Lactose Intolerance?

[C2190]

Hey I'm wondering if anyone could shed some light on this please.

So around 2 weeks ago my DS was showing signs of having trouble passing a bowel movement, when he did pass, it was watery, slimey, runny like poos, this was happening for a couple of days so I took him to the doctors. The doctor checked my DS over and said he was happy that he wasn't bloated etc and it could possibly be a thing called "stool holding" which is basically when DS is trying to do a poo but struggling so its coming out runny etc. He gave me laxido to give to my DS as and when required to try get the bowels properly moving for him to do his big poo but he was still doing these really watery etc poos a few days later and I just didn't feel convinced so I took him to another doctor who pretty much said the same thing as the first one, i suppose this put my mind at ease slightly and I thought it would eventually regulate again. Fast forward 2 weeks, he's always had these watery slimey poos but maybe just not every single day but lately I've noticed that he's started to poo after pretty much every feed or even during his feed, the poos are...you guessed it! Watery, runny, slimey...I'm wondering if he could possibly be Lactose Intolerant...has any other mums/dads experienced this with their LO

Sorry so much poo!

Thanks!

Sorry. I should mention he is 4mo and formula fed

Lactose (the sugar in milk) intolerance in children is extremely uncommon. I think what you mean is cows milk protein allergy (CMPA). This is more common but still appears to be being over diagnosed these days.

My baby has slimy, runny poos just as you describe and our GP said it was likely CMPA. She was breastfed so I was advised to remove all dairy and soya from my diet. It was extremely limiting and I ended up losing a lot of weight. It was stressful, time consuming and, ultimately a total waste of time. What the doctor should have said was “baby’s bowels develop slowly and it is completely normal for them to struggle to digest certain things. Strange poos are all within the normal range and unless your baby appears to be in pain then we do not suggest changing your, or your baby’s diet”.

I read a really interesting article recently about the problem of overdiagnosing dairy allergies. I will try and find it for you.

Here you go www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n3037

Hi,

it’s very unlikely to be lactose intolerance. Your baby may very well have a CMPA. My daughter has this and I stopped eating dairy while breastfeeding and now she on is formula she is prescribed this by the doctor - Aptamil Pepti 2. Doctors are awful are diagnosing this, and fortunately my health visitor really pushed the diagnosis on them. Can you speak with your HV?

The evidence is actually that doctors over-diagnose this.

If the baby seems otherwise well then I would just keep doing what you’re doing. As they grow their bowel will develop.