Toddler Diarrhea for 5 Months!

I would have changed pediatricians. It isn't enough to have a holistic doctor. You need another ped that won't just discount this and say it's nothing to worry about.

Welcome to mamapedia, D.!

I'm sorry you are going through this.

I don't know what you mean by "terrible diarrhea" - because when **I** think of "terrible diarrhea" I think of unable to make it to the toilet in time and having soiled pants. If this is happening EVERY DAY and your pediatrician isn't "worried" about it. Find another pediatrician.

I'd seek out a pediatric Gastroenterology doctor as well as a new pediatrician.

I'd change pediatricians or, at the absolute minimum, see a pediatric gastroenterologist or get him checked out at a children's hospital where a whole team is assigned: allergist, infectious disease specialist (to at least rule out some organism), gastrointestinal, and nutrition/dietician. What are you doing to prevent dehydration? What are you doing to ensure absorption of essential nutrients which nothing is staying inside him long enough to be absorbed? My second step, after first setting these appointments, would be to put him on a rapid-absorption patented nutritional supplement to be sure he's got some chance of getting essential nutrients that will also boost his immune system. I work with plenty of people whose children have all kinds of intestinal/digestive issues, and that's the recommendation of food scientists. You need a nutritional approach as well as a medical approach, in my opinion.

First you need a new pediatrician. While it's great that they have checked him out, it bothers me that they said "nothing to worry about". I understand where they are coming from, he's not losing weight, he's not any less active. However, he's 3 years old. That's a long time for one to not have a solid bowel movement.

Keep a food log of EVERYTHING your son ingests: water, food, snacks, drinks, anything and mark the reaction after wards. Was the diarrhea worse?

Do you feed him rice and bananas? What about yogurt? Probiotics help with getting the intestinal tract back in line. Rice and Bananas usually help with "Firming" up the bowels.

When you say "diarrhea" you mean TOTAL liquid stools, right? NOTHING solid AT ALL? I would have him tested for food allergies too. You never know.

Good luck!

We had 8 weeks of this when our son was about 2 yrs old.
Our pediatrician (he wasn't holistic) told us that once a gut is irritated it can sometimes stay irritated for quite a while long after the initial source of irritation has resolved itself.
The important thing is to stay well hydrated and keep electrolytes balanced.
It might be good for child to be on a liquid diet for awhile to give his gut a good rest.
Pedialyte, clear soup broth, jello, etc - I would also stay away from dairy until this is over.
The exception should be a little yogurt.
Talk to your doctor about it.

Really the worst thing about it is the diaper rash.
Just keep up with using a lot of butt paste at diaper changes.

my dh has loose stools daily. this is his normal. however if he eats something thats not ok for him to eat (onions for example) he will be cramping and miserable while being glued to the potty for a day, with it taking up to a week to settle back down.
i would at this point start a food and potty journal. log everything when it goes in, and every poop. note the consistency of that poop to see if certain foods make the poo runnier. and if your pediatrician and holistic drs are not helping you find answers then seek out others that can help a second or even third opinion and possibly specialists might not over look this. but make sure you arm yourself with that journal so they can see what you are talking about and you or a dr might see a pattern or connection between a food and the diarrhea

One other thing to consider and discuss with your doctor is giving him probiotics. We have had similar bugs and this usually helps. Good luck!

it's hard to square normal weight and activity with 'terrible' diarrhea.

it sometimes does take an intestine a while to bounce back from a food-borne illness, but 5 months of pervasive diarrhea is not normal.

unless what you're describing as 'terrible diarrhea' is actually just loose stools.

i'd get your pediatrician's suggestion that it's negligible checked out with a specialist. dropping dairy and other triggers is all very well, and holistic doctors are good if they're good (but often are not), but a 2 year old suffering from something this debilitating for this long requires some decisive action.
khairete
S.

If your child is gaining weight and has no lethargy, then I can totally understand why the doctor isn't really doing anything. I doubt there is anything TO do. Ongoing toddler diarrhea is so common, especially when there has been a trigger like bad food or an illness.

Dairy would be my first elimination, too - and it sounds like you have done that. What about juices? Have you eliminated those? Are you following a higher fiber diet? That can be a mistake as too much fiber can cause things to move too rapidly. Make sure your child is getting plenty of fat in his diet as fat should slow things down and allow for more absorption of nutrients. You also don't mention if your child is still taking a bottle (even with water). If so, you should be weaning him off immediately as too much liquids can actually make the problem worse.

If there is no blood in the stool, vomiting, pain, fever or anything like that, and your child seems otherwise healthy and gaining weight, then it is just a matter of waiting things out until the tummy balance returns to normal (which could take up to a year). I would rule out constipation if that hasn't already been done (which can cause diarrhea), and also ask your doctor about trying a probiotic or other gut flora stabilizer to see if you can speed up the process a bit.

Good luck!

Seems a bit odd to me .... but then, we never had anything like that happen and I don't know anyone who has. Our daycare/child care facilities would not have allowed a child to come to daycare with diarrhea so that must be hard to manage on top of your child having to deal with it. I would think they would be doing more - this wait and see approach seems odd to me.

When you say 'terrible' - yet he's not losing weight and has energy - it sounds at least as if he's getting his nutrients, otherwise he'd be dehydrated and lethargic. My husband's family has GI disease in it, and they were ill when they were diagnosed. They had lost a lot of weight and were sick. In my family, there were GI issues as well (serious) and there were signs in the the stool. So - from our experience, it doesn't sound like your son has a serious illness at least. Not that I'm an expert - but perhaps that's why they are not doing more.

However - I know our doctor would be doing more tests and sending us to see specialists. When our kids were tots, she didn't dicker around. She had things lined up and we didn't have to wait. If she wasn't getting answers with one specialist, she tried another. You need to have a good advocate - if you don't have one, you have to be one yourself. Be pushy if needs be. It doesn't hurt.

Hopefully though this bug or whatever it was is just running it's course. I hope he feels better soon :) Keep us posted!

I would call my insurance company and find out what I needed to do to get the kiddo to a stomach doc. Sometimes you have to have the primary care doc request them to go to a different doc. Sometimes you can make an appointment yourself. If they don't take your insurance or the insurance won't pay for the appointment since the primary care doc didn't request it you might have to pay out of pocket.

Either way, it's not normal to have diarrhea like that.