Toddler diarrhoea- what helps?

[daisydaredyou]

Our 2.5 year old has almost never done a solid poo.

She poos up to 7 times a day, and mostly they are a sort of 'hummus' consistency.

As this has always been the case, I've just thought it was her, but now I'm thinking we should check for intolerances. But how, and what?

Online there's a lot of contradictory advice - more fat, less fat, more fruit, less fruit, cutting out dairy etc.

We're vegetarian so reluctant to cut out dairy as I don't know where the protein will come from.

Any experiences or advice welcome!

I’d be seeing the GP before you change things yourself.

Firstly you need to check if it really is toddler diarrhea or actually constipation with overflow - which can look weirdly similar!

We had transit studies done to confirm toddler diarrhea - where they measure how fast your digestive system works by swallowing plastic pellets and then x-raying to see where they get to at different times.

If confirmed, the advice is to increase fats and reduce fibre. The dietician commented on the muesli generation and that we had to unlearn "what does a healthy diet look like"! I remember my ds begging for broccoli in the supermarket rather than sausage rolls 🤣😂

I don't have that much faith in GPs for these kinds of vague queries. The advice you get seems to entirely depend on the person you see on the day, and will inevitably be that we have to trial cutting out different things. It's just knowing where to start.

If you don't trust the gp, then I'd do a food/potty diary. Don't change anything, just log everything (,sorry for the pun) and look for patterns. If things get better on a day when you happen to have had less dairy etc then you have something to go on.

Fairy sure it is diarrhoea- she just produces a lot every day. It's not totally liquid, just very mushy.

Thanks for the fat/fibre tip. It's just hard because the other main advice is to cut dairy, which means the main sources of fat (cheese, full fat milk) are out. It's hard to know which way to go!

Yes they're absolutely useless.

My daughter has this issue but they think it's down to constipation. She starts school in September and I have no idea how that will work with a kid who craps constantly.

GP says we can't potty train until it's sorted (all attempts have failed) but they're doing nothing to deal with it. Just box after box of movicol and bottles of lactulose. They won't refer her anywhere and we can't even get a GP appointment to discuss it further.

Her diet is quite limited so difficult to cut things out completely without her just not eating at all.

@PissedOffNeighbour22 thanks. How do they tell if it's constipation based or not? I find it hard to believe she's constipated as the amount that comes out of her, I just don't think she can be bunged up?

Following with interest - my youngest ds4 (18m) has done about three solid poos in his life. Usually poos at least twice a day. We've gone dairy free since he was 11m on the advice of paeds but I'm not convinced it's made a difference- but reintroducing dairy does seem to make it worse 🤷‍♀️ I've assumed I just wait and see if it settles - he's not uncomfortable or distressed with it so really it's the gross inconvenience that's the problem so am just hoping he grows out of it... this thread doesn't fill me with hope though...

@daisydaredyou Not completely sure but I do think my DD does suffer from constipation and overflow as she complains a lot about stomach pains and when it's bad we can feel the solid mass. She's been on these meds for 3.5 years yet no change has been made to the treatment. The GP has sent her to a&e a couple of times but all they do is give her a larger dose of the same medication and it does nothing.

Both my DP and I are lactose intolerant and have various other allergies yet the GP isn't interested in looking into any other cause than solely constipation for DD. Around 20 mins after she slowly starts eating she starts complaining about tummy pains most days.

I'm so fed up of the amount of nappies we go through. Size 6+ aren't cheap and she can poo 10 times a day sometimes.

I had this with my child (exactly this, every aspect of your description) and it's gluten. Not sure if she's intolerant or coeliac (although likely coeliac because I am).

If you want to try you can cut out gluten for a few days and then reintroduce it. You'd have to continue to give it even if it turns out that's the culprit because the tests for coeliac disease need you to have eaten gluten consistently for 4-6 weeks prior to the test.

GPs in the U.K. are crap at testing for this and love writing it off as toddler diarrhoea.

I had this with my DS. It was dairy intolerance. We, with the help of a dietitian (NHS through GP referral) worked out what he could tolerate and everything is now nearly resolved. Definitely worth speaking a GP. We are nearly a year into potty training and it's been a long slog but without getting to the bottom of the soft poo we wouldn't have hot there.

