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20 month old and Diarrhea

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/7/2007 8:05 PM (GMT -8)

My 20 month old daughter has had loose stool all her life and just recently the past month has had diarrhea.  My UCs started after I stopped nursing her.  She has had ear infections from 3-5 months of age, 11-14 months of age and 16-18 months of age.  A lot of antibiotics and I have given her probitotics also, but can't get it to stop.  She has 3 runny diapers a day and her bottom is raw.  I am going to take her to the doctor tomorrow.  I am concerned.  I thought maybe she has caught colitis from me or from all the antibiotics.  She has had low fevers, up to  99.6 and then down to normal. 

She is acting fine and eating normal. 

Any thoughts

Thanks,

Darlene

Posted 9/7/2007 9:22 PM (GMT -8)
Get her checked for celiac as well as the normal stool sample testing to make sure she doesn't have any bad buggaboos.

q
Posted 9/8/2007 4:50 AM (GMT -8)
My 2 year old had chronic ear infections and was constantly on antibiotics (he has ear tubes now). The antibiotics did give him diarhea for days. He also got an extended stomach bug once that gave him d for close to a month.

Here are my tips for the diaper rash....put a generous amount of baking powder powder in the bathtub. This helps soothe. For the diaper rash I think Desitin creamy w/ baby powder on top is the best combo. I have suffered through many a diaper rash w/ my son!!

Good luck. Oh and make sure you take a poop diaper to the pediatrician so they can test it. Let us know how it goes!
Posted 9/8/2007 8:13 AM (GMT -8)

Sounds like the antibiotics could be a culprit. Antibiotics fuel fungal infections. I agree with Quincy about the testing. As well, maybe she is lactose intolerant? Maybe has an unknown food allergy. Maybe take all grains/sugar out of her diet for now, give only veggies, meats and fruits. If she has a fungal infection, giving her grains and foods with processed/refined sugar will only add to the problem. I have read that food allergy, most often milk and eggs milk leads to chronic ear infections, and eventually tubes in ears. In one 2001 study, 22 out of 25 children who followed an elimination diet got significantly better. Worth a shot for your baby, I'd say.

Posted 9/8/2007 10:50 AM (GMT -8)
It's worth a shot for sure....make sure she's getting the appropriate amount of vitamins and minerals that would be needed for the change in diet. Calcium especially.

q
Posted 9/8/2007 3:51 PM (GMT -8)
We went to the doctor today.  It wasn't our normal doctor, the doctor who had Saturday sick kids clinic.  I was told this is a sick clinic diarrhea should have been scheduled during the week.  Yeah and I work during the week, I only get 10 sick days per school year and when they are gone I loose pay. 

At first they couldn't find her file.( New office & new doctor) .   I gave the doctor the history and she wanted to know what pharmacy gave her Cipro.  Our previous doctor prescribed Cipro for her ear infection in June.  New doctor said that is for adults and she should not have had it.  Good news her ears were fine.   Doctor said her temperature is not a fever until it is over 100 degrees. 

She had a poop diaper before we left home so I put it in a ziplock bag took it to the doctor office.  The doctor said she didn't want to see it. 

That we would need to use a plastic urine collection bag for a stool sample. It is hard to gather a good sample from a diaper if it is runny.   

She said the celiac test was very expensive and wanted to rule out a virus/bug before doing all these other tests. 

Doctor suggested soy milk for a week and see if that helps.  So now my little girl has this plastic bag stuck to her butt waiting for a bm. 

I have been giving her probiotics twice a week.  Doctor said I should give Culturelle daily.  I do give her a daily vitamin- The Gummy vitamins.

Thanks for your suggestions.  I think the doctor just wanted to go home before noon and not bother with us. 

Darlene

Posted 9/8/2007 5:18 PM (GMT -8)
I know this will sound strange, but you should make sure her bottom is completely dry before you put her diaper or cream on. When my daughter was flaring and her bottom was sore I would bath her with baking soda in the water and then use a blow dryer on her bottom (not to close or hot). I give my daughter probiotics 2x a day, once in the am and once before bed. This helps to keep a constant flow of good bugs. Also, you could try giving her the BRAT diet, banana, rice, applesauce and toast (dry) to help bulk her up.
Posted 9/8/2007 5:55 PM (GMT -8)
She could simply (and hopefully) just have lactose intolerance, make sure she gets tested for that...although IBD is hereditary that doesn't mean for sure she has it too, but it's very likely she's suffering with lactose issues.


