The other side of the chronic constipation thread......

[bdavis337]

So it's time for the OPPOSITE thread. What do you do with the kid who has several unpredictable, exceedingly large and unpleasantly runny poops per day? I wouldn't mind, but:

1. We're planning to pt this summer, which means I need some sort of containment on the issue - right now there is absolutely no rhyme or reason, and I never know when he might turn up poopy.
2. He's beginning to exceed the capacity of his diaper. We use size 5 sposies, 4 is too small, 6 is huge and gappy (he's tall and slender). Cloth is NOT an option, as we've tried several times to adjust him back to prefolds, and he just can't do it. When he poops, it's just barely contained in the diaper. We're reaching blowout status.
4. It's runny and smelly and......gross.
He gets at least 1 serving of white rice every day, AND a banana. He practically lives on the brat diet. I limit juice and fruit and fiber, and still we have this messiness to contend with.
5. One day he'll have 3 pooops, the next none, then next day 1, the next day 4. NO predictability.

So.............what do I do? What other dietary changes could I make? He eats damn near anything, but limiting him will be difficult, as he uses food to satisfy a lot of his oral sensory needs.

[wonderwahine]

well.... I dont know much, ds poops on an unpredictible schedule as well, and its always runny............... except that with our last WIC coupon for pediasure, the store only had 5 normal vanilla, but they had some with fiber in stock, so we got 2 packs of that.......and we gave 1 bottle of it to ds yesterday...... he had a normal formed poop today, and only one!

[peekyboo]

That kind of poop can be a sign of a gluten intolerance. Have you thought of doing a GF diet?

[bdavis337]

I have thought of food issues, yes. But to be totally honest, we cannot afford a gf diet, even for just Mark. And I'm also very sure I couldn't do it effectively - he just won't understand why he can't have what everyone else does, I'd have to feed him totally separately from everyone else, restrict my older son's eating, etc. It would be very complicated. I'd like to try some elim's again, like dairy, (which I tried once, for a month, and saw absolutely no change) and even those have been very difficult in the past.

[sbgrace]

Bethany,
I'd be looking at bacterial overgrowth. Or yeast. But really smelly often is bacterial. C. diff is really common in spectrum kids for some reason but my son had overgrowth of other ones. Has Mark ever had antibiotics?

[bdavis337]

TONS. In fact, he had a 5 day course in Nov and a 10 day course in January. Last spring, he had 4 ear infections/respiratory infections, three of which required antibiotics, and the last round took an abx shot AND a 10 day abx course. When he gets sick, he really gets sick.

So how do I go about managing something like that?? Thinking about this, he's had this type of poop since he was about 18 months old. I can't correlate it with any specific incident or major illness, I just know that as a baby he was on soy formula, and had unpleasant poop but it wasn't like this. The older he gets, the worse it seems to be. It's NOT diarhea poop, it's just huge, runny and icky, sticky, slimy.....I'm sorry....

I do hope nobody is eating while reading this.....

[mamaverdi]

You could try having him blood tested for allergens and then only eliminate if they show up. :

Also, celiac panel done at the same time.

C. diff. is "easily" helped with good probiotics. Probiotics in gen'l may be helpful.

Does he take any supplements? Certain supplements can cause foul bowels. YKWIM.

[mamaverdi]

We were going to have bean dip, but now I'm gonna eat something else.

[wonderwahine]

ds's is just like a babies, or when he was breastfed, although if he eats solids it does get chunky

I don't worry about smell to much, simply because if ds eats any solids, it smells terrible and depending on what he eats it can be pretty funky, just like my own YKWIM? The only time I take notice of smell is if hes sick.

[sbgrace]

Ok, given that history I'd focus in on bacteria and yeast.
You can treat as if instead of testing as it's a pretty safe bet. C. Diff might be important to test for because actually it is difficult to get rid of. Other bacterias are easy. A pediatrician can do a c. diff test. If that is clear, then treat for bacteria and yeast is my suggestion.

We did about 10 days of p73 oregano oil but Andrew is easy to treat with supplements and I don't think most kids would be. Probiotics are expensive but might help a ton whether you can do some bacterial treatment first or not. Culturelle is a good one for bacteria and widely available. If you're dealing with c. diff you'll want that one and also florastor. Or there is another option too I've heard about and can't remember.

But given all those antibiotics and the timing I'd say his gut is sort of over-run with bad junk. Yeast is harder to treat than bacteria. Probiotics and biotin can help. Bacteria probiotics and treatment if you can.

