DS1's rather smelly problem!

[saltire]

Since he was a baby DS1 has been bothered badly with constipation. Just recently - for about a year or more - he has also had bad wind. It is vile, if you can imagine the worse the possible smell and then imagine it 10 times worse,i'm sitting in the hall on the PC, with the living room door shut and all the windows in there open to get rid of the smell. I feel myself retching when he does it, and often have to leave the room. He usually goes on like this for three or four days at atime and then it stops for a while. I took him to the doctor last year because they are so bad and all he said was give him more fibre.
What's bothering DH and I , apart from the fact we are worried about his tummy/constipation is that it's soon going to become an issue with his friends and others at school. We try not to complain or say too much about it, but other children will, and i know he must do them at school.
Someone posted a thread on here about a guy in a pub who was asked to leave because of the smell emanating from his bottom - well in 10 years time that will be DH.
I have had friends leave the house because of the smell, and we sit freezing in the winter with the windows open to get rid of the smell. So, I'm desperate now for some advice on how to stop this, or at least make them less smelly.

Do you think he maybe having probs with wheat or dairy? I had probs with dairy in the past and if I had too much of it, I was rank! Luckily it seems to have disappeared after being pregs! Worth taking him to a nutritionist to get that checked out? Could get a referral from GP?

have you given him a higher fibre diet? does he eat lots of processed food? i would try a diet overhaul if the answer to either of these is yes..... keep it simple, lots of complex carbohydrates (brown rice / wholemeal bread / wholewheat cereal / porridge), not to much meat, nothing spicy, lots of freah (and some raw) fruit and veg.....
charcoal biscuits are meant to be good for the farty.
maybe you need to take him back to gp or think about asking a homeopath (if you are a fan) if diy measures produce no change.

Dairy can definitely make for smelly farts. My friend and her family went vegan last year and she said the difference is amazing. It also cleared up their chronic runny noses and glue ear. You could try cutting down on the cheese and milk.

Forgot to add that any dietary changes should be taken on by the whole family, not just singling him out.

Por chap.
You should get it looked into.
It can't be healthy to smell that bad surley?

Message withdrawn

also for temporary relief, light a match, burns up all the noxious odours then u don't have to sit with the windows open all night

Sorry but inappropriate thought Gemmie was going to recommend lighting his farts then.
Definitely ask your Gp to refer him to a specialist.

controlfreaky - he does get a lot fo fibre. he has either weetabix or shreddies for breakfast, followed by wholegrain or wholemeal toast, plus some fresh fruit chopped up in a bowl - some grapes, apple etc. He has the same bread for his sandwiches at school, and we always have fresh meat/veg etc at dinner time, very little processed food. he likes vegetables, especially broccoli, carrots and green beans and his favourite fruits are apples and grapes.

He does tend to shovel his food in as though he is always in a hurry and he eats HUGE portions, far bigger than what i eat.
He desn't eat a lot of cheese or milk, he has milk on his breakfast cereal, and very occasionally will have a glass of it. He

Sorry saltire, that was my thread about the guy in the pub.

However I agree with the others that it sounds like a dietary issue.

mrsspoon it's ok, I was just imagining DS1 in the same position. Still at least he'll be better looking than they guy in your article, even if i do say so myself!

It would be worth asking the doctor to do the coeliac blood test. Constipation and very smelly poos can be a symptom of being coeliac. Doctors often think that coeliacs only suffer with food rushing straight through them but it has been established that many suffer with constipation prior to diagnosis.

He is underweight?

oo poor little chap!

Agree with flamingtoaster about the tests for coeliac disease. Even if it isn't that, some other dietry issue does look likely.

The thing that jumps out at me in your post re: diet is that he's eating an awful lot of wheat. Could you try giving him porridge/oatibix etc for breakfast and maybe some non-sandwich lunches and see if that helps?

My mum had terrible problems with wind/farting (amazingly smelly!)/constipation for years. In the end, she got a referal to an allergy clinic, who put her through an exclusion diet (definately not to be recommended for kids without medical supervision). The main culprit turned out to be wheat (along with a couple of other things - red wine, coffee - unlikely to be a problem for your ds!).

Daffodil, I don't know if he's underweight. He is very tall and skinny. Why do you ask?

A friend of mine has ceoliac. She ate loads and loads but was losing weight.
Very tall and thin.
Had terrible tummy problems. Constipation/ diarhoea.
Gluten free diet and she is fine.
Might be woth exploring with GP?

footstep, i give him the weetabix and wholegrain bread because of the fibre he needs to poo. They are unbelievably big when he does do one.
He would be really upset if he knew i was on here talking about him

Has he seen the GP about it saltire?
Must be so embarrassing for him

Daffodil, he has seen the doctor who just said to give him more fibre, and he got very embarassed at being there as well

Does he drink enough water? Not doing so would make him constipated.

As he doesn't have much dairy I second switching to Oatibix as a trial, it tastes the same, plenty of fibre but no wheat. Just see what happens.