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What does it mean? How can I fix it? Is it ever normal?
real talk about undigested food in poop, please!
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we have been down this path with my son, who is allergic to about 1 zillion things. our pediatrician told us to stop giving him anything that turns up undigested, our old allergist said it could just be how fast his body is moving the food through and not to worry, and our gi said it was not a good thing (although our son is also FTT and we have no found out with an ulcer in his small intestine.) anyways, anytime something was not fully digested it turned out he was allergic, but there were also other things like belly aches, eczema flaring, etc.
i have also read that until they have molars it could happen too.
i have also read that until they have molars it could happen too.
I think when kids are younger (how young? I'm not clear) they simply sometimes don't chew their food thoroughly enough. I saw chunks of raw carrot and pumpkin seeds in my son's diaper for quite a while, and I think it was an issue of chewing. But, I'm not 100% sure--I don't think he chews _that_ much worse than me (he got teeth early, so it's not an issue of lack of teeth) and I don't see undigested raw carrot or pumpkin seeds. Part of me wonders if there is a natural progression of how well their digestive systems break down foods, as part of changing from an infant to a toddler to a little kid.
And I see more undigested stuff when they've recently been sick (and floating poop, so I think fat digestion gets worse then as well, but just transiently).
But, I don't know the cut-off age at which you say 90% of all food should be just fine, and then what's the 100% line?
eta: in case it wasn't obvious, I'm joining the thread to learn what's normal and what's not. I know what I see with my kids, but even then, I'm really not sure what's healthy.
And I see more undigested stuff when they've recently been sick (and floating poop, so I think fat digestion gets worse then as well, but just transiently).
But, I don't know the cut-off age at which you say 90% of all food should be just fine, and then what's the 100% line?
eta: in case it wasn't obvious, I'm joining the thread to learn what's normal and what's not. I know what I see with my kids, but even then, I'm really not sure what's healthy.
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Quote:
I agree. I think it can be very normal AND it can also be a sign of poor digestion. Like so much of this, undigested food result from a number of things and it just depends on your child, their symptoms, what else is going on. But I do agree that often certain foods just don't get chewed up very well and the stomach and small intestine can can only break down food so much.
Originally Posted by TanyaLopez  I think when kids are younger (how young? I'm not clear) they simply sometimes don't chew their food thoroughly enough.... And I see more undigested stuff when they've recently been sick (and floating poop, so I think fat digestion gets worse then as well, but just transiently). |
When we first started solids at 6 months old we tried rice cereal. He didn't have any reactions (no blood or tummy aches), but it did seem to mostly just pass through him. Then when we tried bananas he did have blood in his stool and that too seemed to not be fully digested, but it's hard to tell.
I've mentioned it to my ped and an allergist we saw recently, but they didn't comment on it. We are seeing another allergist next month who is supposed to be a food allergy expert, so I'll ask her about it. In the meantime, I've been holding off on all solids hoping I can figure out his allergies and heal his tummy before trying again.
I've mentioned it to my ped and an allergist we saw recently, but they didn't comment on it. We are seeing another allergist next month who is supposed to be a food allergy expert, so I'll ask her about it. In the meantime, I've been holding off on all solids hoping I can figure out his allergies and heal his tummy before trying again.
Great topic! I am curious as to what others think on this too.
We've found undigested food is usually accompanied by mucous and we don't feed those foods again... That may be why we're down so many foods. We have to thoroughly chew or puree food if we have any hope of it being digested. I guess my thought is that if it looks the same as it did going in, it's probably not doing him much good. Wouldn't it be a net loss as far as energy expended v. gained?
I'll be back to see what you all think!
We've found undigested food is usually accompanied by mucous and we don't feed those foods again... That may be why we're down so many foods. We have to thoroughly chew or puree food if we have any hope of it being digested. I guess my thought is that if it looks the same as it did going in, it's probably not doing him much good. Wouldn't it be a net loss as far as energy expended v. gained?
I'll be back to see what you all think!
Kortner, that's what I decided with the pumpkin seeds. I mean--I don't think they're an actual problem (I don't see other poop weirdness when the pumpkin seeds come out) but I don't think he was getting much nutrition from them, and that's a bummer--soaking and roasting is some work. So I made pumpkin seed butter with them, I think that'll actually provide some nutrition.
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Yay--glad there's some discussion!
The molars thing makes some sense to me, actually. DS1 frequently had undigested pieces of random things in his diapers until his molars came in right after he turned 1. I still occasionally saw chunks of grapes, etc. until he cut his two year molars a few months back, and now don't usually see anything odd. Interesting, I'd never thought about it, but it seems to fall right in line.
The molars thing makes some sense to me, actually. DS1 frequently had undigested pieces of random things in his diapers until his molars came in right after he turned 1. I still occasionally saw chunks of grapes, etc. until he cut his two year molars a few months back, and now don't usually see anything odd. Interesting, I'd never thought about it, but it seems to fall right in line.
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