Poo question - 3yo

[JordanKX]

(tell me if this is more "health)

DS just turned 3.

He is not potty-trained. he's got ME trained to take him to the potty every 1/2hr, but will not tell me in advance at all.

Enyhoo, he's just started a new at-home daycare.

She re-stated the same that he does not have his own triggers yet for going on the potty. Yep.

But THEN she stated that one of the triggers is a solid poo... the push of a solid poo. And DS does not poo solid. When I asked her if she thought that was strange, she said "no, his body just isn't developed there yet."

Is that right? Something just sounds weird like, #1 should he be more solid, and #2 shouldn't his body have a developed digestive tract by 3yo?

Edited by JordanKX - 11/13/12 at 7:35am

[sageowl]

That is kinda weird.

You say it's never solid? 
 

[Asiago]

Forget solid for minute.

Is it 'semi formed'? Semi formed being toothpaste to peanut butter seems on target, though I've read mustard consistency is fine too. Although it may even vary more than that. There seems to be a wide range of normal stool consistency in toddlers and young children.

[dejagerw]

You don't need solid or semi solid poo to be able to poop in the potty. EC'd EBF babies poo in the potty and their poop is runny.
 

[Xavismom]

I've been reading up a lot on poop witholding and late PLing because we are struggling with both, and I read somewhere that at this age (my DS is also 3) the poop should be similar to the consistency of hummus. HTH.
 

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by Xavismom 

I've been reading up a lot on poop witholding and late PLing because we are struggling with both, and I read somewhere that at this age (my DS is also 3) the poop should be similar to the consistency of hummus. HTH.
 

Hummus. Yeah, hummus sounds about right.

No, never solid (that's not entirely true... there have been few & far betweens in his life, but never consistent). Nothing like, he's just "loose" these past few weeks. No, he is consistently loose.  Squishy like toothpaste and often more than once a day.  It's messy but not diarrhea blow-out by any means.

I've got family members who are in the medical profession and they're now worried, saying he should be tested for parasites because it is Not normal to be loose.

But I asked his pediatrician and he was not concerned in the slightest.

[P.J.]

I am so grateful to find this question! I was considering asking a similar one. My son is 2 1/2 and his poo is always like peanut butter or hummus. It is clearly not diarrhea (which he's had, and is runny and watery), but I have often wondered if it could be a food allergy or something else wrong. He weaned some months ago and nothing changed, in fact his poo is as gooey as ever!

I cannot express how relieved I am to learn this is in the range of normal! Whew!

We haven't started potty training yet but I have dreaded what the clean-ups are gonna be like (not that poo diaper changes are so lovely, haha!) and heaven forbid he ever have an accident and poo his pants.....I can't even begin to imagine!!!!! Turds are so nice and neat in comparison to what he produces, lol!

[Amy@STL]

Days my son eats more dairy and less fruits/ fiber he has more solid. But otherwise he consistently has soft stools . I always assumed coz we are vegetarians ! All my friends are worried about constipation so yeah it's nice to hear my son is normal. My son is a gOod eater and healthy and my hubby is a doc and not worried.

[STILLiSTAND2008]

SHOULD I BE SO WORRIED CUZ YOUR STORIES ALL TELL OF TWO AND THREE YR OLDS WELL WHAT ABOUT WHEN ITS MY FOUR ABOUT TO BE FIVE YR OLD THAT REFUSES ACTUALLY HATES POOPING IN THE TOILET JUST AS BAD AS HE HATES STANDING ON THE WALL ITS GOTTEN TO THE POINT THAT HE POOPS HIS PANTS AND ITS AS IF HE FEELS LIKE HES BEING PUNISHED WHEN WE MAKE HIM SIT ON THE TOILET AFTERWARDS? YEP HE POOPS HIS PANTS THEN PROCEEDS TO INFORM US INSTEAD OF LETTING US KNOW HE NEEDS TO POOP, BUT HE GOES PEE ON HIS OWN IN THE TOILET?!!! ANY SUGGESTIONS?

[nextcommercial]

Originally Posted by STILLiSTAND2008 

SHOULD I BE SO WORRIED CUZ YOUR STORIES ALL TELL OF TWO AND THREE YR OLDS WELL WHAT ABOUT WHEN ITS MY FOUR ABOUT TO BE FIVE YR OLD THAT REFUSES ACTUALLY HATES POOPING IN THE TOILET JUST AS BAD AS HE HATES STANDING ON THE WALL ITS GOTTEN TO THE POINT THAT HE POOPS HIS PANTS AND ITS AS IF HE FEELS LIKE HES BEING PUNISHED WHEN WE MAKE HIM SIT ON THE TOILET AFTERWARDS? YEP HE POOPS HIS PANTS THEN PROCEEDS TO INFORM US INSTEAD OF LETTING US KNOW HE NEEDS TO POOP, BUT HE GOES PEE ON HIS OWN IN THE TOILET?!!! ANY SUGGESTIONS?

