[japonica]

Hi there,

I wanted to get some input...I looked for a "healing the gut" thread and couldn't find it (just the sticky at the top).

My DS is 11.5 months old. Not vaccinated, breast fed. He started solids at 6.5 months and wasn't an enthusiastic eater (that gradually changed). He's growing fine, 95th percentile for height, 75th percentile for weight. He's got no obvious underlying health issues, behavior issues or allergies (slight reaction to tomatoes I was eating when he was EBF, but he seems over that now). Food-wise now he gets all homemade, TF-ish as much as possible. He gets homemade yogurt in his oatmeal at breakfast, gets soups and stews with bone broths. Lots of veggies, occasional egg yolks. He gets a daily CLO and probiotics as well.

OK, so what's the deal? He has anywhere from 5-8 large mushy BMs a day...every day. And his system moves fast. If he has blueberries with his oatmeal at breakfast, I'll see them again by dinnertime. Maybe this is normal...but my older child never did this. I just wonder if his gut health is not all it should be. He was a hospital birth (I was a high risk induction--Rh disease) and because they didn't have my strep B culture back, the nurses gave me dose after dose (as in at least 5 doses) of IV antibiotics as per their protocol. My other child never had antibiotics at delivery and she never exhibited the weird GI tract stuff my son does. He also gets sicker more often than she did. He's had two to three colds so far and she didn't have her first one until 18 months old. I also don't think it's tied to a particular food. I've eliminated possible offenders and there was no difference.

So, what else can I do to help repair his GI tract? Any suggestions?

 

[japonica]

Anyone?

 

[Bea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by japonica Anyone?

I don't know if there's anything wrong with his GI tract or not, so many of your concerns could simply be coincidental or situational, you know? The fact that he's has X amount of colds, to me, isn't so much symptomatic of a damaged immune system but the direct result of having a germ ridden big sister bringing him the bug of the day!

He's thriving otherwise right? Happy, healthy, HUGE

I know many sources say teething has no impact on the gut and that diarrhoea isn't a teething symptom but anacdotally, that doesn't add up.

My son, around the same age as yours, was exactly as you describe and I/he never had any antibiotics but good lord...that boy pooped. Diaper busting loose stools numerous times a day. We BRAT dieted him and gave him probiotics etc and it didn't make any difference.

What I did notice was he'd have a bowel 'lull', loose stool wise between bouts of teething.

He cut his first tooth at 5 months, his last at 21 months (yippee!! we are all done with teeth, he has a full compliment of milk chompers) and over the last few weeks, for the first time ever in his life, he's had an actual formed, grown up poop...at which point I increased (encouraged) his fluid intake cos he's still a nursing demon and solid poop isn't normal in breast fed toddlers...I considered it quasi constipation

The reappearance of plant based foodstuffs, undigested, is normal. Think of you eating corn. I know I've flushed the toilet to find a perfectly formed, errant green pea floating and refusing to leave! The problem with adults is we don't poop in a diaper then examine it. I think you'd be quite surprised what comes through undigested from the plant family. Especially if it has a tough outer layer, is small and isn't chewed. Cellulose is indigestiable to humans. My husband used to joke that our son didn't eat raisins, he simply re hydrated them. Raisins in, grapes out!

Is it possible that this is simply a manifestation of a normal (for him) process?

 

[momofmine]

Come to the allergies forum for all the gut healing support and info! Yes, I definitely think that the abx can affect their flora and cause problems from the start. Just go to the allergies forum and start reading there. I have to run for now, but good luck!

 

[JaneSmith1010]

Mmmmm...at that age even that is quite a bit of pooing. Do you all have a family history of GI issues like Celiac Disease?

 

[japonica]

Hi there,

Thanks for all the wonderful responses...

Teething...none since about 8 months. He popped 6 teeth in 6 weeks and nothing since. And the pooping seems the same regardless of teeth coming in or not. I felt around his gums yesterday and still nothing coming in.

As for the sickness and germ laden sister, yes, that is also a factor but he should also have a strong enough immune system to fight off most of them. My DH works construction and brings home every lousy virus and cough known to man on an almost monthly basis. My DD only caught maybe a handful of the bugs over the past few years. And she went to playgroups as well and never caught the other kids' sniffles.

Allergies...some nut allergies on my mother's side of the family but no direct family members with allergies. As for the composition in the diapers, yeah I know everything from corn to peas to berries will come out basically the same as the way it went in. That is not an issue. Seeing food I fed him at breakfast show up just 7 hours later seems a bit odd to me. Like how is he absorbing enough nutrients with a GI tract moving that fast?

Yes, this may be his "normal," I thought about that. But I'm also concerned that the massive doses of abx before his gut lining was even sealed by breastmilk has affected his digestive system.

I'll come by the allergies forum for more ideas. Some days I feel like I'm drowning under all the poop (there's a lovely image--ugh).

 

[momofmine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by japonica Yes, this may be his "normal," I thought about that. But I'm also concerned that the massive doses of abx before his gut lining was even sealed by breastmilk has affected his digestive system. I'll come by the allergies forum for more ideas. Some days I feel like I'm drowning under all the poop (there's a lovely image--ugh).

yes, do. I think much of what is deemed "normal" is not necessarily. It may be common, which is a completely different thing. I agree about the volume of poop and the quick transit time being signs that tings are askew with his gut flora.