My 3 year old had mild diarrhea and periodic complaints of brief stomach ache (no other symptoms) for 5 days and his pedi said it's a viral bug that should clear within a few more days. I've had him on modified BRAT diet and it seemed to get better by day 7. On day 8 he had almost normal poop so the following morning I gave him half a cup of milk and he ate a cookie at daycare. That afternoon he had really bad diarrhea (just 1 time). Seems ok a day later, again almost normal (for him) poop. I"m wondering if this is typical, and how long I should keep him off milk to avoid recurrence. Has anyone else experienced this scenario? How long until I can safely go back to his usual diet (he loves milk and really misses drinking it :( Thaks for your help.
Don’t give him any dairy products for a few more days. It seems to aggravate the bowels more when the body is fighting off a virus. You can also pick up some probiotics to help get his digestion back to normal.
I suggest switching to nut or hemp milk. They are better digested by humans. Cows milk is for calves, not humans
I wouldn't really go on a set amount of time.. Probably give him another couple of days, then try a little bit and see how he does. If he has problems, then give him a couple days and try again. If it seems to really persist, I would ask the pediatrician about it again.
I wonder if he would like to try goat or soy milk as an alternative until he is able to drink cow's milk again?
Our pediatrician told me once a gut gets irritated, it can stay irritated for a long time after the initial source of irritation has resolved itself.
Our son had diarrhea for 8 weeks.
The important thing was to give him plenty of fluids and keep him well hydrated, and make sure his electrolytes stayed balanced.
Pedialyte, soup broth, BRAT, etc.
Once things look like they are normal - go slowly with introducing foods back into his diet.
You can try giving him a little yogurt to help get his intestines balanced again.
Since he had a recurrence when he had the milk, wait a few days then try again.
We just had the stomach virus from he** and never stopped doing milk. One of the kids would drink a gallon a day if we let him and the other one is good with maybe one cup per day. They both had the stomach virus almost exactly the same amount of time.
We just don't stop doing milk unless it just isn't what we're thirsty for. I drank a lot of 7-Up. Sprite actually made me gag and then puke. So it's all in what tastes good.
When you have a digestive virus you can temporarily become lactose intolerant. It's completely typical and normal. It can last a while, so I would probably keep him off of cheese and milk and other dairy products for another month just to be safe. Anything that has "lactose" in its ingredients list will be unsafe for him.
You could try lactose-free milk to see if that helps.
