OK Moms, I need some suggestions! My 2 year old daughter has always had trouble with constipation, pretty much since birth. Recently we had her on Miralax, and that seemed to help. After a month on the medicine, she was as normal as she has ever been, so we stopped the med. About 4 days later, her normal BM's became watery and more frequent. For the last 5 days she has had between 3 and 5 BM's a day, and they are not quite diarrhea, but runnier than normal. I have thought about the possibility of a stomach virus, but she is running no fever. She is teething, her 2 year molars are coming in. Could that be it? I also wonder about milk allergy or lactose issues, my husband was allergic to milk as a child, but she has been on milk since 1 year with no problems. What do you think? I will make an appt with doctor, but wanted to have some good thoughts going in.
Thanks in advance, Moms are the best!
The teeth can cause this problem and that most likely is the problem. I do not think that it is a virus as you said she would most likely be running a fever.
Yes, it could be a stomach virus....it's going around now and I didn't have a fever nor did anyone I know who recently had it. Have you tried a chiropractor? They can help fix constipation in toddlers....gently and drug-free. Good luck.
You say no problem but she has been constipated. Did you nurse or did she have formula?
The meds. most likely made an in balance in her digestive track.
What you need is some good proboitics. Fill free to contact me if you need some more info.
This also happened with my 3 year old daughter. I thought she was fine and regular after taking the miralax for a while and then she started having exactly what you are explaining! The doctor told us that there was a large stool stuck and the watery or loose stool was coming out around it. We have her now back on Miralax and I think it may be for a long time, just to keep her stools softer and keep her more regular.
Sounds exactly like what my daughter had a few years ago. She's 8 now, but when she was 5 I took her to the doctor because she had stomach aches EVERY DAY. She said that even her friends at school started to comment to her about it. My daughter's pedi suggested we take her off of dairy--which was hard because my kiddo ate so much cheese and yogurt I couldn't stay stocked up on it--but that was the culprit!
The frequent loose stools, passing gas, stomach aches...those were all because she's lactose intolerant. We buy lactose free milk (usually the grocery store brand...it's just as good) and we used to buy soy cheese for her, but now she takes a chewable Lactaid if she wants any dairy and that seems to help out a lot. She may still get a little gas, but NOTHING like it was.
Try taking your kiddo off of dairy for a week and see if it improves. Talk to your pedi though just to keep him/her in the loop. It's worth a try!! Good luck!! :)
She has been on milk with no problems? - sounds like she's had problems to me.
And yes - teething will create these problems.
I would try soy milk, some barley cereal, pears, plums AND somehow get her probiotics. Get her gut better with some yogurt that has good bacteria in it - and watch out - there are some yogurts that do not have the right kind of bacteria. I would highly suggest calling Whole Foods and asking them or call People's Pharmacy - ###-###-####. Also watch out for anything with magnesium - sometimes kiddos get spasms from this rather than help with constipation, although she has the opposite bowel problem now.
Sometimes the meds can screw up the little ones systems - you will need to get her balanced again - good luck, Alli
It's probably the teeth. It always was with mine.
It could be a virsu, milk allergy or teething, but either way, put her on some kind of probiotics. Probiotics are the good bacteria everyone needs to balance their digestive system. They are found in yogurt, but if dairy is the problem, it might make it worse.
Look for LIVE probiotics in your local health food store or health food section at the grocery store. They come in chewables for kids or in capsules you can open and sprinkle in her drinks or on her food. Any meds you give for constipation or loose stools will only work temporarily and imbalance her system.
Hope this helps!
I agree with Kim W. So much so I had to repeat it. We had the same issue, a stuck piece of stool in the intestine that only watery stool could pass. My pediatrician also prescribed miralax and said it was safe to use on a long-term basis. Later, for constipation prevention, pear juice is great. Get the kind in the individual cans in Walmart's juice aisle...7 grams of fiber per can! Good luck!
There is a really nasty stomach virus going around. Just diarrhea pretty bad for more than a week. Then it stays loose for like another week. Good luck!
hey try cooking rice put water and rice like if you are going to boil it ok then l;et it cool and give to the baby like that this is suppose to help
It certainly could be many things, so I don't want to alarm you. However, do follow through with checking into it. My dd started with similar symptoms at age 2 and was dx'd with Crohn's disease at age 3. It unfortunately is not uncommon for little kids, though you will find many people, including docs who think so. Just wanted you to have the info to keep in mind incase it is relevant. Hopeflly it is a passing thing.
As another mommy said: probiotic supplement.
3 out of 6 of us in my family have constipation issues. 1 of us very seriously. I started adding benefiber to everything (food, juices etc...) and it helps alot! I add a small amount to the 2yo AM juice.
Best wishes
I would try and cut out the dairy or just switch from milk to rice milk. Both my boys get very loose stools when they drink milk. They do ok with cheese, ice cream, yogurt, but when they drink a big glass of milk, I am guaranteed a big loose BM within that hour. My older son seems to tolerate better than my 3 year old, but he was the same at that age.. So, I just give him rice milk and he does fine. You may want to put some probiotics in her milk or yogurt if her stools are really loose.
Good luck.. J.
I would switch to lactose free milk. Also try acidophilus. It helps naturally regulate intestines, stomach, GI tract, and bowels. Try a holisitc doctor or visit your local central market, sun harvet, whole foods store and ask. There are many books on treating toddler ailments naturally to promote healthy bodies and strong immune systems.
Teething can cause that problem but since you've had a history of this I would lean towards a food allergy. My son was allergic to milk and yogart. He would have severe cramping and constipation. When he did poop I think it was green but never watery. I've heard people go through this when allergic to wheat products. I think if the case is really bad it could be a form of Celiac. The best thing would have your child tested for food allergies if it continues. Good luck!
My son (age 2.5) gets that from dairy. He has an intolerance to it.
If she has always had problems, I would lean towards a food allergy. My boys don't tolerate cow milk well, so we switched to goat milk and a lot of their problems cleared up. It wasn't the lactose but some other element in cow milk that was giving them a problem. Whatever it was, it didn't show up on their allergy tests, so it was pretty much experimenting on my part. I didn't want to do soy milk because of the estrogen mimickers and rice milk doesn't have enough fat for my guys. Try it for a week and see what happens. If that doesn't work, I would try rice milk before soy. A lot of kids who have problems with cow milk also react to soy milk. I also agree with a number of the other posters that you should try a probiotic. Finally, the extra saliva from the teething may be contributing to whatever is already going on. Best of luck!
I would try some probiotics to soothe intestinal disturbance. You can get them at Peoples pharmacy or Whole Foods or Central MArket. They really work wonders for tummy troubles.
Teething can do that.
Sherri,
It may be a combination of things, such as teething. I understand that their BM gets watery during this time. I never had any teething issues with my children, so this is what I have heard from others.
My experience with both of my children (2 and 3) are that they have a milk allergy. It is very mild, watery BM but after a week of Lactose Free milk they started having normal BM. They eat other dairy and such but I try to have Lactose milk and cottage cheese for them. When we go out I am not worried about it. I use the Lactose products to even out any imbalance they may have.
My son is the worst, he never had a solid BM until 2.5 years and Lactose Free milk. They both were breastfed and their father too had a mild milk allergy as a child. But we have found that as he gets older a bowl of ice cream may cause slight discomfort for him.
