Approx 5 weeks ago, my 4 year old complained of a stomach ache. She was crying and kept saying she wanted to puke. I sat with her for the day waiting for something to happen but it never did. The next day she had diarrhea, so I thought the problem was solved. For the next couple of weeks, she acted normally but complained on and off of her belly hurting. I hate to say it, but I thought she was trying to get some extra attention because her 3 little sisters (18 mo old twins and 3 mo old) take a lot of my time. She has a wonderful imagination and is constantly making up stories. Plus, she actually said "I need attention" during one of her complaints. I made a conscious effort to spend more time with her to see if she would stop complaining, but she didn't. I started joining her in the bathroom to see what was going on and I noticed that every time she went #2, it was either loose stool or diarrhea so I took her to the pediatrician who ordered a stool sample which came back normal. We are now going to a GI specialist but they can't see us until next week. In the meantime, I'm trying to make sure she's eating a well-balanced diet. Any ideas on what could be going on? She complained again tonight before she went to bed and asked when she's going to the doctor. I'm starting to get quite worried.
We went to the GI specialist today. He said it could just be a stubborn virus that is hanging around a little longer than expected. To be safe, he's running some tests on her blood and urine to check for Crohns and celiac, among other things. In the meantime, he gave me some Flora pills that she needs to take for the next 10 days. If that doesn't help and the tests are clean, then we'll take the next step. Thanks for all of the input! Your responses were very informative.
Something else I thought of aside from dairy problems is vitamins. Have you changed her vitamins or has she recently started taking vitamins. I know my son and I both get ill if we try to change vitamins or take vitamins without eating a good breakfast first. Just a thought.
Good luck!
Try removing dairy from her diet. She may be lactose intolerant. My 9 yr. old is, we discovered it after she had an upper GI. She used to lay over the edge of the sofa, never complained (but she was only 2) and we thought it was a comfort thing. well, it probably was and made her tummy feel better! But we did not realize she was in any pain, she finally found the words to tell us, she was a young 2 when all tis happened.
Also, a lot of fruits and juices will cause the loose stools, but probably not the pains. But taking away some juice and watch how many servings she is getting may help a bit as far as loose stool goes. Cantaloupe and watermelon are big triggers!
Good luck, please let us know what you find out.
She may have Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease is the inability to digest, wheat, rye, barley and oats. Gluten is in practically everything, while I would suggest to eliminate it, it will be difficult. University of Chicago specializes in Celiac Disease, testing, diagnosis, etc. It often goes undiagnosed, even by GI specialists, however you will have to demand the for the test, which is through a blood test AND colonoscopy to get a true diagnosis. Does she have headaches, eczema or other skin rashes? Has she lost any weight? If you google Celiac Disease, you will find tons of info. Gluten Free Expo is Sept. 12 and 13 in Oak Brook, www.glutenfreeexpo.com (I believe) is the website. It is there once a year (for future reference) but there will specialists, chefs there.
J. W. MPH
Lifestyle and Wellness Consultant
(also gluten, soy and lactose intolerant!)
Ask your GI Doctor about using a Probiotic. Our family has been using it for years and have seen wonderful results. It isn't only until recently that there has been lots of research showing the benefits of its use. I work on a Med/Surg floor and alomost all of our doctors order a Probiotic (lactobaccillus) whenever their patients are put on antibiotics.
If she drinks a lot of milk I would cut back on dairy to see if you notice a difference. You may also wants to take to him about the possibility of food intolerances.
Probiotics promotes the growth of good bacteria in your GI tract. My daughter had terrible colic when she was about 3 weeks old so I would open a capsule and place a small amt on her tongue.It worked wonders, with in two days she was back to normal. My pediatrician had no problem with it and in fact was quite interested and said that Europe puts Probitoics in all of their baby formula.
Probiotics come in varying strengths so look at labels. I use Conklin which is only available through distributors. Other brands are sold at health food stores. I am a distributor if you need help or check out Conklin.com.
Your pediatricain should of ahd you keep track of what she is eating. Keep a running record of what your daughter is eating and when she has a loose stool/diarrhea. It could be caused by something she has eaten like cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, onion, garlic, certain spices like oregano, chili powder,even citric fruit like oranges. If it is a food then you can removed it from her diet. This is what my mom did with my brother years ago and found out that oranges and oregano gave him severe gas pains and diarrhia. My son can not eat broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. Good Luck.
ask the doctor about foot, hand and mouth disease. I know that it sounds gross but it is just a virus. I've heard that it is going around.
Maybe she has dairy issues, and if you don't do dairy it might be soy. Both can really effect children and it doesn't have to start at birth. Also, a friend discovered that her child is VERY sensitive to fruit and juice. She is a little younger, but she can't drink straight juice at all and must really limit fruit intake. It is so hard to see your children uncomforable and be unable to help. Also be sure to be good to yourself. Sounds like you have your hands FULL and on top of that thinking she was after attention do not feel bad about that because good for her to be able to keep asking you for it. You are on top of it and are taking the steps you know to be helping her.
Hi D.,
I would suggest taking a good look at your daughter's diet. Loose stools and diarrhea are signs of gut related health problems. My son has had loose stools since he was first born. I attributed it to the fact that he ate alot of fruit which I thought was good for him. Turns out it wasn't.
