4yo upset tum, but not a bug

[PlateSpinner23]

Sorry if this is all TMI...

My 4yo has had quite an upset tum for the past 3 weeks or so. Very gassy, lots of big farts (which occasionally cause a bit of mess in his pants), and often when he goes to the loo, it's just quite loose poo that's mucusy when we wipe. Other times, his poo is totally normal. He's not complaining of tummy pain at all and not ill in any other way.

I work full time and am starting each day dreading the call from preschool calling it diarrhea, because that would be the best part of my week down the proverbial pan.

Any ideas what the tummy issue could be - allergy or intolerance, maybe? Going to call the GP tomorrow, but interested to know what the hive mind think too.

Thanks.

Constipation and impaction can actually cause loose runny stools as they leak around the blockage.

Could be lactose intolerance, I get similar symptoms when I have too much dairy.

I would see your GP. DS had diarrhoea for 3 weeks so the GP sent off a sample but nothing was detected so they diagnosed temporary lactose intolerance. The diarrhoea cleared straight away when we removed lactose from his diet.

Could be impacted poop - my daughter had this issue when she was in nursery and she refused to go to toilet at school as the poo was so runny but she did have cramps with it. She was put on Movicol for 18 months in the end because after she stopped taking it, it would start up again. She had horrific bouts of gas and diarrhoea.

DS's poo goes very much like this with too much lactose.

Has he been off colour previous to the ongoing poop issues as the tummy can be extra sensitive to lactose after being poorly?

We've found a happy medium (mostly) by cutting out "raw" dairy - milk, cheese and yoghurt mainly and he has dairy free alternatives happily enough and I've discovered that using his oat milk makes porridge taste amazing!