Toddler has always has loose stools

[morningpaper]

GP asked me today about DD's bowel activity and I realised that she's always had very loose stools. I had put this down to her eating lots of fruit and veg but the GP wants her tested for coeliacs. She is extremely sturdy and very rarely ill. Do some toddlers just naturaly have loose stools? She goes once a day and has never had continence problems.

How loose is loose?

Let me consultant the Bristol Scale

Would say it's a Type 5 on the Bristol Scale

Without reading your post I thought of coeliacs as a friend of mine has a DD with it and I remember her being so excited when her DD had "firm poos".

DD1 is always loose (4 or 5 on Bristol)

She's 3.3. Eats a ton of fruit and veg. Prob boes 2-3 poos a day.

I've never worried. She's tall and well built for her age and never ill.

Oh and her dad's her GP - he's never seemed concerned

Well type 5 says "Stools form soft blobs with clear-cut edges, and easily pass through the digestive system. Soft diarrhea, it may indicate a possible risk for bowel disease; also indicate you are toxic and need regular intestinal cleansing" and only types 3 and 4 are described as "normal" so it is possible to see why your GP might think something needs investigating.

OTOH I would say my eldest child, when he was a toddler had similar poo (until he was potty trained, I did not realise he was doing solid poos at all as everything in his nappy resembled a cow pat) and he is perfectly healthy (now 12). I think a regular habit coupled with a healthy diet and lack of incontinence would suggest she was fine.

BTW, I am shocked and disgusted that the Bristol Scale website are incapable of spelling diarrhoea correctly.

Which excuses nothing.

thanks blow, I am reassured

I would think if there was a problem then she would not be so sturdy and healthy

GP asked things like "Is it worse after she's eaten pasta?" "Was it particularly bad when she was last poorly...?" "How much does she weigh?" and I DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT THE ANSWER TO ANY OF THE QUESTIONS.

Then she said "Is she following the centiles in the red book?" and I was like WTF SHE IS NOT A PFB!!!!!!!!!!!!

No I DON'T HAVE THE RED BOOK WITH ME

how old is she, mp?

dd2 had very loose stools for ages (a 6 on the Bristol scale was good for her), and her last paed was not bothered by this (disclaimer - paed was a complete tosser, and I am not sure he was right to dismiss this, however he is apparently qualified as a doctor)

if you are bothered, keeping a food diary would be a good idea - linking up what she eats with what she produces

she is 3.5

I'm not worried, she is in good health generally

The GP is referring for a blood test

My DD's poos are usually like this (she's nearly 2).

I thought it was normal

But I'm sure it says something about this in my 'what to expect' book. Something about toddler poo may be looser and this being fairly normal [vague emotion]

I thought it was normal too

My DS was like this every time until (weirdly and thankfully) he was potty trained at 2.9. I remember reading that it was toddler diarreah in the birth to five book so no one was overly worried tbh. He's nearly 4 now and very solid in that dept

@ 'very solid in that dept'

Ds2 was like this. It turned out it was because he was a bread fiend and we had 50% white/50% brown bread and it was too much roughage for his system, giving him permanent toddler diarrhoea.

Apparently the big culprits are: too much roughage (either brown bread, brown rice, too much fruit etc), too little fat (eg giving low fat dairy etc), or too much squash.