Toddler's diaper question

[Cathy in IL]

The little boy I have been caring for since January 17 has had extremely loose, almost watery, diapers this whole time. I would be surprised if a virus would last this long. My gut is telling me he can't tolerate milk. He drinks more milk than any child I have ever known. I am trying today without milk to see if I see a change.

What else could this be? If it is the milk, how long will he have to be off it before I see a change?

[Stacey in MA]

She has always had loose stool.... This past year she's complained more often of tummy pain too - every few days, I'd say. She was at the dr's recently, and I mentioned this. Dr. ran several blood tests since we were in, checking for iron level, lead, blood cell counts, thyroid numbers, and a few specific food allergies like wheat....I think that's it. All of those can cause stomach issues. Hers came back fine, thankfully, so we are going to try dropping milk. It's just very hard b/c we are a "very dairy" family.... eat lots of cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, ice cream, etc. Part of me hopes its this simple, and another part hopes she won't have to give up dairy.

Anyway, if your dairy experiment doesn't solve it, I'd say a dr. visit w/ a blood work up might be useful.

GL! - Stacey in MA

[Cathy in IL]

Hmm, lead could be a culprit. I am just basing this on the living conditions he came to me from and the blood levels other children who've come from similar places have had. I didn't know there could be a correlation. I haven't taken these boys to a doctor yet because they don't have health insurance yet. They are only staying with me until the end of February. They don't have doctors. I suppose that an urgent care center could help if the milk elimination doesn't.

[momofkhm]

I was told all dairy for 3 weeks. It was hard - dairy is in so much stuff! You have to look for weird words like casiene and whey. It's in commercial bread! I went through and marked everything in the pantry. Thankfully, it wasn't a dairy issue for my ds.

[Chris in VA]

Is he small for his age? Does he seem to catch a lot of colds or be congested more than usual? It certainly could be an allergy or even lead, but it could also be cystic fibrosis. Db has it, and had loose stools--do they really smell bad? Try the milk elimination (esp if he is gassy, too), but a good trip to the Dr. is advisable. Do what you can to send them.

[JudoMom]

She has always had loose stool.... This past year she's complained more often of tummy pain too - every few days, I'd say. She was at the dr's recently, and I mentioned this. Dr. ran several blood tests since we were in, checking for iron level, lead, blood cell counts, thyroid numbers, and a few specific food allergies like wheat....I think that's it. All of those can cause stomach issues. Hers came back fine, thankfully, so we are going to try dropping milk. It's just very hard b/c we are a "very dairy" family.... eat lots of cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, ice cream, etc. Part of me hopes its this simple, and another part hopes she won't have to give up dairy.

Anyway, if your dairy experiment doesn't solve it, I'd say a dr. visit w/ a blood work up might be useful.

GL! - Stacey in MA

Just to give you a bit of hope if it is milk: A few of my boys were sensitive to milk (they'd get horrible tummy problems and bleeding rashes when they were in diapers), but they were able to eat cheese and yogurt. Now that they are 8,7 & 4 they can drink milk and eat ice cream with no problems. So if it is the milk, it may not be all dairy, and it may not be forever.

[Andie]

Just to give you a bit of hope if it is milk: A few of my boys were sensitive to milk (they'd get horrible tummy problems and bleeding rashes when they were in diapers), but they were able to eat cheese and yogurt. Now that they are 8,7 & 4 they can drink milk and eat ice cream with no problems. So if it is the milk, it may not be all dairy, and it may not be forever.

I had two that were sensitive to milk, but okay with yogurt and cheese as well. They're both able to tolerate milk now that they're older. Um, I guess I could have summed this up with "me, too," huh? :o LOL

[Cathy in IL]

Is he small for his age? Does he seem to catch a lot of colds or be congested more than usual? It certainly could be an allergy or even lead, but it could also be cystic fibrosis. Db has it, and had loose stools--do they really smell bad? Try the milk elimination (esp if he is gassy, too), but a good trip to the Dr. is advisable. Do what you can to send them.

He is not small for his age. Probably average. But he does have a lot of congestion. His mother says he has asthma, and that could be, but I have never heard a wheeze. His diapers do smell really bad. My dd was tested for cystic fibrosis, but the doctor said it was rare in African Americans. Do you know if it is common or not in Puerto Ricans?

[Cathy in IL]

I was told all dairy for 3 weeks. It was hard - dairy is in so much stuff! You have to look for weird words like casiene and whey. It's in commercial bread! I went through and marked everything in the pantry. Thankfully, it wasn't a dairy issue for my ds.

