POOP - Sorry That's Gross

I agree with Marie S. Could be a milk allergy. Well, not so much an allergy, but maybe lactose intolerance. One of my friends has a daughter that always had L. stools and bad diaper rashes. Once she eliminated milk from her diet, everything was so much better. After a year or so, she was able to introduce milk back into her diet without any problems.

Soy milk might not be the answer though. My daughter is allergic to milk. She is on soy toddler formula, but for some reason, the soy milk that comes in the cartons gives her diarhea. You might have to do a little trial and error. Good luck!

You can do IgG food sensitivity and IgE food allergy testing for him. Here is where you can find out info on how stools should look (bristol stool scale)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale

Probiotics may help. Milk is the most common allergen so removing it may help, gluten is also a very common allergen so removing it may help as well. Another idea is an elimination diet. The IgE and IgG testing would pinpoint which foods cause the problem. Doctors aren't trained in nutrition and so don't usually suggest you consider diet changes but they can make HUGE differences for our kids.

Give him acidophilus bifidus. Metagenics is a good brand and comes in powder form. Stir it into yogurt or pudding. It puts the good bacteria in the gut which puts "the poop in a group" It works great!

I had the same question about the little boy that I was Mon-Fri. When asking the ped he said it is because of all the soy that he eats. He is vegan. Does he eat alot of foods that have soy. Not looking forward to potty trainning either I am afraid it is going to be messy.

Good Luck,

Do you think he is getting enough fiber?

It may be related to his diet. My pediatrician called this "toddler diarhea". I'm not sure what to do about it other than to try to work with his diet to make it more balanced. Be sure he isn't getting an overabundance of fruits and veggies or juice (I know they are important, but too much of a good thing...you know how that goes). My son really won't eat fruits or veggies and he still has this problem because he really only eats fiber (cereals and breads). You would think this would stop him up, but no.....we have this problem too. Continue with the BRAT diet and if that doesn't work, call the pedi back and see if you can figure out what else to do. Good luck!

Is he eating a lot of fruit? That and fruit juice might be causing it. Add fiber to his diet (green veggies and maybe some extra fiber powder). He should be fine.

My son was exactly like this. After going on table foods and until he was about 2.5, his BMs were always the consistency of peanut butter. It never even occurred to me that it might not be normal. He is three now, and every four or five days he has a more firm, or solid, BM. My boy won't touch vegetables or meat, LOVES every piece of fruit he's ever seen, eats PLAIN yogurt gladly, likes tomato soup, bread, oatmeal, pancakes and waffles, and mac and cheese, cheese of all kinds, and some crackers, and he eats a ton of raisins and craisins and prunes. His milk intake, aside from cheese, is only 18 or so ounces per day, and the rest is water.

Is your boy healthy? Growing as he "should"? Keeping on weight? If so, I wouldn't worry about it unless he is actually having diarrhea and/or is not healthy. You might make an appointment with the pediatrician to discuss it, if it will help alleviate your concern. I'll bet that in the end, the doctor will say he's fine.

My son's poop is also like this--we have never had a firm stool, I don't think! Ok, I take that back; he HAS been constipated. I have always chalked it up to the fact that he likes to eat fruit a LOT as well as carbs, and he probably doesn't have quite the right mix of fiber and protein in his diet. I've never considered a milk allergy, though, so that gives ME some food for thought, too!

Sounds like a milk alergy. No loss to try a soy milk! M. in Wisconsin (29 years running a day care center)

I'm wondering if it's really too soft. All the peanut butter I've seen has been soft but stiff. I make "curls" with it on the bread. Soft is OK when the stool still has a shape.

Even if it doesn't hold a shape it can be normal. All of us are different. I had actual diarrhea for many years. I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. The treatment was to increase fiber and reduce stress. At least at that time there was no pill or medical treatment to make it go away.

With IBS one can have fully formed, soft but not diarrhea, and hard stools. One can go from "normal" to constipation to diarrhea. Irregularity can be part of it. The fact that his movements arenearly the same from day to day would indicate to me that it's probably not IBS.

I have heard of children having IBS but not toddlers. Even if it were IBS the treatment is in the diet. Plenty of fiber and avoid foods to which one is allergic. Some of us have more sensitive guts than others. I'd try increasing the fiber and eliminating foods to which he may be sensitive. If you want to try eliminating milk, use rice rather than soy milk. Soy is also a common allergen.

The BRAT diet is for diarrhea, no matter it's cause. It has the possibility of working even tho his stools have had this consistency all of his life because it has fiber and substances to make the stool more firm..

But, again, is it really diarrhea, or just a soft stool? Increasing fiber could make it firmer if that is needed. If he's healthy and feeling good I tend to think it's normal for him. If it were abnormal he'd have other symptoms.

If he's lactose intolerant, he'll have gas and abdominal pain. It it's food allergies he'd most likely also have an upset stomach and perhaps hives and/or itchy skin.

Also, 2, is young for poop related potty training. Don't expect him to get his poop in the toilet. If you're with him and his poop misses, you could try a toddler potty chair. His bottom will cover the hole and the poop will land inside. If he's knowing he needs to poop and makes a run for it, that is a different matter but I doubt that he's doing that at 2.

Tee Hee - Poop is such a basic mama topic =)

Even as a first time mom, I was pretty positive that my child should not be pooping so often or so...Shall we say "easily". Meaning, like your story, there were noooo problems w/constipation. I mean potty training tips always include, "Your child might be ready when they have a BM only 1x/day". And I thought, well my son will be 21 then when he gets potty trainined.

But along came our 2nd and he has the exact same digestive system. So what gives? We never really talked to the ped about it because it was so obvious that it was not diarrhea and that they were experiencing no stomach upset, gas, etc.

But after reflecting on it now and reading some of the responses, I think it is due to their healthy diet. Neither boy is a huge meat fan. But both will ask for 2nds of broccoli, are mad for mango, and are just wild about sugar snap peas. In other words, they have a diet naturally high in non-constipating foods.

I agree with the milk allergy posts. My son had the same thing. We went for 6 months on soy milk and then re-tried cows milk and he hasn't had a problem since. Good luck

My son has had solid poop for quite a while (over a year now) and he's 2.5 years. I would consider talking to a gastroenterologist, just to be sure. I would have his stool tested, just in case, for anything they can check for, or might be concerned about. My guess is that his poor little butt gets sore or raw with such soft stools. That might be causing some of his issues with going on the potty.
I was going to ask about fiber too, but, to be honest, if he wasn't getting enough fiber, his stools would be hard as a rock and painful to pass. Are you nursing him still? If he's not drinking much juice, does he drink a lot of water during the day?

I hope you get some answers soon, but if it were me, I'd be calling a pediatric gastroenterologist for a 2nd opinion. Just a head's up, if you see one, they will ask you to keep a food diary of everything your son eats for 3 days or so.

Good luck,
T.
www.ReadandGrow.com