Kids who eat a highly acidic (sugar) diet can develop candida, which is an overgrowth of yeast. Weather its natural sugar or processed sugar it doesn't matter- the yeast feeds on the sugar, so our kids always have a craving for sugar. And in our case more breads (yeast), too.
This overgrowth causes great digestive problems and other physical ailments. We have started the Body Ecology Diet just two months ago and have already seen a difference in Ben who will be 4 next month. I urge you to check out the site and take the candida quiz. At the very least I would suggest getting her on a pro-biotic asap. I make my own pro-biotcic in the form of coconut kefir and cultured veggies, but you can also get them in vitamin form (not as strong, but better than nothing), at Whole Foods. We use renewlife flora bear for kids.
Pro-biotics will help repair her digestive system. My son has a 'leaky gut' which means that his digestive system has holes in it. This means that he doesn't have the necessary healthy bacteria in his digestive system to help him break down foods properly. So the food can slip through the gut and into the bloodstream causeing allergic reactions. This is why alot of kids have milk, soy, etc food allergies. There is an amazing sub-culture of families that are doing this diet to heal their children. If you'd like to chat more, feel free to email me off the site. www.bodyecology.com
blessings,
J.
picassoscat400 @ yahoo dot com
I am so glad you are concerned and being your own advocate ont his. yes she could have many things listen to her no kids makes up stomach aches. She could have something easly like a parasiteor lactose intolerant or could be celiac or allergies or EE. Please get her to an GI docotr and have her teted to make srue there is no blood in her stool. You will not see the blood it has to be seen with a swab they put on a slide and then under a microscope. Then if no blood then have stool sample tested for parpastie or what else if none then have bllod test for celiac and if neg then get allergy pr patch testing done best place is dr donnell at Associated allergist. Not sure I trust anyone else to do the patch test results he is the best and highly trained. Then go from there with you and your dr. You could finally end up with and endo scope with biopsies. It is not serious or a big deal if anythign you will find almost all answers there.
is there mucus in the stool at all?
Good luck and hang in there an way to help your little girl!
J.
Hi D. - Wow, 4 daughters under age 5?!! My hat is certainly off to you. I work from home too and thought my hands were full being a single mom of 3 kids under 6, but now I feel like my situation is a piece of cake compared to yours!!
Anyway, I'm writing to see if you are still looking for a solution to your question about your daughter's diarrhea. I'm sorry for the late response, but I'm just now getting around to reading my daily Mamasource e-mails for the past month or so. I've been going through the same thing with my almost 8-month-old son who has had diarrhea since an emergency surgery he had on Aug. 24, so I might be able to share some insight and possible solutions from all the doctors I've been to with him and the types of stool cultures they've done. For example, as you might know, there's not just one kind of culture that tests for everything - it took 3 different tests over a 2-week period to finally get him diagnosed since the third test (calle "c-diff") came back positive, given what they were specifically testing for. Also, in addition to the antibiotic that my son just finished taking for c-diff, a holistic doctor/chiropractor who is a good friend of mine put him on a probiotic that has seemed to help. Let me know if you'd like me to share more if you're still looking for answers to your daughter's problem.
Thanks,
L.
Take out the dairy and start yogurt with the live cultures. That will help with the good bacteria in her intestines.
was she recently on any antibiotics? My son had never been on one and when he had to take one, it gave him loose stools for 8 weeks! The first sample came back normal, but they finally decided it was the antibiotic...it killed all the good bacteria in his "gut". It could also be the dairy...I would switch to rice milk or no milk for a couple of weeks. I have a son who has trouble with dairy and the lactose free still has lots of dairy components to it. I would start with that and no juice...that completely aggrivates it. If you can get your hands on some "flora" or "bifidus" it will help restore the balance of bacteria in the gut. I got mine from my chiropractor who also deals with nutrition issues. It has helped us everytime anyone has a tummy ache. You want to stay away from yogurt if you are cutting out dairy! Good luck! If you want more info on those two supplements, send me a personal message and I can give you the brands.
Just as an FYI- My whole family, all four of us have celiac disease. The University of Chicago is the best. They do have a free testing set for some time in Oct. I don't know the exact date but look on line. Go first with the milk allergy. Don't read all the stuff on celiac disease quite yet. It will scare you.
All four of us have different symptoms. If you have any other questions feel free to contact me.
Did you take her to an alergist. She could be allergic to milk products and that could be giving her problems.
Is she on any supplements? With almost any digestional issue there is usally failure to absorb nutrition. I was diagnoised with Candia, yeast overgrowth in the gut, a few years ago. I was put on a special diet and several supplements with out results until I found a company that puts it all together in a shake. I have had awesome results with all my issues. And my kids take it too. Let me know if I can get you more info. I know it's hard when you don't know, I had a similiar situation with my daughter without diagniosis, that worked it's way out with this product. G. Chambers
We just went through this with my 13 year old and have cut dairy out of diet and am now convinced he is lactose intolerent. I have been told it comes out of the blue. Just picked up the lactose free milk and pills and I will let you know how it goes. Good luck
did a doctor refer you to this GI specialist...my grand-daughter had so many problems & we saw a pediatric GI in glenview...she is great...e-mail me back if you would like her name...i think we got in right away...i hope & pray that they find out what is wrong with your little girl soon.
sincerely,
K.
