Persistent, prolonged Diarrhea in Toddler

[EastLondonmama]

So my 20 month old has been suffering with diarrhea for the last month, possibly longer. During the day he just seems to be able to go with no discomfort or pain, between 2 and 6 times a day and it varies from just a looser stool to pure watery mucus. During the night he goes up to 5 times and all of them are watery/mucus - although not every night (unlike every daytime). They stink (sorry TMI). The nighttime is turning into a nightmare because it’s disturbing all of us (we cosleep) and I feel like he has pain in the night. He writers around and fidgets in all kinds of yoga-esk positions until he finally lets all the gas out which is loud and very wet and then he’ll go straight back off to sleep! I then have to change him after every time as it just smells too bad to leave, even with only a tiny bit of diarrhea - not that I’d leave it anyway for hygiene reasons.

He is well in himself, eating a varied, balanced diet and drinking lots of water. He previously drank very weak and small amounts of juice which I’ve already cut out completely but he does eat a lot of fruit - there has been no change in his diet at all and I can’t seem to identify something that has caused this to come on so randomly. I’ve also cut grapes as I noticed this potentially was making things worse, but things still haven’t really got better.

I’m not concerned about his health, he’s so happy, growing (99th centile) and I’m guessing from what I’ve read to be ‘toddler diarrhea’. But I am concerned about how long this will go on for, how long we’ll be disturbed at night and how many nappies and wipes I’m getting through.

I guess I just need reassurance that he is fine and it will pass, one day!! We’ve recently moved and are on a waiting list for a doctors which does make getting him seen by a professional a little difficult right now - I’m also not sure they can or will do anything

It does sound like toddler diarrhoea and if he's thriving and there's no blood then a routine doctors appointment would be fine. They might take a sample but in the meantime I'm sure you've been Googling but making sure there's enough fat in the diet amongst other things, it will pass!

Temporary lactose intolerance?

What age did he start having cows milk? My DD started like this after I finished BF.

Have you changed the milk recently to full fat?

You could try oat milk for 2 weeks then try a lactose free milk for 2 weeks.

P.S - toddler diarrhoea can last until they are around 5 years old, so I would definately look at trying the different milks I mentioned.

Keep a diary for the 4 weeks.

Its good to show the dietician if you get to see one.

If you don’t have a GP, you can go to a walk in centre. Did this start with a bug, with vomiting? My toddler had that recently and her diarrhoea lasted about ten days afterwards. The GP told us that if it didn’t clear up within two weeks we should take her in.

Thanks for the quick responses everyone - glad some agree on the toddler diarrhea as although it can last a long time, it makes me feel better that he's not seriously seriously ill.

I stopped breastfeeding Jan 1st (18 months) but he's been having cows milk on cereal since 12 months - he doesn't drink any extra milk though, he just doesn't like it. I've not heard of temporary lactose intolerance, ill look into that alongside trialing different milks - thank you.

After your advice and much googling I think I will try a food diary and book an app with a DR once I've got enough data. No bugs or anything that triggered this as far as i know, he's always had softer stools and it's slowly just developed into full blown diarrhea.

Thanks again all, super helpful :)

The none dairy equivalents of full fat milk are alpro growing up milk and oatly barista. Dairy free cheese is vile but DD doesnt seem to mind. The supermarkets own are pretty good out of a bad bunch. Again supermarkets own soya yoghurts are good too.