hi everyone.

Just wanted some advice please.

So my nearly 2 year old has never done a solid poo. It’s always been very mushy in texture. We’ve now spoken to GP who advised to cut out dairy to see if that makes a difference so we did that over 3 weeks ago. His stools improved and went more thick pastey and some formed ones too. However he’s had a good few still that are mushy and today he did 2 very loose ones. So now I’m thinking it’s not the dairy that was causing it?

I did think possibly toddler diarrhoea but then I read online that for it to be that the child has to do minimum 3 loose stools a day. His is only 1, sometimes 2.

I feel like potty training is going to be so difficult if we don’t get this sorted. We’ve got another call with the GP this but in the meantime, is anyone else’s LO like this or has anyone got any kind of experience with it?

His typical daily diet is :
6oz oat milk (before this it was full fat cows milk)
Ready break, rice crispies, cornflakes or shreddies with oat milk (again full fat milk before) - with fruit banana strawberries or grapes

Lunch is usually beans on toast, eggs and toast, peanut butter on toast, jam sandwich with a few Pom bear crisps and maybe some more fruit

Afternoon snack of a toddler biscuit of some sort

Dinner is some sort of meat/chicken/fish with rice, sweet potato mash, mash potato, chips etc, and a portion of veg

And yoghurt for dessert

I think his diet is ok? He only had 3 portions of fruit max a day. Sometimes 2 so don’t think it’s too much fruit.

Does anyone have any insight pls?

Sounds quite sugary. Sugary cereal and fruit for breakfast. Jam and fruit for lunch. Toddler biscuit...

Is it natural yogurt or a petit filous type thing?

I have similar. Just turned 2 tear old, always had mushy poop, just one a day. Swapped his milk for oat and goat milk, slight improvement but not huge. Gp told me some children just take longer to develop digestive system and if no other issues such as stomach ache or sickness then to go back to dairy.

Yoghurt? That is a dairy product (you don't specify using a non-dairy alternative like coconut or soy).

Also, it can take 6-8 weeks for milk protein to clear the body. The changes you describe sound hopeful - maybe it's worth persevering for a few more weeks to see?

My DS was a bit like this. After lots of. Trial and error we discovered an intolerance to tomatoes. We cut them out and everything inoroved

Both mine were like this for about 6 months while their molars were coming through. It took forever.

Also, are you checking food labels for things like biscuits which may also contain small quantities of milk?

Hi all!

He doesn’t always have jam sandwich - only twice a week at his grandmas as that’s what she tends to have in and is easy for her to make. Regarding the breakfast, I usually just follow what nursery do as in cereal for breakfast. I didn’t think shreddies or ready break were that sugary? Yes he has fruit but only 2/3 portions a day?

The little biscuit in the PM is dairy free and so is the yoghurt now too which is just Tescos soya yoghurt (flavoured little pots). I’m starting to think maybe his loose stools are just normal for him. But then maybe as a PP just said I need to give it a few more weeks.

He doesn’t eat a lot of tomatoes either!

Thanks

A couple of things to consider wrt dairy free replacement products:

It is worth being aware that often the dairy replacement things are very sweet. Even oat milk which doesn't actually contain added sugar tastes sweeter, so if I was making porridge or custard for DD I don't add any sugar to it as the oat milk is sweet enough.

Soya yogurts often contain a ton of sugar.

Aside from sugar, what tends to happen when people go dairy free is that their soya intake ups considerably and many people who are allergic to dairy are also allergic/intolerant to soya.

Another thing is that dairy fat is actually binding to the stools so if you remove dairy and don't replace with good natural sources of fat then stools might be looser anyway.

Give it until the end of February and it should be fairly clear by then whether or not dairy products are the problem, part of the problem or not a problem. At least that way you'll know.

Thanks both.

So I don’t add sugar to his cereals ever. And he has peanut butter which I know is a good source of fat. Not sure about other good sources of that. I’m clueless to all of this!

Thing is he has had some firmer stools since taking out dairy so surely if soya intolerant that wouldn’t happen?

Mine as exactly the same OP! Turned out she can’t eat gluten 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Try taking out gluten and dairy (our consultant said the problem is usually both) and see what happens.

Good luck!

Has he had a blood test for coeliac disease? If not, don’t cut out gluten and ask for one. You need to keep eating gluten otherwise it’ll come back negative even with coeliac disease.

My DS had toddler diahorrea as a small child. But it turned out to be coeliac disease. No other symptoms than loose nappies. He was diagnosed at 8 after being referred for migraines and joint pains (no gastro symptoms).

Exactly the same happened to my dd when she was small. We cut out dairy and it got s little better, she has coeliac disease. 7 years on and totally better and recovered from her dairy intolerance. Definately worth getting him tested

For those saying your LO has had similar, did this make potty training harder by any chance??

Can I just ask my GP to do a blood test for coeliac disease? Do children grow out of this?

I thought it would make potty training harder but DD potty trained fine. I worried that the urgency she gets with poos when she's eaten something she's sensitive to would mean a lot of accidents but it didn't. Maybe the frequency gives them more practice!

@HotChocolate16

Can I just ask my GP to do a blood test for coeliac disease? Do children grow out of this?

No one grows out of coeliac disease but all you have to do is follow a gluten free diet and it’s all fine. It’s a bit annoying but not the end of the world. And it’s much easier now than even when DS was diagnosed.

It’s a blood test to start with. You can just ask the GP. If they won’t do it ask for a referral to paediatrics which almost certainly will straight away (because it’s an easy thing to rule out if nothing else).

Don’t experiment with cutting gluten out while you wait though. They need to be eating it to get proper results.

My daughter was the same. She is nearly 3 now and starting to get more solid but still often does slushy poo.

GP said it’s normal and likely to change as she gets older .

Thank you everyone for your input!

To make matters worse, I gave my son a lamb mince meat curry and rice yesterday and today (usually I wash it as he doesn’t like the flavour but this time I didn’t and he ate it all up). Well it’s given him diarrhoea today and as a result a bad nappy rash! :( feel like I can’t get anything right. I didn’t even know curry was a thing that would cause diarrhoea!

A few weeks ago he had honey for the first time and had diarrhoea too.

Maybe he has a sensitive digestive system…?

@HotChocolate16

For those saying your LO has had similar, did this make potty training harder by any chance??

My DD potty trained at 23 months.

Yes it was a bit tricky with the poo, she had more accidents than my eldest because she didn’t always much earning it was coming. She is now nearly 3 and still occasionally has the odd poo accident where it takes her by surprise but is usually ok.