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how often does your 3y old poop, on average - lol

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frequent bowel movements in child

7K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  zjandosmom 
#1 ·
I just add it's about my DS2 :). Not very appetizing subject

He's almost three now. And as long as we remember he's been pooping often, and I mean REALLY pooping often. As an infant, we often had to change him 10-12 times daily. And it evolved into less frequent bowl movements, but that has been 6-8 daily for a very long time and now still he's pooping between 2-6 times daily. I can't recall how many poopy diapers we've been changing, how many buttocks we've been cleaning...
When we got him home as a newborn after an 8 day hospital stay we got him back with a horrible rash (that developed thrush) and had him in a lot of pain with every change. Poor baby. The treatment with gentian violet finally cured it, but it took us weeks to get rid of the wounds/rash and the redness and the pain. He was exclusively breastfead untill 6 months of age and we introduced solids very slowly.
He's still breastfeeding 2 times daily. The poop is often soft and mushy (not liquid), sometimes a little 'sandy' and VERY smelly too. Often hard to wipe, too.
And you can imagine that by now he really LOATHES to be changed after a poopy diaper, and getting wiped. And well, we feel like we've had our share too (my hands are often smelly even after washjing up to 5 times after a diaper change
).
He's not really telling yet when he's ready to go to the toilet, and regarding his still very frequent pooping I do not find it the right time (yet) either.
(His brother around that same age had about 1, max 2, bowel movements daily).
Ds2 has had sporadic rash/eczema on the cheeks but not severe. For example from spinach.

I don't know. It only occured to me recently (I know
) that maybe his frequent-out of the normal- pooping is not just his bodily 'system' but may be due to food intolerance/allergies/or a certain condition??

Anyone else with a child with similar 'issues'?
 
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#4 ·
My daughter used to poop more frequently than was typical, and after she was using the toilet it often seemed her need to poop was more urgent than it should've been. That's changed for us now that we are gluten free (also dairy free, but I think gluten was a bigger issue for us). She's 5 now, and since we eliminated gluten at 3.5yo she's just pooped once a day. I've had to give probiotics (we do it with kimchee and pickles) to get firm (but not hard, just appropriately firm), brown poop.
 
#5 ·
I also would look at food intolerances and probiotics. I think 2-3 bms a day would be normal and healthy, more than that would indicate a problem to me, especially with an offensive smell.
 
#6 ·
Well, there's some behavioural isses too.

As soon as he has a poopy diaper he often gets out of controll, displays VERY annoying/naughty behaviour. It's often by that type of sudden, more intense, behaviour that I just KNOW he 'did' something even before I get the smell
.
I can imagine that this is still 'normal' in the sense that no-one would be happy running around in a poopy diaper :). And related to his already 'strongwilled' character, it makes him super intense.

But I find he has overall behavioural 'issues' too.
He's been a pretty easygoing baby but he had reflux issues the first 4 months and he would wake very easily, and we've had recurring periods of night waking untill he was about 2 years old. Now he often still wakes once to join us in the middle of night. But that may not be related.
He has a very intense, strongwilled character, frequent tantrums, is always into something, not very long attention span (except cfr. tv and sometimes while looking at books), also some destructive/'contrary' behaviour, and there's a lot of sibling conflict between him and his now almost 5y old brother (I blame both for that lol).
Both this and the frequent bowel movements got me thinking.

He also loves bananas, some days would eat 3-4 and it wouldn't even give him constipation -lol.
He loves bread, crackers, muesli, cereals, in milk, pancakes, cheese, you name it. Cutting gluten and/or dairy would basically mean cutting half of his regular diet. Which may be effective regarding body functions but very well may not be. And may be source for new/other/more behavioural issues as apposed to less.
So I just don't know ho tow start/try a diet exclusive of gluten and/or dairy. It's all so much part of his and my own diet, and where we live (Turkey) you do not have the kind of alternatives which you may find in Europe or US. And we more or less went a consensual way in this house, ESPECIALLY on foods, which the kids choose or choose not to eat. And I basically let him pick his own food out of the fridge/bread box (with some help when needed). He likes so much to be in control of his own wishes/needs/food intake. I'm afraid that trying to control this will may make matters more explosive, while the freedom regarding food has been bringng more peace or at least less power struggle in our home.

