blood and mucous in poo so worried

[ruty]

can anyone help? for the last six weeks my ds has had little streaks of blood and lots of mucous, alternating with very watery stools. I tried cutting out dairy, the blood went away for a week but now its back. the paed at the hospital suggested it was a dairy allergy but obviously as its come back it might not be. I'm going mental with the worry, has anyone had a similar experience?

by the way my boy is coming up to five months..

I haven't but I would go back and insist on a second opinion. I am not trying to worry you as it probably is a dairy allergy but at 5 months you cannot be too careful I think!
BHxxx

Hi Ruty

This link has some information about blood in babies stools - hope it helps a bit - if you're still worried, take your DS to the doctor (or try ringing NHS Direct on 0845 4647).

Did you cut out all dairy (i.e. everything with lac- anything listed in the ingredients)?

Is he breastefed? if so did you cut out dairy for yourself?

Either way I think I would take one of his nappies to the docs to be honest - never mind what the pead said.

didn't expect anyone to reply last night so thanks! Yes, i cut out all dairy and he is breastfed. i have to wait till march 1 to see another paed in the NHS, so will have to try to find someone privately. Anyone have any ideas? Can't believe they'll let it go on so long.

what's wrong with seeing your family doctor or health visitor? I think that would be much better than waiting til march or going private - it may be something simple.

You still need to see gp to be refered privately anyway so i would see GP.

it was th gp that referred us originally to NHS paed - will try her again but she can't get us back to see NHS paed any earlier. And lots of paeds don't see private patients, not where i live anyway.

right - sorry.

Is he otherwise healthy though? If so it should be OK to wait: the original pead obviously didn't think it was terribly serious, or he/she would have arranged a follow up appt there and then.

You could try cutting out other allergens - I think soya and wheat are the next most common.

am trying eggs now.. i just don't feel confident with the first paed's opinion to let it drag on.. he does seem fairly well, but i'm worried if he's absorbing enough nutrients...

Did they discuss the possibility of intussusception at all? Is there a paediatric a&e that you could go to. Ours (we are in london though) is great and you are seen immediately by a paediatrician, not a gp.

for some reason they don't think its that, or meckel's diverticulum, i did ask, and we were in a and e twice over new year. saw a really good private paediatric gastroenterologist yesterday and he thinks it is allergic colitis, so i either have to cut out wheat dairy eggs and soya from my diet, or put ds on some hypoallerginic formula that apperntly does not taste too good, so will try the diet. ds not putting on weight over last month tho he's still biggish for his age, have to wait and see..

Ruty,

had a very similar situation to you a few weeks ago, except that DS is piling on the pounds.

Has your paed done a full analysis of the stool sample (sorry but not had time to read the whole thread)? My paediatrician tells me that mostly these things are viral - when they are bacterial the child is normally extremely unwell, with high fever. DS is definitely lactose intolerant and is now on soya formula (he is also five months btw). He had a course of antibiotics and the paed prescribed Reuteri (not sure of the equivalent in the UK - it recolonises the gut with natural bacteria).

We were advised to try the milk based formula again last week and the foul nappies started straight away - so we are now absolutely sure about the lactose intolerance.

I have done loads of reading - if you want to CAT me feel free

Dejags
x

Hello dejags, sorry just got your message, a real relief to hear somebody going thru smthing similar...how long did your baby go thru it for? will try to CAT you [that's email you thru mumsnet, right?]

Hi, my ds has had blood in his stools for a couple of months. He had already been diagnosed with a milk protein allergy and me going dairy free (he is breastfed) made no difference. Tests came back showing that there were reducing sugars in his stools and therefore he was not producing enough lactase to break down the lactose in my breastmilk. We tried a hypoallergenic formula but it was a disaster with lots of stress for mum and baby and as he is still gaining weigth we continued breastfeeding. We have done several allergy eliminations since then and soy has come back as a positive, I was drinking soymilk to replace my dairy intake, the blood has reduced significantly but the stools are still mucousy, we also tried egg and citrus eliminations with no problems, I am a vegetarian anyway so we have not had to try seafood. Noone at the hospital, gp or so on seemed at all concerned even when I showed them nappies and although Im concerned about iron loss we will keep up with what we are doing until he is on solids and then hopefully will be able to introduce iron rich foods then.