Let us know :)
Posted 9/8/2007 7:52 PM (GMT -8)
My neice has experienced this as well. My sister-in-law has done a lot of research and totally changed her and her daughters diet (she still breast feeds- child is 1 yr 9 months). Basically she cut out all grains and dairy. It has worked well. Initially she went to a naturopath that helped with the diet restrictions. And you would be amazed at how many things you can get that don't have dairy or grains. Whole Foods has a lot of things like almond bread, and soy cheese and yogurt, etc. The only issue she has had is keeping weight (my sister-in-law, not my neice) on but I htink some of that is because they are vegetarians.
Posted 9/9/2007 7:21 AM (GMT -8)
There are a lot of reasons she could have it, so don't fret yet. I know I do every time my kids have a loose stool, so easier said than done. When my daughter was about that age she had diarrhea for a month. She also got a UTI which I never would have seen if she hadn't been using a potty and had blood (long story). They had to do an x-ray and all this stuff b/c babies don't get uti and it was this horrible ordeal (but if you have diarrhea squashed in there for a month, give me a break!). In the end it did go away. And it probably is the antibiotics. Try Dr. SMith's diaper ointment...Works wonders!!! They gave me some prescription thing that I had to go to some special place for, but nothing worked until I found Dr. Smiths. Within a day her diaper rash was gone.
It could be everything everyone has suggested. And it's good that she's 10 months b/c she won't need to be on the formual much longer. I would guess that's the problem if it started after you stopped nursing her.
I hope she gets better. I know that's no fun, and even more stressful when you know UC exists and is heriditary. I really wouldn't think it's IBD though.
Posted 9/15/2007 7:17 PM (GMT -8)
I called  our regular pediatrician this week and he thought it was a virus just by talking to the other doctor and listening to me.  He said give it another  week.  She has been drinking soy milk for a week.  Her rash was getting better, but still having 3 tomato soup to creamy peanut butter consistency diapers per day.  She is acting okay other than trying to scratch her rash.  Yesterday the babysitter said she noticed mucous and I noticed some today also.  I just don't feel right about it.  I would prefer to have a referral to a GI doctor.  Do they have pediatric GI doctors?

I know the baby sitter feeds the kids lots of high carb foods .  My little girl lovesCheerios,  noodles, crackers and bread. So even changing her diet would  be hard. 

And if this is UC in my daughter, what medications do they give a 21 month old?

I have been giving her Culturelle probiotic and ocassionally the BioK-plus probiotic. 

Darlene

 

Posted 9/15/2007 8:09 PM (GMT -8)
If her bottom is still raw, I've always found that any diaper cream slides off the raw skin and sticks to the diaper and doesn't really help. The thing that has worked the best and heals the rawness is take liquid Maalox and dab in on the raw skin. Then take a hair dryer and on cool dry the Maalox. This creates a paint-like barrior and you can then put on any diaper cream on-top. This takes a little time, but if you can get your daughter to lay still for a few minutes in a day or two the rawness should start to heal. Good luck. I hope you get some answers.

And yes, they do have pediatric GI doctors. My daughter had to see one when she was six weeks old (not Colitis related).
Posted 9/16/2007 10:09 AM (GMT -8)
Thank you.  I will try the Maalox.  She is so uncomfortable and sore. 

I really wish doctors would trust a mother's instincts.  I know my daughter and three bm's a day is not normal.  I have always thought your tummy was bigger and tighter than my other 3 kids. When I asked the doctor about her big tummy I was told it was baby fat and it would go away as she grows.

I know every child is different, but I would rather have it checked out .  Be safe not sorry.

I don't know maybe I should start a new topic on this.  I was wondering those who have very young children with UC  is this the way that it started?

Diarrhea before the blood? 

Darlene

 

Posted 9/22/2007 5:50 PM (GMT -8)
I just was browsing and noticed one of your postings. My 19 month old son has been going through lots of testing here lately b/c of chronic diarrhea and a bloated stomach. One of the things they tested him for was Cystic Fibrosis. The two symptoms he as fall in that catergory, but he does not have the "failure to thrive" part. But, what I noticed you wrote something about mucous in her bm...that is another symptom for CF. I would highly recommend you ask your dr to refer you to a pediatric GI Dr. and ask for a sweat test to be done to rule it out.

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