2 year old diarrhoea 9 days

[Passmeawinepls]

The poor little soul has had diarrhoea for 9 days so far. It’s pure liquid with no signs of getting any better and he is currently going either once a day or twice a day (was a lot in the first few days). Absolutely fine in himself apart from being utterly miffed that I’m feeding him a bland and dairy reduced diet. Can I speed this up? Or is there a horrible bug going round (his nursery said nothing going around there) 🥺

Has he not seen a doctor?

Have you not thought about seeing a doctor?

Yes, should have said we have seen the GP who is not overly concerned. Sample taken and cream given for the burning!

Is it his first stomach bug? My son had 2 weeks of this when he caught his first stomach bug. Took him to the doctors who were not concerned, just said its quite common if its the first one. They said anything over 3 weeks they would test.

I hope the sample results come back soon. Mine took about 5 days and then another 2 to tell me which antibiotic would cure it! I was pooping for 2.5 weeks and I was exhausted. I will say though I just ate what I wanted in the end as it didnt seem to matter what I ate I still hsd the shits so I at least made it nice food rather than dry toast. No dairy though and I'm still off it!

He’s had mild stomach bugs before which have only lasted a few days which is why I’m amazed at how long this one seems to be lasting with no other symptoms. I hope it clears up after a few more days 🤞🏻

Oh gosh, that sounds awful! A long time to be told how to cure it.

It is dehydration I would be concerned about

especially in this weather

Have they tested him for Covid?

We had it in our house recently and I was very surprised when DN - who appeared to have dodged Covid but caught a tummy bug - tested positive. It lasted 15 days for him and was properly horrid.

It’s funny you mention that as his nursery mentioned to me yesterday that a new strain has diarrhoea as a symptom. Dr didn’t mention it though so something I’ll bear in mind!

The "weird tummy bug" had ripped round DN's nursery and the Covid link was only made when DN was tested (we have someone in our home who gets anti virals when in contact with Covid hence the testing).

could be something like cryptosporidium. Was he swimming anywhere approx one week before the tummy bug started?

I recently had diarrhoea for 8 days and ended up in hospital due to dehydration and needed potassium, magnesium and rehydration drips
but I felt truly dreadful
don’t let it go on too long as dehydration is likely especially in this hot weather

He last went swimming 2.5weeks before it started, so I don’t think it’s that (well I hope not!). Wondering how long I need to wait until we get the results back from his stool sample 🤔

Sorry to hear that. I’m conscious of dehydration too, but thankfully he seems to be drinking a fair amount!

Does it smell vinegary by any chance? It’s quite common after a tummy bug or virus for toddlers to develop transient lactose intolerance. They don’t need to go more than usual but when they do its watery, and often has a sharp smell and/or a greenish tint. It’s nothing to worry about - it wears off after about 2-3 weeks.

Also, there is a difference between having diarrhoea, which is the urgent or uncontrollable urge to pass a loose or watery bowel movement more than 3 times a day, and just having a loose or wet bowel movement but at a normal rate. If it’s the latter then you don’t really need to worry about dehydration at this point any more than you would ordinarily in hot weather, and it’s likely to clear up on its own.

NICE guidance (which I happened to be reading earlier today) is that diarrhoea from a bug usually clears up within 14 days. If not, it might be worth going back. Dairy free can indeed be helpful, as secondary lactose intolerance is one of the more common reasons for prolonged diarrhoea after a tummy bug. Given his age, I would presume he doesn't have any fizzy drinks, but if you haven't cut out fruit juice it's worth doing that too.

Watery diarrhoea (profuse, long lasting) is pretty classic for rotavirus and they can get that despite being vaccinated (my LO had it at 12 months). If tests come back negative, ask the GP what was tested for and if it was only bacteria, all of they can do parasite and virus testing.

Farms/zoos too.

Thank you all. It really could be anything couldn’t it, lasting any amount of time. I’ll await the results and see how the next few days go.

Honestly it's miserable, my LO had four bouts of D&V between April and mid May, kept passing then on to me and/or DP - pretty miserable for the whole family! Just as we were getting really worried it was an allergy or something more serious, baby just stopped getting ill. And I only got a diagnosis for the final round (rota) because the GP set repeated stool samples off to test for everything the big local hospital was able to do.