So I'm struggling with IF and HOW to offer a limited diet.

I'm still open for creative suggestions.
As for the probiotics, do you mean the yoghurt type? Btw he likes to eat pickles too :).
 
#7 ·
Our household is gluten and dairy free (except for the dog food, and yes, that can be an issue
. It would be hard to limit a little kid to things older sibs can't have--I know some families have done it successfully, but for us this is easier. I've gotta say--with behavior issues as well, whatever you think is going on, food or anything else--well, for me, I see a lot of this as providing what the kids need in order to feel good, partly definitely to be healthy long-term but also to feel good and have easier, less stressful days. That's been a benefit for us anyway.
 
#8 ·
You might want to read about the GAPS diet:


or the SCD:
http://www.pecanbread.com/

It sounds to me like it is an issue of gut bacteria, because of the early antibiotics, behavior issues, and frequency and consistency of bowel movements. You say you don't have access to special foods there, but these diets are meant to heal the gut, and they are more whole, unprocessed real foods, not packaged gluten/dairy-free special items.

It seems like some people have success with just adding in probiotics, but that actually made things worse for us, until we changed the diet too.

Some seem to have better success with whole foods probiotics than with just supplements.

How is your child's growth? Has his growth been affected?
 
#9 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by momofmine View Post
It sounds to me like it is an issue of gut bacteria, because of the early antibiotics,
No he didn't get antibiotics as a newborn only 'later' in life, he had them a few times but anyway, refuses any kind of oral meds
We treated his rash with gentian violet, which is an anti-fungal/yeast infection treatment.

[/QUOTE]How is your child's growth? Has his growth been affected? [/QUOTE]

I am sure it is not affected! He is little, but we all are in this household, and he's chubby enough, he loves eating and has xxx meals a day
 
#10 ·
Your DS sounds exactly like mine, right down to eating 3-4 bananas a day without constipation.

We recently treated him for Giardia with a course of liquid metronidazole and he had his first solid poops in 3.5 years.

Talk to your HCP about it. Unfortunately, it's hard to pick up in a stool test so you might have to be a bit persistant. We never did get a positive test but we treated anyway.

Giardiasis can cause lactose intolerance so it wouldn't hurt to try some lactose-free dairy products (if you can get them) to see if it makes a difference.

I feel your pain on all the poopy diapers. It really stretches your patience doesn't it?

Martha
 
#11 ·
Just because I posted this topic two days ago, my DS thpought it was 'fun' to reward me with 9 (YES N.İ.NE.) smelly soiled diapes yesterday. It's mostly in little to internediate bits at a time but it has to be changed anyway.

This really got to me... It really came to that point that I do not ony find it a health issue for my son, but a mental issue for myself aaaarrrrggghhh. I felt like I'd been changing diapers and chasing my kid for it like for half of the day, and it basically used up half of the day, really. And that interferes with accomplishing other goals too. EVERYTHİNG here gets interrrupted by changes, especially when dealing with food
:.
I even get more frustrated when I calculate that for the past 3 years, I've been changing about 6000, probably many more, poopy diapers ALREADY (not including all the ones that only got peed in...). Not counting the 3 years I did that for my other son, but regarding him I could probably cut the number in half.


Thanks for all useful replies, I'm checking the info you offered and will decide which way best to go regarding my little one. I so hope we'll find a way to resolve the issue
.
 
#12 ·
My son is 2.5 but he usually poops at least 3-4 times a day.

Sometimes mushy sometimes harder. There's an infomercial that plays on tv here that talks about pooping being healthy for the gut..that when a person starts pooping less, or having skinny poos that the body is hanging onto more toxins and stuff. I wouldn't rule out intolerances but I wouldn't start hunting them down on the basis of pooping more than X number of times per day. Every body is different.
 
#13 ·
My ds3 also pooped many times a day. We recently found he had a parasite and hookworms. Originally we thought only food allergies were the issue. Since treatment I would say he has more of an intolerance to dairy and soy. I would see about getting his stool tested. nak
 
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