Toddler diarrhoea

[Lisa290788]

Hi. My son is 18 months old and has been diagnosed with toddler diarrhoea which he’s had for 3 months. Has anyone else experienced this and if so how do you cope? All my sons activities ie swimming etc has been put on hold. I am going through 4-6 sets of clothes per day and also during the night. Please can anyone help? Doctor has told me this will stop on its own but there is just no time scale.
Thank you x

Yes my toddler was diagnosed at a similar age. She was pooing sometimes six times a day and nursery kept sending her home for runny poos, but to us it was normal. I have always slightly wondered if she had a mild intolerance but she never seemed in pain or bothered by it. We did cut back on fibre a bit, I cut our weetabix (which is a shame as it's one of the lower sugar cereals!) and brown bread, and cut back on oats. It sounds odd but we gave her more white carbs on the doctor's advice. I was dreading potty training but she took to it like a breeze and to be honest things have been much better since, I'm not really sure what happened. It may not be quite the same as your son's but it did get better for us. I know how stressful it can be!

Hi, my DD has just turned 3 and we've been dealing with this for about 6 months. She usually only does one or two a day but they can be awful, I know how stressful it is constantly changing/washing/chucking out clothes!

Having tried to keep tabs on what she's eating, the only thing I've noticed making it worse is dairy. We've cut back on things like fruit juice/smoothies, and she eats a lot of white bread in an attempt to balance things out a bit. I think when her diet is plainer things are a bit calmer, ie we have one stool a day that is still 'toddler diarrhea' but doesn't manage to escape her nappy.

I do feel for you though, we had to stop her ballet class because it was no parents allowed and I didn't feel I could leave her in case she had an accident. We still take her swimming but not weekly, just every now and then.

I've got another GP appointment to discuss in Feb, I'm going to ask about dietary changes such as excluding dairy etc, could you ask about that? I know it's not supposed to make a difference but I've definitely noticed a difference when she's had more milk, and I don't think she's lactose intolerant.

When it comes to taking him to classes, I would try something else like baby gymnastics or something else you haven't done to replace the swimming. Something where you can easily yank him out and change him if needed.

Sending solidarity to you- I know how stressful this is!!

Yes. Look into cloth nappies with used cloth at home and never had to change clothes and disposables in nursery and she had a change of clothes every poo. With disposable liners you can just pop that in the bin. If full cloth does appeal a wrap around a disposable nappy can save clothes

Look into allergies. My daughter has a lot and these made her worse. My friends eldest had toddler diarrhoea and it was only when she her youngest had a dairy allergy she realised her eldest did too

High fat food, white bread, no grapes or dried fruit, rice Krispies instead of Weetabix.

Things that made my daughter worse was teething, colds, stress.

Maybe introduce the potty too, life has become a lot easier since we potty trained (she's now 3) it took a longer to crack the poos and we were very nervous about starting because of the diarrhoea but we didn't need to be. She still has loose poos but she's now down to one a day which is my much better

I would agree with cloth nappies to keep it contained, cut down on clothing changes, and let you and him keep living your lives.

I would say best containment is a two-part system, so something like one of these https://www.thenappylady.co.uk/fitted-shaped-nappies.html then a good wrap https://www.thenappylady.co.uk/nappy-wraps.html over the top. The nappy lady has a questionnaire you can do or email them, and they'll give advice on what might work best for your particular age, size, shape of child, your washing/drying situation, budget, etc. You can pick stuff up really cheaply secondhand right now.

And again agreeing with @Superscientist , if fully reusable nappies aren't for you, a good wrap worn over the disposables should prevent most leaks.

For swimming, I think a good reusable swim nappy under a happy nappy would probably do the trick (it works with breastfed newborn poo, which is pretty runny), but worth asking the Nappy Lady team or one of the reusable nappy facebook groups.

Did they give diet tips on how to minimise toddler diarrhoea? Increasing fat, reducing juices/squashes and not giving too much fibre are all supposed to help

https://patient.info/childrens-health/acute-diarrhoea-in-children/toddlers-diarrhoea

Hi. Yes and everything they advise to do we are already doing and always have done. I just feel I’m at such a loose end and it’s not getting better it’s getting worse. Thanks x

Hello, just come across this feed as my little one has been diagnosed with the same thing. Exact same as you described multiple changes a day and night! Just wondered how you were getting on?

Hi. It’s very much on and off at the movement. We had a couple of months where it had stopped altogether then it come on again really bad however what we found was helping is to buy the next size up nappy if your little one is still in nappies. Just having the bit extra room was meaning it was coming through and onto the clothes. Currently we are having around 2-4 changes per day and nothing during the night where as earlier in the year I could be changing 10-14 nappies per day. Paediatrician said they aren’t concerned at all as he’s not loosing weight, he’s got a great diet and drinking plenty. If you ever have any questions please ask x

Hi OP how are things going now? Worried 18 month old DS has suddenly developed this as had 3-4 loose poos a day now for 2 weeks with no sign of stopping. He seems fine in himself.

DD1 had this. No issues with swimming with the double nappy system, she never went in her 1 half hour session a week. We used cloth nappies with disposable liners. The cloth nappies contain poo better as they have good elastic round the waist and legs. It did resolve itself but not till after potty training so we did not enjoy emptying potties!