Toddler, chronic diarrhea, no weight loss....????

My son is now 19 mos old. For as long as I can remember he has had constant diarrhea. As an infant, he wans't noticably different in this regard from his fraternal twin brother, but since they have been eating 'regular' table food, Jacob definately has diarrhea--ALL THE TIME. We have been taking more notice lately so that we can report back to our pediatrician. He NEVER has less than 3 loose stools a day- often up to 5 or 6, he frequently has a distended belly (often after meals--I think). He doesn't seem to have bad belly cramps, but definately knows when the poop is coming As a result of the diarrhea, he also has fairly consistent diaper rash. We tried switching to Lactaid milk incase of Lactose intolerance--for about a week, and no change. We added some fiber to his diet, at the recommendation of his pediatrician, but have not noticed any difference. He appears to be well noruished--maintaining the 50-75% percentile on the growth charts for height and weight.

I just have no idea what is going on, or what to do. I have no idea how we would ever begin to potty train as I cannot leave him for even a few moments without a diaper. I don't want him to be in discomfort or pain.
Could he just be taking cramps in stride if he's had them all his life?

Any insight, experience or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Kim

This is very worrying for you i can see. It doesnt sound completely normal. Have your son investigated for cyliacs disease (not sure of the spelling) it is an intolerance to wheat, this can cause diarohhea, swollen stomach, it is not a dangerous disease and can be managed

I imagine he is having solid foods and not baby foods still, if he is still having a formula in a bottle (maybe he is allergic it)

hi kim
i am having the same problem with my 26 mo. old boy - a triplet. he has chronic diarrhea. he isn't eating enough and today his stomach looked distended. i am taking him to his pediatrician tomorrow. let me know if what you figure out and i will do the same. Donna

Our fraternal twin girls are 22 months and have never really had a solid bowel movement, about 1 week ago it became diarrhea and the dr's can't figure our what's wrong.
We're waiting on a lab report on the stool.
It's now more like slip consistancy and some of the food in undigested.
both now seem to have low energy of which they never had with the loose stool ( not diarrhea ).
I'm worried although they don't seem to be dehydrated I can't imagine it feeling very good.
they cannot live on that "BRAT" diet, they want real food!
I did start them back on their regular diet, limiting anything that could make it worse, ie Milk products, some fruits & veg. but they love all that.
It's like a diet for us parents because we feel guilty eating our regular foods if they can't.

kimzkidz wrote:

My son is now 19 mos old. For as long as I can remember he has had constant diarrhea. As an infant, he wans't noticably different in this regard from his fraternal twin brother, but since they have been eating 'regular' table food, Jacob definately has diarrhea--ALL THE TIME. We have been taking more notice lately so that we can report back to our pediatrician. He NEVER has less than 3 loose stools a day- often up to 5 or 6, he frequently has a distended belly (often after meals--I think). He doesn't seem to have bad belly cramps, but definately knows when the poop is coming As a result of the diarrhea, he also has fairly consistent diaper rash. We tried switching to Lactaid milk incase of Lactose intolerance--for about a week, and no change. We added some fiber to his diet, at the recommendation of his pediatrician, but have not noticed any difference. He appears to be well noruished--maintaining the 50-75% percentile on the growth charts for height and weight. I just have no idea what is going on, or what to do. I have no idea how we would ever begin to potty train as I cannot leave him for even a few moments without a diaper. I don't want him to be in discomfort or pain. Could he just be taking cramps in stride if he's had them all his life? Any insight, experience or advice would be greatly appreciated!! Kim

Kim,

I have gone through the same thing you have explained. My 2 1/2 year old has had this problem since he was born. I have been to the family doctor and a pediatric gastroenterologist. We have had several stool tests and celiac test all negitive. The gastroenterologist was probably the least helpful (I may try a different one) he told me my son has toddler diarrhea and to give him childrens imodium a-d everyday, which I DON'T do. I don't believe that it would be good to give him that everyday long term, it doesn't seem right. Needless to say he is not potty trained yet. If I find out anything else I will let you know. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Davina

Any one figure this one out? I am having the same problems, blood and stool came back normal. We go back next week to the gasterointerologist. My son is 31 months old and had this for forever, the pediatrician is not too concerned, but I am. He complains of tummy aches and has had a chronic diaper rash for two years! UGH.

My son had a bought of diarrhea when he was 1 yr old, hes now 3 yrs old. He was dianosed as lactose intolerant. Took him off all dairy. And juice. Thought maybe he was getting too much juice. Gave him plenty of Yogart because the culture helps with diarrhea. His little tummy too stay swollen-distended. His pediatrician referred us to a big childrens hospital for tests. Specialists ran tests on my son from Upper G.I., X-rays drawing blood. Everything came back normal except for all the gas on his stomach from the X-ray. We were already aware of the gas on his stomach. His pediatrician even sent off a bowel sample to the lab, it came back clean too. I think My son just tolerated the cramps too. He really only fussed at night, when they interrupted his sleep. I was talking to an aquaintance one day, and he told me hes lactose intolerant too, and that the Soy milk actually gave him diarrhea and kept his distended. I immediately took my son off Soy milk on my own. And you wont believe it, but his diarrhea slowed way down and eventually stopped. He went from having 4 to 5 and sometimes more diarrhea diapers a day, to just one or two and then none. But the Soy milk was not the problem all a long. We never figured out what set off the diarrhea to begin with. Now hes eats and drinks anything he wants. I have no advice, just my experience. Sorry Guys

ever since my daughter was 13 months she start with constant diarrhea. atleast 5 bowel movments a day this continued for about 8 months. i saw atleast 4 different pediatritians and all of them just kept on giving her antibiotics and immodium. they did stool test and bloood tests but found nothing to account for it as a result of the chronic diarrhhea her hemoglobin went down to 9.8.
anyways finally i went to a gastroenterologist and he reccomened doing 3 stool tests in a week b/c sometime one isnt enough to catch parasites if this is infact the case. i did the three stool test and sure enough is was a parasite - entamoeba hystolitica.
this type of parasite is very hard to detect in a stool sample b/c they tend to die before the test is atually done. so u have to take the stool sample right before u will take it to the lab and make sure they do testing on it right away otherwise they wont be able to catch this parasite.
if not caught this parasite can do severe damage to your intestine - amoeba dysentry.
maybe this is not the case with your young ones but its a thought and it doesnt hurt to check.

Hi At 12 months my son started getting diarrhea. He had it for 3 months, put on no weight and was very picky/disinterested in food. Figured out that it coincided with putting him onto cows milk from cows formula. Put him on soy milk and after about 2 weeks the diarrhea eventually stopped. His appetite came back and within few weeks he was piling on the weight. When I suggested milk being the problem our doctor said it couldnt be because we would have noticed problems while i was breastfeeding and from the formula because they are both cows milk based. I decided to try changing to see if it worked. I am glad that I trusted my instinct! Poor thing must have had stomach ache for ages and not fancied eating much. I think diarrhea must often be diet related. If you try changing be patient. It took a while for it to have any effect. Hope this helps.

Hi
My 3 yo daughter never had a formed poop andwent 6-8 times a day with explosive diarreah. We were back and forth to doctors constantly. She did have an edoscopy and colonoscopy finally this year. They found she cannot process SUGAR at all. She has been on a sugar free diet as well as SuCRAID now for a couple of months and is improving. From what I understand this is not common at all but like most heard it was toddlers diahrreah etc. and got no relief.
I had to really be an advocate for her but I think we finally have some real answers. Good luck!