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Constant diarrhoea

14 replies

FlakyAquaQuoter · 15/05/2024 19:08

Hello,
I'm at a bit of a loss now. Any advice appreciated while I wait on peads referral.

My DD, who's now 2 and 9 months, has CMPA which was diagnosed at 3 weeks old. Milk ladders have been unsuccessful and now paused for the foreseeable due to other issues.

She eats like a teenage boy. And by that, I mean she eats twice what I do in a day and is constantly insatiable. She'll easily clear her plate and the remainder of mine.
She's weighing in at 12kg and seems mostly happy and healthy (bar every nursery bug going).

However. She has consistent diarrhea. Sometimes purely watery with 15+ episodes a day.

Sometimes just the 2-4 episodes of very loose stool, but not watery.

On occasion she has blood in it.
Her eczema is constantly flared up despite no milk exposure.
She's constantly bloated (think looking 8 months pregnant bloating!) And her poor bum goes immediately blistered, sore and red if she has an accident. She also complained of stomach pain before each movement so it isn't your typical toddler diarrhea which supposedly causes no pain. Sometimes her accidents are because she crouches down with cramps and can't get up and to the loo on time.

GP has referred to peads due to the fact it's been ongoing for months and months now. (In fact, well over a year) querying some sort of IBD.
They suggested cutting gluten out of her diet but the dieticians were dead against that.

She's on probiotics daily and has been for some time now, at dietician request.

Her diet mainly consists of eggs, white bread/rice/pasta on the advice of dieticians to avoid any brown versions or things like weetabix etc.
If I ate half the amount of eggs etc that she does, I'd never poo again!

And yet, the diarrhea, with occasional blood, continues.

Anyone, any suggestions at all, please. I'm at my wits end and she's really suffering. I feel like I should be doing something!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
NotTheReal · 15/05/2024 19:17

You shouldn’t cut gluten until they can test for a gluten intolerance. With those symptoms I would be worried about IBD, crohns etc. How long until your Paeds appointment do you know? Is the referral time long?

FlakyAquaQuoter · 15/05/2024 19:26

NotTheReal · 15/05/2024 19:17

You shouldn’t cut gluten until they can test for a gluten intolerance. With those symptoms I would be worried about IBD, crohns etc. How long until your Paeds appointment do you know? Is the referral time long?

That's essentially what the dietician said, but the GP seemed to think it was the only move going forward and it didn't sit right. (Hence the quick call to the lovely dietetics team!)
I also don't feel like gluten could or would be the issue because we do at times have better days. It tends to be every few months we'll have a week or so of normal poo and in that time her diet doesn't change. So surely it's unlikely.
It's a long time sadly, the first time I can even chase it according to the letter is the end of July.
It just feels awful to leave her like this until then.
They've done stool samples and they came back clear for all types of infections so it's definitely not a bug.

OP posts:
FlakyAquaQuoter · 15/05/2024 19:27

I also, possible nievely so, thought she was a bit little for IBD.

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Duckyneedsaclean · 15/05/2024 19:30

Has the GP done bloods for coeliac screen? She sounds pretty much exactly like my 2yo. We are now 4 weeks into a gluten free trial after constant diarrhoea since 11 months old. He is doing one solid poo a day. I can't actually believe the difference.

However, definitely do not do anything until she has been tested for coeliac. GP can order bloods before you're seen by paeds

FlakyAquaQuoter · 15/05/2024 19:35

Duckyneedsaclean · 15/05/2024 19:30

Has the GP done bloods for coeliac screen? She sounds pretty much exactly like my 2yo. We are now 4 weeks into a gluten free trial after constant diarrhoea since 11 months old. He is doing one solid poo a day. I can't actually believe the difference.

