"Toddler diarrhoea"

[musica]

My ds has what seems to be toddler diarrhoea - that is he does 2 or 3 HUGE poos each day, coming out the side of his nappy. They all have undigested food in them, but he is very well in himself. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to sort this out. He doesn't have any drinks except water and a bottle of milk before bed. He doesn't eat soft fruit, and I give him lots of cereal in the day to bulk things out. He is drinking cow's milk. I'd be VERY grateful for any suggestions!

[Bozza]

My DS also goes through phases of this. So empathy rather than advice I'm afraid. Drinks the same things as your DS. Eats most things. One thing I have noticed though is that he is quite lazy about chewing and will maybe swallow, for example, a whole oven chip.

[wmf]

Is it possible that he is slightly sensitive to cow's milk and/or wheat? Have you tried changing him to an oat cereal for a few days (and obviously cutting out any other wheat foods at the same time? Or you could try brown rice or millet instead. Probably better not to try changing both cereal and milk at the same time, unless changing them one at a time has no effect.

[musica]

Thanks I will try the wheat/milk allergy - he was very 'sicky' as a baby, so I suppose he could be sensitive to milk.

[pupuce]

DS is like yours and I have never been able to figure out what was wrong except that he was worst when in nursery so we put it down to nerves/anxiety (as I have a similar problem when I am stressed out). It is better now... it's a phase thing in his case.

Good luck

[aloha]

I have to say, I tend to ignore changes in ds's bowel habits and they always seem to clear up, so to speak, by themselves.

[SueDonim]

Maybe he's having too much cereal, Musica? An excess of fibre can cause bowel disturbances as well as prevent absorbtion of vitamins etc.

Must admit, Aloha, I don't go in for 'poo readings' either, unless it's accompnaied by illness.

[bundle]

musica - if you do go down the wheat/milk allergy route I'd strongly advise you to get him properly tested so you're not excluding the wrong thing and excluding something from his diet which is ok with his system & nutritious. lots of people jump on the no dairy/wheat bandwagon when it's completely unnecessary and the replacement products are pricey.