[bdavis337]

he does take probiotics, it's a chewables, Acidophokids I believe. Keep it in the frig. That's all I know about it.

For supps, he gets the probiotic, NatureMade kids multivite, Maxivite iron supp (but it's formulated to be gentler and NOT constipating! if the otc iron didn't have artificial color, I'd give that instead!) and Coromega/fish oil stuff. When he's under the weather, I give extra ViteC, but he hasn't had it in a long time. THAT caused MAJOR issues!

[Gorjen]

Im looking for anyone who knows what to do with a 5 week old formula feed baby who has poops like marbles. We have tried changing formula and it was still the same. She is pooping regularly but they are hard and round. Easy to clean but is this good? Does anyone know of a fiber supplement that can be added to formula for infants?

Gorjen
Adopted Abigail- 5months old

[peekyboo]

this might be contrary to what everyone else says, but maybe try taking him off the probiotics? I tried them with Maura and she had some foul runny diapers!

[sbgrace]

Bethany, vitamin C can increase bacteria and yeast (as can any anti-viral) so that might make things worse. In general vitamin C can loosen stools at higher doses.

But I'd use a different probiotic. Switch to culturelle for now. Or, you know, it is true some kids don't do well on probiotics. You might take him off and use biotin supplement and see if it improves. But the antibiotic just makes me think you've got over-growth rather than not tolerating the probiotic. Could be both though.

Gorjen, I see she's adopted. Take a look at this site. http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T081100.asp If it seems like constipation to you I'd consider switching the type of formula. He suggests giving extra water too. I trust him but check with your ped. on that. There is a good probiotic for little babies. http://www.childrensprobiotics.com/faq.aspx I'd use that; it's good for any kids especially formula fed ones. But I'd suspect intolerance to the formula (whether milk or soy). Hopefully the probiotic will help keep her from developing an intolerance to the one you switch to.

[mamaverdi]

Originally Posted by peekyboo

this might be contrary to what everyone else says, but maybe try taking him off the probiotics? I tried them with Maura and she had some foul runny diapers!

I don't think it's contrary at all.

I personally would stop all the supplements, and then add in one at a time to see which one it is causing the problem.

[bdavis337]

Originally Posted by Gorjen

Im looking for anyone who knows what to do with a 5 week old formula feed baby who has poops like marbles. We have tried changing formula and it was still the same. She is pooping regularly but they are hard and round. Easy to clean but is this good? Does anyone know of a fiber supplement that can be added to formula for infants?

Gorjen
Adopted Abigail- 5months old

I did infant acidophilus with my babies b/c they are all formula fed. Worked really well for them all - this child is a LOT different than his brothers though! Once he started eating mostly solids and got a bit older, things really changed for him digestively. I'd say go with probiotics - you shouldn't add anything to baby formula other than that, b/c it can really mess their tummies up even more than the formula does. Adding the fiber isn't a good idea.

[bdavis337]

Originally Posted by peekyboo

this might be contrary to what everyone else says, but maybe try taking him off the probiotics? I tried them with Maura and she had some foul runny diapers!

I've only been giving this probiotic for less than 2 months. He had infant acidopholus until he stopped formula at 12 months, and then nothing until just 2 months ago when I started these, so for at least 18 months he had none. He's had this horrid poop for well over a year. But yeah, I know some kids don't do well on them - it's a good suggestion and I think at minimum I'll try a different type.

[bdavis337]

Originally Posted by mamaverdi

I don't think it's contrary at all.

I personally would stop all the supplements, and then add in one at a time to see which one it is causing the problem.

The iron is new, just started 2 weeks ago, and his iron count is so low that it's necessary. I'll be honest - I don't think it's the supps. We only started supp'ing late last year, I have to check my notes but I think it was Oct or Nov. We've had back-end problems since he was about 18 months old, and he's 32 months now. So I'm not inclined to link it to the supplements, except for perhaps the vitaminC, which I stopped giving him recently.

[irangel]

No advice as we're in the same boat and have no clue why (we do know dd2 does very poorly with rice and it actually gives her massive diarrhea). Just hope you get it figured out.

[my3peanuts]

My son was having poops that sound a lot like that. HORRIBLY smelly, large amount, etc... It was C. Diff. He still has it, we can't get rid of it but it stays away for the most part now. It's not supposed to be all that common unless you've had lots of antibiotics but of course nothing with my son is common so maybe that's the case for yours!