Poop Question ~ Sorry for TMI

[Early Kids]

When did your kiddos start doing formed poops?

DS1 is 3.5yrs and DS2 is 15 months.

Neither do a formed poop, it's not watery like gastro it's just a sloppy mess. Both have what looks like black sand throughout their poop (we don't have black sand!). It doesn't seem to matter what they eat and I don't notice any particular food making it worse. They have both been tested for a gluten intolerance and coeliacs, which was VERY traumatic for us all. The Dr's tried blaming Tristan's on the iron supplement and his current formula, but Brendan is not on either of those!

I have a Dr appt for them both tomorrow to try and get some answers, I've had enough of gagging over every nappy change!

Any thoughts? Am I right thinking it's most likely a food intolerance of some sort? Any advice to get the boys tested and what should we try testing for? I stand up for my kids and won't be leaving the Dr until he's satisfied me that everything is being done to help them, I'm just not sure what I am looking at iykwim? What sort of process are we looking at?

[Snowy Love]

Well DS2 has had formed poos since about 8mths.

My friend's DS had toddler diarreah(sp) which (I think) was food was travelling through his gut too quickly to be absorbed, he was FTT and once diagnosed they increased the amount of fat in his diet (chips, cakes) and he started growing & getting formed poos.

[sloane]

DS has been doing them prob since around the 8 month mark as well. sometimes it's kinda squished flat like a pancake (sorry, TMI! ) but it's not sloppy. i hope i'm making sense!! they've definitely progressed to being more formed as he's got older.

[Early Kids]

Thanks for the replies. Dr's appt in a few hours, hopefully I can get somewhere with him!

My friend's DS had toddler diarreah(sp) which (I think) was food was travelling through his gut too quickly to be absorbed, he was FTT and once diagnosed they increased the amount of fat in his diet (chips, cakes) and he started growing & getting formed poos.

Both my boys were labelled FTT Brendan around 4 months and Tristan at around 8 months, so they've been on a higher fat and protein diet since then. We don't give them too much of the 'bad' fats (chips, ect) but they do get creamy things, extra formula added to their drinks, ect.

[{sarah}]

Is there a lot of undigested food in it? If so, it does sound like what Snowy Love is talking about.

My DS was diagnosed with this & we had to increase the fat in his diet & reduce the amount of juices & that sort of thing. What happens is that their intestines move the food through too quickly & there's not enough time for the water to be absorbed out. Our paed suggest adding extra butter to sandwiches, introducing nutella & peanut butter (because of the oils) and to allow him to have hot chips at least once a week. Sounds insane right? But in explaining he said that for us that sort of food is bad because we are more sedentary, but for kids they run the energy off so it's ok for them to have fatty foods a bit more often.

[Janie]

Good luck with the Dr, I hope you get some answers Keep looking even if you don't, something will turn up as being the cause.

[Early Kids]

Thanks x

Just got back from the Dr and they are now testing for Guardia (sp?) and a possible parasitic infection as well as a dairy intolerance (dairy, cheese and moulds). They are also checking iron levels again. If it all comes back clear then we are off to PMH to see a gastroenterologist.

So far we have eliminated gluten intolerance and coeliacs.

There is sometimes undigested foods, but not all the time. My boys already have a high fat content in their diets (cream, butter and oils) it doesn't seem to make any difference what they eat the poop doesn't change much, only really the colour.

[curly173]

I never even realised this was a problem. My kid did sloppy poos for ages and ages. It didn't affect his weight gain or height growth at all. Admittedly when I stopped giving him oats in the morning and eased up on the yoghurt it improved, but it probably didn't change until the last few months, probably a bit over 18 months (I never really took note as to when it changed, I just figured it was part of the growing process). Most likely it changed when I started giving him really chunky food to eat.

[Early Kids]

I'm not overly concerned about Tristan, he's only 15 months, it's mainly Brendan who at 3.5yrs is still not doing a formed poo. They are testing both boys because they both have the same consistency poo and both are having weight gain issues.

Both boys are eating "normal" food - ie chunks of steak, ect I don't cut their food into bite size pieces any more, just small enough for hands to hold onto it Potatoes are the only thing that gets served mashed hehe.

Thanks x

[Lisa]

Both my younger children do formed poos.
As for the black bits, do they eat bananas? My sister mentioned to me that her children get black bits in their poops after they eat bananas... I've not noticed it with my kids though and my kids have a banana at least every day.

[Early Kids]

Thanks Lisa x They do eat bananas but not daily, maybe every 2-3 days? I try and mix it up by having oranges, strawberries, pear, apple, kiwi fruit, ect.

Will know more in about a week anyway