5 year old protracted diarrhoea

[YellowCrayola]

My 5 year old is generally a robust child which is lucky. But, if he gets a GI bug he seems to be prone to protracted diarrhoea. He came down with a bug Wednesday last week and is still having a few episodes of liquid stool a day. He was ‘unwell’ (as in, a bit tired and off food) for a couple of hours last Wednesday morning but has otherwise been completely well, eating and drinking normally and with completely normal energy levels. No vomiting throughout.

He’s missing so much school because they have to be 48h clear of diarrhoea. I get the principle but it’s so frustrating having a completely well child at home whose asking to go back to school. Last time he had this he was 3 and ended up missing 2.5 weeks of pre school it dragged on so long.

Has anyone else been through this? I’m wondering about speaking to the doctor to see if there is anything he can take to stop the diarrhoea or if they can issue a note to say he is unlikely to be infectious anymore.

See the GP and ask for a stool test. It's most likely viral and should get better on its own, but if it's parasitic (eg Giardia) it would need treating before it resolved.

You can however get Dioralyte double action from the chemist, it has rice flour in it which reduces diarrhoea. Lots of countries give this as standard treatment for children with D&V. I used it when my toddler had rotavirus (and then gave it to me...)

Thanks so much, this is all great advice. I’ve put a request in with the GP so we’ll see what they say. Will send DH off to the pharmacy this PM as well.

We should be grateful, he very rarely gets poorly. But diarrhoea taking him out of school for over a week a year is super frustrating!