If you don't like talking about poop, then this post is not for you. If you're a mom, then you're likely up to your elbows in it right now, as you read.
Graedy has weird pooping patterns. He went through a 2 month phase where he only pooped once per week and it was very hard. Then, once he started eating food and drinking big people milk, his poop changed. It became very loose, very frequent and stinky. And I mean stinky. As in, open all the windows, apologize to the neighbours kind of stinky. I didn't think anything of it because he was happy, growing, pudgy and generally well.
Yesterday, I mentionned the poop problem to one of my co-workers. In no time flat, she had him diagnosed with cancer! Freaking out, I called Rich and my doctor and got an appointment for Graedy the next day (today). I picked up Graedy from my SIL's and didn't put him down the whole evening. I beat myself up for putting off his 1 year appointment, and I convinced myself that he was seriously ill.
Fast forward to this morning...I sat, tense, with Graedy in the doc's office. He's NOT DYING! Fiew! Dodged a bullet there! As she pointed out, people love to give scary, unsolicited advice and that cancer is a pretty far-fetched conclusion for toddler diarhea. If he was 60 or 70, then yeah, it could be something bad. For a 1 year old, it could be either of 3 things:
*an intolerance to milk or gluten or something else
*malabsorbtion (not being able to retain the good stuff in food cuz it goes right through him)
*his bowel is not yet mature and his body is adjusting to foods
On the bad side, he has been steadily slipping on the growth charts. He started out at the 75th% for weight, and dropped to 50%, and now 25%. Not a good thing, but he is otherwise healthy. That means that there is probably something that he is eating that he shouldn't. On a plus note, his head is huge (cuz he's smart like moi!). LOL
So, we are on a 2 week milk fast to see if that helps. If not, then we'll go on a gluten fast (?). Still nothing, I'll be collecting stool samples and getting tests done. We go back in 3 months for a weigh-in just to keep an eye on things.
Wish us luck!
3 comments:
Yeah, I had to deal with that stinky poop yesterday.. :) That sucks that he has to go with-out milk for 2 wks, poor guy. I'm sure it's nothing serious. He's happy, healthy looking and almost walking! He's so close I bet he can't almost taste it. :)
Oh, and he does have a huge head, like Abby, and it does indicate intelligence :)
Good luck and give that stinky boy xoxo's from us!
He's on soy milk, and he LOVES it! It tastes like a vanilla milkshake. I'll pass on the kisses to Stinker!
Oh Emilie, yesterday afternoon I wasn't up to my elbows in poop, but up to my eyebrows... and BB's eyebrows too. He came down with a stomach bug late last Friday night and has moved onto the diarrhea phase. It doesn't even smell like poop. It smells like poison.
What is it with people who feel the need to lead you down the path to expect the worst? You're a mom, you probably already waste far too much energy worrying about the worst, and then someone raises the bar for you.
There is a very strong history of celiac disease in DH's family. I'm planning to talk to my doc at BB's one-year appointment in a couple of weeks to see what hoops we have to jump through to get him tested when the time is right. In the meantime, I watch him like a hawk. This current bout of diarrhea coincides with him being introduced to foods containing gluten over the past month or so. Hopefully it clears up and isn't an indication that he has the disease.
BB was in the 100th percentile at all of his appointments. He hasn't seen the doc since he was six months old though, and I suspect that he's going to be in a much lower percentile this time. I'm nervous that they're going to make me feel bad about it. (I'm so sensitive that even a passing comment from the doc or his nurse will make me feel bad.)
Hopefully the milk fast will help. Going gluten-free can be a real pain. They slip that stuff into everything! But you do what you gotta do, right? :) Good luck to you and Graedon!
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