IBS sufferers-please help me with my daughter!

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Hi everyone, this may be long but please bare with me as I'm having sleepless nights over this! I'd really appreciate some help and advice in regards to my daughter (age 3). For afew months now she's had diarrhoea on and off (no other symptoms). I'm starting to think that she has abit of an 'IBS tummy' (dad has IBS so know bits about it) rather than any global food intolerances (will explain why below). We've had a York test which measures IgG levels but the GP advised to take those results with a pinch of salt and that GPs are advised not to do those tests! The results came back as her being intolerant to cows milk (cows milk protein), eggs, wheat and a couple of other bits (not gluten).

My daughter seems to react to afew foods that are red on the FODMAP diet including apples and pears, and this weekend had loose stools after eating more sugar than usual (birthday party and grandparents visit!)

Over the Christmas period she had almost two weeks off nursery and her stools were PERFECT consistently for two weeks. Over this period she had milk, wheat, eggs etc! As soon as she was back at nursery that night she had loose stools! Nursery have been great and have kept a food diary and haven't given her bits we think she reacts to, but the GP wonders if there's something 'hidden' in their foods that she may be reacting to, maybe a preservative or artificial something or other! She also seems to be worse with brown bread-is this an IBS thing?

So please expert IBS sufferers, is there anything over time that you've come to realise upsets your tummy, that's 'discrete'/may be hard to identify from a food diary!? Thanks so much for getting this far! I'd really appreciate any help with this!

For reference she's otherwise totally healthy. Growing perfectly, no other symptoms, happy etc, and enjoys nursery so don't think it's stress/anxiety! X

Brown bread is definitely a thing. I was diagnosed with IBS over 30 years ago and more by luck than judgement (the hospital actually gave me a bran drink to help) I cut out bran and rarely get an outbreak. if I accidentally eat hidden wheat bran I blow up like a balloon although, fortunately, I don't suffer from diarrhoea. There is also something in Ritz crackers and similar things which sets me off.

Thanks @CaptainMyCaptain! It may be as simple as nursery giving her brown bread as they tend to just write 'toast' as opposed to which type of bread. It's only just clicked recently about the brown bread! Wondering if it could be the same for wholewheat pasta/wraps/noodles too which we sometimes get!? X

I would definitely try that. I had some brown rice pasta from Sainsburys which was nice maybe an alternative to your wholewheat pasta. I get very annoyed when people try to tell me wholewheat is better for me. I soon put them straight.

My triggers are seeds (seeded brown bread fur example) and sweeteners. Both of which she could be having at nursery. Does she have squash there which she doesn’t have at home?

I've got IBS, I spend my life looking at diet and trying to figure out triggers so I sympathise!
It could be so many things, even drinks. Ask the nursery to be very specific on what they write in her food diary. As nurseries usually provide healthy food and snacks, could it be too much fibre in a day if she has a sensitive stomach? Or a certain fruit. Some fruits and vegetables are harder to digest. Bananas for example are hard to digest.
Sometimes things like raisins cause people problems. Artificial sweeteners in things like squash or sugar free jelly, glucose fructose syrup which is in lots of things.
Could be too much dairy if she's having say a milk drink, yogurt snack and a creamy sauce on a meal.
Also bear in mind that whatever hasn't agreed with her won't always cause immediate problems, sometimes it can be at least 2-3 days before the effects come out.

Thanks @PJGirls. They just have water at nursery I think but I'll double check. She has the occasional fruit shoot at home as a treat but I've never noticed any link there as yet but I suppose there could be if it's afew days later than the effects show themselves! We have seedy bread at home-might just try plain white!

@Blossomandbee yes I had thought about too much fibre which would fit with the brown bread. She's not great with eating veg but does eat bananas regularly, maybe 5 a week. We've limited dairy-she just has cows milk with cereal at brekkie. It seemed to help at first but not any more! It's sooooo tricky when the effects can take afew days to show! X

It is difficult I feel for you. What kind of food and drink is she typically having at nursery?
I guess she ate bananas in those weeks she was at home and ok? Pears are an easy to digest fruit if she likes those.
Wheat and gluten is pretty easy to avoid and you can give gluten free alternatives whilst you see if there's any changes.
You can request to see a dietician through your GP is you need to as well.

@Blossomandbee it just feels very overwhelming and like I don't know where to start. The mum guilt is also kicking in because I feel like she's totally reliant on us to figure this out for her!!!! I'm just glad she's not in pain with it or anything touch wood but I hate her having loose stools even especially if she has an accident.

Her food diary is currently at nursery with her but I'm sure over Xmas she'll have been having bananas as they're always in the house. Apples and pears seem to upset her tummy!

She has a good diet at nursery-cereal/toast, some kind of meat/veg lunch, fruit for snack time, and a light tea maybe garlic bread, pizza or beans on toast or something x

I'm happy to make whatever adjustments we need to make but I just want to be able to recognise what they need to be! Just been doing some reading on the 'science' or lack of it behind marketed food intolerance testing and wish we'd not done it now! X

Please don't feel guilty, you're doing all you can for her. It's incredibly difficult to single out a food intolerance and it takes time. I know someone who's child had this problem to the point of being incontinent, it took her a long time and a lot of tests to find out the problem which turned out to be a protein in milk.
It sounds like she's having a lot of bread and wheat based food at nursery, I wonder if it's worth trying cutting that out. Just try for a week and see how you go, if she improves then seek advice as obviously you don't want to cut out a whole food group at her age. Baked beans can also aggravate IBS.
It's a minefield and really you need professional help with it, the Drs should be running some tests and maybe taking a stool sample.

Thanks @Blossomandbee x I would say she has just as much wheat at home but after reading another thread I'm wondering if it's actually a fruit/sugar thing as I think she has more of that ar nursery and would fit with afew incidents we've had! X

Maybe try just giving her one fruit at a time for say a week and see how it goes. I hope you get to the bottom of it eventually, must be very frustrating!

In the short term could you send packed lunches to nursery so you can control what she eats and then add things in to see if they cause a reaction.

I sympathise, it's stressy and a source of anxiety but you'll work it out.

Try avoiding FODMAP fruit
No dried fruit
Lactose free cows milk or Oatmilk (sugars free)
No onions
No white bread
GF pasta

Try eliminating gradually and record result then eliminate next thing.

Thank you so much for your input everyone x I feel like I've lost all perspective on what a normal poo should look like too!!!! X it's so easy to become obsessed but it kind of feels like you HAVE to be in doing the detective work! X

If she improves with GF bread, pasta etc, I'd suggest trying her with organic bread or pasta, wheat based. Especially if you can get organic spelt bread or pasta. I thought for more than half my life that I was wheat intolerant, or gluten intolerant, & had varying levels of IBS as a result. I did the FODMAP diet last year & the only thing I reacted to was wheat. Specifically, wheat that's not organically grown. I can eat a sensible amount of wheat bread, pasta, couscous, cereal etc, but it has to be organic. If I have non organic I bloat like a balloon & have awful heartburn for about a week, am gassy for about a fortnight & it takes nearly a month before my lower gut stops hurting. Apparently I'm not coeliac, as I can manage organic wheat just fine & I've had a blood test. I assume it's the pesticides on the crops. Annoying.

And I generally agree with the suggestions PPs have made. Especially about limiting fruit. It's terrible for fermenting in the gut if you're sensitive to it. Even more so if it's dried fruit as it's so easy to eat a lot very quickly & apparently some of the chemicals that can cause sensitivity can be increased by the drying process.

Will definitely try these tips thank you so much everyone x