Okay, I know this is a gross topic, but I wanted to see if anyone else had experience with this. My 2-year old has been having alot of 'sandy' bowel movements lately. They mostly look normal, but are really gritty like they have fine grains of sand in them. It's so hard to wipe and get it all since it doesn't pick up well with the wipes (additional note: she is still in diapers). Could this be an allergy? Not drinking enough water? She's not eating anything abnormal or new that could cause this, so I'm baffled. I think that I've heard of this in breastfed babies (?), but she is not breastfed, and drinking whole milk. Also, since she is a 'one a day' go-er, and in daycare, I don't see her poo every day. But I have seen the sandy poo myself at least 3 times a week, over the last couple of weeks.
Another thing is that her sandy poops sometimes smell strongly like moth balls. What's up with that? Any ideas for me? Could the sand and smell be related?
Update: I called our pediatrician, and both the nurse and doctor did not have a definitive answer as to what might be causing the sandy-ness or smell. It seems not to be an obvious symptom of something specific. They commented that the stool can change (consistency/smell) based on a number of parameters, so to keep an eye on it, and if I am still concerned later on, we can evaluate things further. Through our conversation, the doctor did ask about juice intake, and that additional sugars in juice may change the stool, so that got me thinking a bit. My daughter doesn't drink straight juice - usually a 25% juice, 75% water mix - but she has been drinking more of it than previously, and more orange juice than her previous apple juice. Maybe I'll try eliminating the orange juice and see what happens.
I'm still interested to see what other moms think about this - but thank you to the moms who've already responded! You've been so helpful!
With my kids--outside of ingesting actual sand--it was CHEERIOS! Yup whenever they eat a lot, not just a bowl of cereal here and there, but an every day thing it was the good ol' Cheerios.
mine did that coming off breast milk, going to whole milk or goat. It took like 6 month for it to go away. I did take my oldest into a Ped, and they referred me to a Gastro, and they found nothing. They thought maybe a dairy sensitivity or food allergy, but with nothing definitive and me not wanting to put my baby through the rigorous testing they suggested, for a mere smelling, sandy stool. I waited it out. I promised myself it anything cropped up in occurance with the stools I would take them back in. It never did and eventually sorted itself out. Thought I DO know that for my sister things got progressively worse for her son, to find out he was severely allergic to wheat and gluten.
I would call my advice nurse and see what she says.
I would also save a sample in a ziploc baggy so that if they need a specimen to test - you have one readily available.
When bowel movements and urine smell different or change - it usually means there's a change, sickness, etc. since none of us here are doctors, call yours and find out what they want you to do. I hope it's nothing serious. but the smell of moth balls would bother me.
I just read about this recently(one of the What To Expect books-I think the Toddler Years) and read it can be cheerios. Also if she's eaten alot of fruit. Their digestive systems are still young so they don't digest everything they eat so that can cause the grainyness (is that a word). I found that pretty interesting, I think changing up how much juice she has or what she eats might be an interesting "experiment" to see if there's a change.
Totally gross and yes, I've seen it at least a few thousand times in 26 years of daycare. I've always wondered what it is and why they get it. But I've seen it so often in perfectly healthy kids that I didn't feel it necessary to really ask anyone. If you do ask a doctor, I want to know! :)
That has happened with my boys... now 5 and 7... on and off with the sandy appearance. It never turned out to be anything terrible, or identifiable, even. I think it just happens sometimes.
My 4yo went through this. Turns out he has a dairy sensitivity. At the time he was drinking whole milk. We switched to Almond and all was well.
I did breastfeed him but it was about 40/60 to formula and he did fine until he was about 18mo and thats when the weird poo started.
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Interesting that you ask this. Our son gets this every once in a while too. I always wondered what in the heck is going on, but since everything else was fine with him, I let it go.
If I'm understanding correctly, I think my little one has something similiar. Almost like vanilla bean flecks? It sticks to the skin, and is impossible to wipe!
My lil guy gets this every now and then. Just goes away on it's own. Never bothered to notice if it is illness, new food, etc related. But now that you mention it, he has had a cold/cough for awhile now.
If it's that much of a concern, just call the pedi for the piece of mind. :)
I would give the pediatrician a call, to see what their advice is, and that they can mark it in her chart as a topic of interest... it could be as simple as she is slightly dehydrated, to too much fiber in her diet, to a possible food allergy.
Give you ped. a call and see if they what they say.
