4 year old with constant diarrhoea

[Poppymum]

Hi, my 4 year old has always had diarrhoea on and off. It’s not a tummy bug. She’s happy and not ill. It’s not overflow poo. Her bowel movements will be a nice solid log for a few days then the next complete liquid. Last time we saw a Gp they said it’s toddler diarrhoea. A sample showed no bugs or anything.

I’ve had to resign from my job because it’s not possible for school to deal with. Friday for example by 1pm they rang me as she needed a shower. School obviously can’t cater for her needs. It takes someone ages to clean her up ( it’s horrific) and that obviously takes up a member of staff. It’s at least two days every week.

I have to work my notice so I have no idea how I’m gonna get through the next few weeks. I’m january I’m going to work nights! So if she’s needing collecting I will just go without sleep! There’s no other solution.

How do people cope with a kid with permanent diarrhoea? There’s no way school can meet her needs. They try but it’s too hard!

[Poppymum]

Ps

That’s not even the child I’m on here for usually!

My 7 year old is bladder incontinent ( day and night) and awaiting a catheter. Give me that over diarrhoea any day! At least she can attend school!

[Redxmas]

Have you kept a food diary to see if any pattern on days where ok/diarrhoea? In case an allergy or intolerance of certain foods?

[leigh802]

Sounds like a food related allergy problem, our DS has had this in the past and found out he was lactose intolerance. Is your DD in nappies for the problem ? we found cloth nappies reduced the stress on our boy when he was having lots of loose poo's. A snugly fitted nappy contained it all if we were away from home etc with less mess than if he was in pants.

[Kate_monster]

Hi Poppymum

I just spotted your post. So sorry to hear you are having a hard time with this.

I haven’t dealt with exactly the same problem but might be some similarities. My daughter is now 6 and incontinent. She often has poo accidents too which can be difficult to clean up.

I don’t know where you have got up to with the school or GP so I’ve listed some of the things we have done to make things more manageable in case any are of use to you.

Getting extra help/advice- community bladder and bowel service through referral from GP, ERIC telephone helpline are very supportive, contacting school nurses and dealing with a named nurse with responsibility for her school

Investigating whether there is anything else you can do to manage the problem (sorry I don’t know whether these apply to toddler diahrroea ) eg trying to develop bowel movements 20 mins after eating, underwear options such as pull up pants or insert pads.

Getting things working in school- asking for an individual healthcare plan detailing how school will support her eg different toilet to other pupils where changing supplies are kept, maybe even use Walkie talkie to call if she unexpectedly needs help to get clean, named staff members trained in supporting her

My daughters school did need reminding 2 teachers didn’t need to be present to help her change and a copy of the countywide policy put in front of them. We agreed what constituted too dirty to get clean at school (effectively poo inside Vagina which was too uncomfortable to be wet wiped). Although it has been a lot of work for school it is their responsibility to help my child get an education and not appropriate for me to be called regularly. They have considered whether they needed to make adjustments such as a shower or apply for extra funding. We decided they don’t need to do either but are options if it got worse again.

I’ve found my main source of support has been the school nurse who has chased when I haven’t got progress and even delivered training to all the staff. If I felt my daughters needs weren’t or couldnt he met by the school I would also contact the council safeguarding team.

I hope you are able to remember there are people out there in the same situation. We don’t often get to meet them and share our experiences but you are not alone. Things won’t be like this forever and it will get better. Good luck over the next few weeks X

[Whillo]

So I’ve just spotted your post and agree with others that this could be food related. We had a very well child with similar bowel issues and it eventually turned out she had coeliac disease. Of course a food diary didn’t help in our case as the effects can take days to manifest and then happen on days where no gluten is consumed so nobody picked it up. It was only when her stools turned from watery to cream-coloured froth that anyone took notice and they did a blood test (ttg) and biopsy of her bowel. Her ttg read >999 and she had full villus atrophy in all 4 areas of the gut they tested. She’s several years down the line and only just recovering. So fight for the docs to find a proper cause.