However, definitely do not do anything until she has been tested for coeliac. GP can order bloods before you're seen by paeds

So glad to hear your little one is thriving! I absolutely wouldn't do anything before any testing. It feels like a big step when we are already dairy free and I don't want to be messing with it without good reason.
I'll call the GP again tomorrow and ask for some bloods to be done.
They were fabulous when they saw her. Listened and examined her for over half an hour (which she took great delight in!)
They noted her very swollen tummy and said they couldn't do much until the peads guys see her.

My concern is that that decision was based on the fact she's technically on her centile as far as they're concerned. But they only have one weight for her, and that was back when she was still on normal milk formula at 2 weeks old. She dropped from 52nd at birth to 15th due to the CMPA and that's now how they're measuring her. But she jumped right back up again with the health visitor measurements.

It's all just a bit crap for her!

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Duckyneedsaclean · 15/05/2024 19:39

Funnily enough he has also been dairy free, though managed to milk ladder just after Christmas. The bloated tummy is also common with coeliac I'm afraid. Best to get it at least ruled out!

Therageisreal · 15/05/2024 19:41

Have you tried soya free?

FlakyAquaQuoter · 15/05/2024 19:53

Therageisreal · 15/05/2024 19:41

Have you tried soya free?

She's done the soya ladder and can tolerate up to a yogurt with no issues. But soy milk is a problem so we also avoid that. She's not had much soy in her diet lately, purely from what I've decided to cook rather than on purpose! (Also she seems to have preferred the coconut yogurts lately!)

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FlakyAquaQuoter · 15/05/2024 19:54

Duckyneedsaclean · 15/05/2024 19:39

Funnily enough he has also been dairy free, though managed to milk ladder just after Christmas. The bloated tummy is also common with coeliac I'm afraid. Best to get it at least ruled out!

I dream of passing the milk ladder but step one day one always gets her.. and I can't try again with this ongoing so there's hope we will pass eventually!
Definitely a good idea. I feel a bit out at sea with it so having a plan helps. I'll call them first thing tomorrow and request it. Thank you again!

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Hazelmaybe · 15/05/2024 21:45

I’d ask for the celiac blood test and for a stool sample to be sent off. Also ask for a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist not just a pediatrician. Push for the blood tests , they should check everything else while they are taking it for celiac to check her iron levels and blood count etc. Don’t let them say you have to wait, they can get all the basic tests done straight away. x

Superscientist · 17/05/2024 13:14

My daughter has multiple food allergies and she has a very sensitive tummy. She gets loose horrible stools due to colds, teething, stress and random. The day before we moved house she had 8 poos in 2h.
We were already under a dietician so when she was having horrid poos and we had ruled out colds, teething and stress we got her to have a look at her diet incase there was something we were missing. She was happy there wasn't another allergen we had missed. She had already been tested for coeliacs but the paediatrician did test her stools too and it came back with mild inflammation which wasn't concerning. She got the diagnosis of toddler diarrhoea. We increased her fat content making sure her pasta had a good glug of olive oil on it, switched to white bread from brown, stopped giving Weetabix, massively reduced the amount of grapes and dried fruit she had. This got her down to 1-2 horrendous poos a day and a year later she was doing 1 solid poo a day unless reacting to a reintroduction.

I would keep a really detailed food diary incase of an additional allergy. I would pay close attention to soya, eggs, wheat/gluten and oats but absolutely anything can be an allergen. My daughter is allergic to more vegetables than things on the top14 list and remember there can be 3 days between eating something and having symptoms

Anewuser · 18/05/2024 12:40

As @Hazelmaybe said, since the wait for the paediatrician is so long, I’d ask your GP to do a referral to a paediatric gastroenterologist. You think they’d be able to do the same tests but it’s likely the general paed will say they can refer to gastro for tests. Meaning another long wait.

FlakyAquaQuoter · 19/05/2024 20:49

Thank you everyone, hugely appreciate all the insight and your own experiences.
I'll get onto the GP for bloods ASAP and ask for the referral to be to the peads gastro team.

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Hazelmaybe · 19/05/2024 20:57

Good luck! Hope they get the bloods done asap. x

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