son has had diarrhea since birth!

[isitnearlytime]

He is now 10! From day 1 his nappies were vile. We had him seen by a gastroenterologist age 2 & were told he had "toddler's diarrhea" after excluding celiac amongst other things. We went back when he was 5 as no improvement and were told the same. Now age 10 he still has loose bowels several times a day which I suspect he is now embarrassed about. Obviously I will be going back to the GP but wondered if anyone has experience of this. I do wonder if it could be lactose intolerance given that he's had it since birth when all he had was milk. A test done by the gp in the beginning suggested he might be. We cut out dairy for a while but it made little difference (he has always had A LOT of dairy). Then the gastroenterologist said he wasn't lactose intolerant. He suggested it might be fruit juice/squash but cutting this out didn't help either. I'm now stumped and a little worried. How accurate are lactose intolerance tests?

Thanks in advance....

If it's a dairy issue then it could be cows' milk protein intolerance rather than lactose intolerance, maybe?

Poor kid.
How long did you stop dairy? It takes about 2 weeks for dairy to exit the body so 4 weeks would be a good length of time.

Did they test for cows milk protein? There's 2 aspects to dairy that you can be intolerant to - lactose and CMP (cows milk protein). Still could be dairy...

Have you tried other items like wheat/citrus/tomatoes etc ?

It's a minefield, even onions/garlic can cause the body chaos.

Can you both write a food diary and poo diary. Then see if anything links up/stuff you can discount and then go back to the Dr for tests?

Don't give up. Honestly if you keep on going, you will find the trigger for this.

it was a long time ago but I think we did stop dairy for about a month. He also had it when he was breastfed pre weaning i.e. from birth. He is otherwise well and not underweight. Would love to get to the bottom of this (excuse the pun!). I feel so sorry for him. He eats well but quite limited i.e. lots of dairy, bread, pasta, fruit and not much else!

Could it be wheat intolerance?

You said he was tested for coeliac, what form did the test take?

Probiotics can help a great deal. You would need to get some good quality, high dose ones.

Just a thought but could it be cystic fibrosis? My DD was diagnosed at 4, not because of any chest involvement at that time but because of constant diarrhoea as a result of pancreatic insufficiency. And that was despite seeing a consultant pediatrician from birth who for 4 years misdiagnosed as immaturity of the bowel. A sweat test would rule CF out.

DS is allergic to cows milk proteins and soy, there is a 40% cross over between the proteins and allergies. I had to cut both out when breastfeeding or he got diarrhoea. It is often confused with lactose intolerance but this is really rare in babies.

I would may be try eliminating dairy and soy (all traces) and see if it helps.

I would have thought if CF he would be having respiratory problems by age 10, wouldn't he? He's never had any problems in that department.....

Some rare variants of CF can have digestive problems but few lung problems.

It could be celiac. Or an inflammatory bowel disease like crohn's though these tend to present later.

Or perhaps he is simply lactose interant?

Oops just read op fully! Has he been tested for CF?

Bit of a weird one, but does he have a rectal prolapse? Quite common in CF for some reason.

lots of fruits you say?
fructose can be a trigger for ibs.

Request a hydrogen breath test - my ds is exactly the same and suffers from severe fructose malabsorption.

It's quite uncommon apparently and very difficult to remove all fructose from his diet.

oh god, now I'm really scared about cf :-( It never occurred to me it could be that. Of course I've now done the fatal thing and googled when I know the sensible thing is to ask my GP (who is very good) to get him tested, which I will do tomorrow. Having said all that he has NO other symptoms, he is a fit healthy boy who is a good weight. He is hardly ever ill, not even a cold. I have never noticed the poo being pale or greasy, oh and I just licked him and he is definitely not salty!

If he's ten, healthy and a good size and weight then it's vanishingly unlikely that it's CF.

I do hope you're right Tortoise. I just looked back at his notes from when he was 2. He was definitely tested for celiac (blood test) as well as blood tests for Iga, albumin, haemoglobin & platelets. The tests were repeated again age 6. All were normal. It was noted he was normal weight & height. Cardiovascular, respiratory and abdominal examinations were "unremarkable". He was originally diagnosed "toddler diarrhea" age 2, then "juice drinking syndrome" age 6. There was no mention of any tests for food intolerances so I'm not sure why the gp's suggestion he was lactose intolerant was dismissed.

Can't get appointment with gp until next week, arghhhhhh.

My DH has problems with fructose malabsorption. If he avoids fruit juice, honey and processed food (containing corn syrup/fructose/glucose-fructose syrup) he's fine. He's able to eat fruit in moderate quantities. Now his system is clear, it takes about 12 hours between accidental consumption of something and IBS symptoms.

Avoiding f is difficult, manufacturers sneak it into all kinds of stuff, not just sweet things.

Had another look at the old letters and mentioned that there was a big improvement when we reduced his squash intake which I now vaguely remember. However, he still doesn't drink it much. He does however LOVE grapes. However, it doesn't explain when I was breastfeeding pre weaning as I'm not much of a fruit eater at all! Anyway, I need to get to the root of this for him and also put the cf fears (hopefully) to bed. I've managed to wangle an appointment with a different GP tomorrow so will insist they test him anyway, presumably I won't have trouble persuading them, as it's not a big/expensive test, is it???

My DH had a load of GI tests but never the fructose breath test. We just worked it out through trial and error. GP not particularly interested.

We had intolerance testing done with an organisation called York Test. I'm sure the GP could arrange the same tests, though.

DS used to do sloppy poo, but since embarking on a gluten, egg and dairy free (pretty much, anyway) diet, things have improved no end. I have to say, it can be a bit of a PITA juggling my family's intolerances, but if you mostly cook "from scratch" it's quite do-able.

Does your DS get tummy aches? DS used to have trouble getting to sleep at night, because of tummy ache, so now he sleeps much better.

EBF babies usually have quite sloppy poo, though. It's usually only once they are weaning that it firms up a bit.

sorry, I know I'm going on a bit but I'm very worried.....

Is it possible to have cf if weight and growth is entirely normal? My son is and always has been appropriate for his age. He is slim but not skinny (like the rest of the family) and quite tall. Could this be why cf was never considered both times we saw the gastro man? As I said he's never had any chest problems & is fit & healthy (runs for the school).

Oh well, GP tomorrow......

saw GP who said that if he'd had cf he would have got worse over the years as it's a progressive disease. He would also be underweight. Therefore she said there is no need to test him. She will see him next week with a view to re-referring him.

Read The Complete Guide to Allergy and Intolerance .
It may apply to him . You need to follow an elimination diet IMHO . Seek a referral to a dietitian for support and qualified advice .