This could be something called encopresis.    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002537/

Quote:

Encopresis is the voluntary or involuntary passage of stools in a child who has been toilet trained (typically over age 4), which causes the soiling of clothes.

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by nextcommercial 

This could be something called encopresis.    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002537/

Interesting that you mention encopresis... my son's half-sister has that.

She is Four, my son is Three. And they are half-siblings. But us mommas have a good relationship and have been talking a lot about poo-issues between the two.

Genetic?

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by P.J. 

I am so grateful to find this question! I was considering asking a similar one. My son is 2 1/2 and his poo is always like peanut butter or hummus. It is clearly not diarrhea (which he's had, and is runny and watery), but I have often wondered if it could be a food allergy or something else wrong. He weaned some months ago and nothing changed, in fact his poo is as gooey as ever!

I cannot express how relieved I am to learn this is in the range of normal! Whew!

We haven't started potty training yet but I have dreaded what the clean-ups are gonna be like (not that poo diaper changes are so lovely, haha!) and heaven forbid he ever have an accident and poo his pants.....I can't even begin to imagine!!!!! Turds are so nice and neat in comparison to what he produces, lol!

So once I brought this to the attention of his pediatrician (and various medical family members I have)... This is Not Normal. "loose", hummus peanut butter consistency, NO. Is apparently not normal. Once done with BF and maybe even once they reach a certain age, should be solid lil turds.

My Ped recommended a full elimination diet; get him to baseline of NON-everything (you can google "Elimination Diet"... there are a ton of sites).

Get him to poop solid.

IF he poops solid, then you know the ED diet worked; slowly start bringing things back in. Like have eggs one morning... do not do it for the next two days. See if he's loose.

If not, Eggs are fine.

Then go with berries. So on and so forth, allowing 2-3 days between.

We're a week in and Zero change here. Which sux a bit. I'll admit that I'm a good cook so while I've been experimenting with recipes, they are in depth. A girlfriend who's child is on a baseline diet says to Stop with the eccentricities. Given them chicken/rice/broccoli... apples/pears for snacks.. for the whole week.

So we'll do that for week 2.

With the whole goal to finally get him Solid.
once solid... then bring things in one at a time, again only one small feeding. See what happens in the next 24hrs. if nothing, try it again.

Only bring in one thing in a week.

YOWSAH. It's a lot. but...

[milk monster]

If it's not normal for poop to be that loose an elimination diet isn't changing anything, maybe introduce more constipating foods? Rice (brown is healthier), bananas, yogurt (whole milk probiotic if possible), raisins, toast. I tried this when my tummy wouldn't return to normal after a gastrointestinal bug, and it worked.

[RStelle]

Wait...I've been giving DD lots of raisins to make her poop softer. They actually make it harder? I've just been thinking they must have a lot of fiber, so they should do the job. Oops. 

[milk monster]

Yep. If you want her poop softer, try fresh pineapple, melon, mango. Those are nice poop softeners. And, of course, prunes. They get a bad rap, but they're super-sweet our son loves them. They seem to work even better if you cook (organic) prunes in water. Hot prunes get plump and squishy and super-appetizing to our 20-month-old ...

[JordanKX]

Just following up here what we've done so far (with limited results, but enough to make life and his daycare lady SANE)...

Elimination Diet for 2 weeks - no change. Obviously because I don't think DS is allergic to anything.  Still going 2+ times a day of squishy nastiness everywhere.

Introduced a probiotic - Baby's Jaro Dophilus, refrigerated. Helped reduce the # of poo's to 1-2 a day. But same consistency. So two weeks of ED + probiotic.

Switched to a FODMAP diet (except keeping out berries & melons, still to today) - recommended by a friend. I like this Chart HERE. 

Main thing here is to reduce the fructose in his life.

Significant Change, now two weeks in to FODMAP + Probiotic.

Stool is not 100% solid and not consistently only one time a day. But SO MUCH BETTER.

Honestly, I think it was the apples/pears. Eliminating that abundance of fruits had a significant change.

Last weekend hit two weeks of FODMAP + Probiotic, so I felt like I could bring some things back.

I made eggs - he was fine. So, I'm bringing eggs back for sure.

I made him some deli meat (not processed pre-packaged meats, but actually cut from the deli.. which are still weird but at least better) + avocado roll-ups. And he did fine. So I think 1/2 an avocado a day is OK. And I've given small bits of broccoli and they seem to be OK too.

Main thing for him is No Dairy.

We're remaining gluten- and sugar-free at home (I'm loving Stevia), although I'm sure those are not the poo issues.... but they're just good decisions for our house.

And staying away from a ton of fruit. It's made finding snacks more difficult. I cook more. I spend more at Trader Joes. And he eats more carrots & cucumbers instead of fruit.

hope that helps! I've joined a bunch of groups for Fruct-Mal kids (which I don't think DS is), FODMAP/BRAT/GAPS diets, etc. Oh my goodness I've been learning :)

Still not at full solid poo here, but at least it's enough to help trigger him to go on the potty.... so now we're doing some successful potty learning as well. Yippee!!