I was afraid it may take something that radical. I don't think I will even have him much longer than three weeks more. I'll do what I can, and discuss it with his parents when they come for dinner on Monday.

[Chris in VA]

I don't know. My impression is that it is not as common in Hispanic people, but that's just because I can't immediately find info when I google it! Glad your dd doesn't have it.

[Kari C in SC]

I have been going through this with my 3 year old ds. He loves milk. If I would let him, he would only drink milk. He has always been the kind of baby that has a poopy diaper for every diaper. I kept thinking it would get better as he got older. Back in December, I was making a very good effort at potty training. I had him go without bottoms for about 2 weeks. During this time, I noticed that he really didn't have any control over bowel movements. Sorry for the grossness, but he would be sitting there and just poop a little bit without even knowing. My gut instinct was that it was milk too. I already knew he couldn't tolerate whole milk. We figured that out when he was about 15 months old and changed to skim. My problem was that he INSISTED on his "milky ba". I decided to try filling the nuby cup with half water and half milk. That seemed to help some, but not completely. He was fine drinking it that way too. So we went even further and basically gave him a bottle of water with a splash of milk for the coloring effect. He still would drink it just fine - YUCK! I took him to the doctor during this time and they told me to try what I was already doing. It took about a week, but he did seem to get more regular and less watery stools. I would love to say that fixed it and now he is potty trained, but I can't. We moved soon after. Everytime we take a road trip, it seems to effect his digestive system. Add to that a whole new filtered water and he has had more yucky diapers. I do think it is getting better though. (Well, I have been in the hospital with my dd for 4 days - so daddy and grandma have had him since then.) Oh, one more thing - cheese doesn't seem to bother him. Ice cream just depends on the brand. It really seems to be just milk. Hope this helps some.

[Tap, tap, tap]

It started with her spitting up constantly and diarrhea as an infant. Then it moved into her diarrhea causing her skin, on her bottom, to break open and bleed even if I changed her diaper within 5 minutes of filling it.

We tried giving her baby acidophilus and it helped a lot. It made a drastic difference! When she came to us she was on a milk formula and we were told that she didn't tolerate soy formula either. She was on WIC so we didn't really have many options. She was within a month of being off of formula, so we just waited until the last month and then we took her off of milk at once. A dairy free diet cured her almost instantly. We can tell if someone messed up and gave her milk instantly by her diapers. It also affects her moods. She went from average/cranky baby to happy baby overnight! Her seasonal allergy symptoms also are a lot less now. I think some of what they thought were seasonal, were just a milk allergy. Or that her system isn't so overloaded with fighting off the milk, that it can better handle the pollen.

Since you are the ones who have cared for the child most recently, I would take them off of milk today. That will give you a couple of weeks to try out the diet before the child goes home. It will be much easier for you to tell the parents, there is a definite link and that they absolutely can't give the child milk than to tell them to try the diet themselves. They won't really know what to watch for in changes in him like you will. It will take some drastic effort on your part, but it will be worth it to make sure the diet gets tried.

Good luck!

[momo4]

Definitely sounds like an allergy. My friend's son had the same problem, but the allergy was to wheat.

Some people who can't tolerate milk, have a problem with pasteurized milk and are fine with raw milk. I know someone like this. The raw milk comes with digestive enzymes needed to digest the milk. Cheese and yogurt are cultured products so the lactose is mostly predigested. Kefir and "real" cultured sour cream (Daisy Brand) could work too.

[dirty ethel rackham]

My son was on antibiotics for pneumonia and it did a number on his digestive system. He had runny stools for over 6 months afterward. The stupid doc called it "toddler tummy." We figured out that the bacterial flora of his digestive system was messed up. We put him on probiotics (acidophilus, bifidus, etc.) and it cleared up. We went to the health food store and got a powder that we mixed in with his beverage.

[Cathy in IL]

Thanks for reminding me of probiotics. I have some that I can try today.

[Amy in NH]

My 2 yo dd had been fine since she was an infant, then she suddenly had loose stools every day. I thought it was a tummy bug, but it persisted longer than it should have. She drinks about 1 c of juice per day (mixed with 2 c of water into (3) 1 c servings). We had been getting Juicy Juice on WIC until our local supermarket stopped carrying the concentrate, then we switched to Welches because it was the only available concentrate. I was able to switch back to Juicy Juice which I found at a store an hour away, and her diarrhea stopped. Needless to say, I have stocked up on the JJ since we don't get down that way all the time, and I've stopped buying Welches.