Nine year old with blood in poo

[Henrysmumplusone]

My nine year old son has had blood in his poo since this afternoon, he is not constipated as far as I know (poo has been quite loose), he has been four times since getting home from school. The last two times have been almost entirely blood/possible mucous rather than mixed in with poo and the tissue has been pinky/red when he wipes. He was complaining of tummy pain which has now subsided. Any ideas? Is this a 111 case or call the gp on Monday? Thank you!

I would call 111 right away. Also ask him what he's eaten, just in case he's eaten something poisonous?

Definitely call 111, they’ll advise.

Blood in the poo from constipation tends to be bright red, on the surface of the poo, and associated with bum pain rather than tummy ache. Worth calling 111. They’ll probably want him checking over, and it’s likely a stool sample will go off to look for some of the nastier tummy bugs (especially enterotoxin releasing E. coli). They should NOT give antibiotics as some of these tummy bugs are made much worse by them. If he looks well, they’ll probably otherwise just safety net about fluid intake and keeping an eye on his pooing and hydration. In the highly unlikely event it didn’t settle as expected, then there might be concerns about gut inflammation and more tests would be done.

Thanks for the replies, will see what they say, we’ve had a good chat about eating anything unexpected (he has food allergies so has to be very careful with what he eats anyway). I did ring the gp earlier but the new system means they won’t speak to anyone, only accept online requests unless they’re full and won’t even accept a request, such a nightmare system!

Thank you that’s really helpful, the last two times he went, there really was very little ‘poo’ it would seem - it all sunk to the bottom of the loo and looked very bitty and red. I’ll give them a call once I’ve got his brother to bed and see what they say

Just to update this. Spoke to 111, they referred to out of hours and then onto paediatrics. We went in for blood tests and monitoring but they aren’t sure what it is and suggest it might be a one off. If the bloods show anything concerning they’ll call us. So we may never know and hopefully it’s just an anomaly

He needs a GP appointment and a stool test