My 1 Year Old Toddler Has a Kidney Stone

I've walked around with kidney stones for nearly 1/2 my life at varying times. Sometimes I need to have them taken out (or blasted so I can pass them) and other times I have passed them on my own. I think I currently have 5 small ones that I am waiting to see what happens and have had these ones for nearly a year. As long as I am not in pain, they are not affecting my ability to produce or pass urine, I don't have an active infection, or other issues, my urologist tends to leave them alone until something needs to be done. If the stone gets bigger and starts to cause problems, then your doctor will likely do something, but the sheer existence of stones doesn't necessarily require action.

It sounds like your doctor is doing a good job, but as a mom and your child's only advocate, if something doesn't seem right, you can always get a second opinion.

Make sure they figure out what kind of stones he is producing once he either passes (yikes!) or the remove the stone. That is usually a critical component of determining any lifestyle or diet changes. I actually have an unusual circumstance where I have produced 3 of the 4 types of kidney stones over the years.

Good luck - as a chronic kidney stone person myself, I feel just awful for your little guy and hope this is just a one time thing for him!

You are absolutely doing the right thing by taking your son to a pediatric nephrologist. I can't imagine a better doctor for your baby!

I am prone to kidney stones and have been with 3 different urologists (I've never been to a nephrologist). While they have all mentioned some foods that might possibly make a difference if avoided (including nuts), but overwhelmingly have said drink lots of water. Diet has minimal influence, and any dietary changes aren't going to change the fact that your son already has a stone. This is why the doctor mentioned the number of wet diapers. Keep drinking the water, and he's likely to flush most of the things that would make the stone bigger.

Urine collections are done to run tests and try to determine what is causing the stones. That might help if the doctor is concerned about your son producing more stones, but it's going to do anything to change the stone he currently has.

Here's the thing. Your son has a kidney stone. There's nothing you can do to make it smaller. Most likely it will get bigger. When it does, the doctor will probably have to decide how best to get rid of it. I've had different procedures done to get rid of stones. It depends on the size and where it is. i don't know what procedures a doctor would consider doing on such a young person, but you are seeing the doctor who would be the expert on the subject.

You are seeing the best doctor for your son. I didn't know children could get stones, but the nephrologist is the kidney expert. You really couldn't be in better hands.

I don't have experience with this. But I have raised two children. You are the first person I have ever heard say that they fed almond milk to a child this age.

You may pooh-pooh my advice, but I'm going to say it anyway. Stop giving her almond milk. This is the one variable that you have mentioned that jumps out. If indeed almond milk for a baby this young is the culprit, it won't get rid of the stone, but may help stop the growth of it.

It's good you are working with your doctors.
If they want to keep an eye on it and monitor the situation then I'd go by what the experts are saying.
Additional:
Apparently almond milk is higher in oxalate than cows milk.
Oxalate can sometimes be a problem with kidney stones.
If the pediatric nephrologist knows about the almond milk and thinks it's ok to continue then fine.
If he doesn't know then you should tell him and see what he has to say.
If almond milk needs to go then maybe cow or goat milk would be alright.

My concern would be the almond milk. Some people find that nuts and nut products can make kidney stones worse if they already have a tendency to kidney stones. In addition, many commercial almond milks contain carrageenan or other additives or thickeners that can irritate the digestive system.

Of course, this is not true for everybody. I'm NOT saying almond milk should be universally banned. And I'm NOT saying that anyone with a kidney stone must avoid nuts. But if there is a problem in digestion or kidney function, it's fairly easy to eliminate non-essential foods like commercial almond/soy milks. Nuts are listed among possible kidney-stone producing foods on reliable kidney medical sites.

If you don't want your child to drink dairy milk, then homemade oat milk is very easy to make and tastes delicious. Basically you soak oats, drain, and blend with water in a blender. There are lots of recipes/instructions online. There are no other ingredients other than oats and water.

Other than that, keep up with the water and avoid processed foods. Sounds like you're really on top of things and doing the best for your baby. I hope your baby's kidney problems resolve quickly!