Thanks for the suggestions @Measureformeasure and @puffinhoarder. Dairy and gluten had both been things we'd considered. Just really hoping not to have to cut out either as she's a fussy eater, and bread, pasta and cheese are her main foods.

Can I ask - did your toddlers seem uncomfortable? Mine is always happy and doesn't seem windy or sore or anything. Which makes me think it might not be an intolerance?

Mine was always really happy until closer to the end of the 8 months of diarrhoea started to experience more tummy pain in advance of bowel movements.

We couldn't contemplate potty training until it was sorted either. Even now she's trained, if there's a 'slip' she can't even feel it coming.

Good luck finding your culprit!

You can also just feed your child something distinctive - I can confirm blueberries work brilliantly for this

No he wasn't uncomfortable and really loved dairy. There were some signs that I didn't realise were linked though. He vomited at bedtime for no obvious reason sometimes. He wasn't unwell and we couldn't work out what that was. He also sometimes has odd rashes that didn't relate to illness.

@Saschka or sweetcorn 😁 re the dairy, my ds had a dairy allergy so increasing fat was really difficult. We were advised to add olive oil to everything we could - he ate lots of mashed potato! Also peanut butter and avocado.....

Apple juice was the trigger for DS. Many baby food products are sweetened with apple juice too, so it wasn’t just drinking it.

DS had cows milk allergy until he was two. When he was at nursery we took in jar food for him just in case there was something on the menu he couldn’t eat. You could tell when he had eaten something sweetened with apple juice

Oh and just to respond to this - yep DS was happy as Larry, always had a massive appetite and was quite a podgy toddler (thin child now). Always ate a shit-tonne of fruit, now I think about it, but then he still does.

The diarrhoea gradually stopped by itself some time between age 2.5-3. It actually seemed better after toilet training, though that might just be because he was older, or that I wasn’t looking down the toilet too closely.

Have you tried some firming foods? Eggs, bananas, rice, toast, stewed apple?

@daisydaredyou searching through similar experiences of parents dealing with toddler diarrhea & found this thread. I was wondering have you found anything that works for your daughter? 🤞

My son is just turned 2 & has had toddler diarrhea since being weaned off breastfeeding at 17 months. We've gone to a dietician & paediatrician to rule out dairy, soy, wheat & egg allergies + Crohns, Coeliac & Hyperthyroidism due to family history. Since it's over 6 months of it I was really hoping it'd settle by now & looking for other potential fixes! Can't imagine starting to potty train like this. 🙈

@kc92

We've massively reduced dairy which seems to have helped.

She was previously having a lot of cheese and drinking cups of milk. We've swapped milk to soy milk and reduced cheese, and I'd say things are more solid and less frequent.

Still usually 2 or 3 times a day but better. I don't know if she has an actual intolerance or if it was just too much before.

How did your dietician rule out various intolerances? Is there a test?

@daisydaredyou thank you! Glad you found a routine that helps a little.

We tested diet removals for both dairy & soy for 6-8 weeks because those intolerance can be linked, under dietician guidance. We saw no change really, and typically you'd see a big improvement after a few weeks when all milk proteins are out of the system if it was dairy related.

After that we went to a paediatrician because of my husbands family history & we got allergen blood tests done for dairy, wheat, soy & eggs which are the most common allergens for his age group. Pretty traumatic to get a toddler blood tested to be honest but we asked for a play therapist to be there to help distract him & got some peace of mind when the tests came back all clear.

@daisydaredyou
My little one who was 3 at the time started with constant diarrhoea in oct. He has never had really solid poos but it had got worse. The gp just advised to cut out dairy and fruit! It did seem to get better but has got worse again.
He is potty trained for doing a wee bit will not do a poo on the potty!
I think I'm going to go back to the GP and push for a dietician referral as it's such a minefield to know what to cut out!

Are the intolerance tests advertised in wowcher etc worth a try?

Might be a starting point?

@Samk79 we found we were waiting ages for a dietician referral via our GP so we used an online service if it's any help. There's tons with reputable credentials online - the one we went too was weaning.ie and it was claimable on health insurance. The dieticians all work in Temple Street children's hospital in Dublin. Or I've heard solidstarts.ie is pretty good too.

Obviously in-person would be better I think, but there's so many delays in services, at least in Ireland!

At the time we were just ruling out allergens but it was really good to be able to do that without worrying about impacting his nutrition at all.