What are the signs of lactose intolerance?

[3pookies]

My poor little guy has had the worst diarhea for weeks now. I mean, he's been going like 7 times a day, sometimes more! His poor little tushy is so red and raw. I asked the ped about it today and got a response I just wasn't happy with. She claims that there is a condition called "toddler diarhea" in which 18 month-3 year olds develop unexplained diarrhea for prolonged periods of time. I'm thinking maybe it's from lactose intolerance since he eats tons of dairy.

[ResqMomma]

I am not sure...

But I think diarrhea, and stomach upset are a couple of signs..

Has he been running a fever or anything like that?

[3pookies]

Nope, no fever. Just these awful explosive diapers...

[ResqMomma]

Wish I could find my Medical Dictionary..... *growl*

[DDVMM]

Is he acting sick? eating well? Why not take him off all milk products for a week or so and see what happens? I can imagine how frustrating that can be!

Also, has he been swimming lately - I have heard that chlorine can give babies diarrhea.

[~RD~]

Meredith,

I have never been diagnosed as lactose intolerant but I can tell you that if I have milk, ice cream, etc... I get BAD stomach cramps, diarrhea, and HORRID breath. Pleasant, huh?!?! lol

I hope that Noah is better VERY soon.

[gijojo]

I just talked to my allergist about this for one of my daughters...his advice to rule it out...take all dairy out of the diet for at least 2 weeks and then reintroduce it all. If it is dairy, the problem will return...if not, there should be no symptoms.

I too have been told that it is probably "toddler diarhea" UGH!!! That is not an answer, especially to a mom that has IBS and doesn't want her children to have it...

[Lori]

My son has chronic runny stools (just like you are mentioning) and he has SEVERE intolerances to any milk product. Even when we take it out, though, he can have the runny stools. My son clearly has severe GI issues....but, runny stools can CERTAINLY be from food intolerances/allergies/etc.

Lori

[Amy]

We had that with Megan when she was Noah's age. We took away milk and the "explosions" stopped. She was on Lactaid Milk until recently and did really well. We've now been able to put her back on 1% regular milk.

If it is Lactose intolerance, watch for hidden lactose in things like hot dogs and other processed meat. Yogert tends to be ok because much of the lactose is broken down by the cultures. Avoid soft and processed cheeses, but hardened aged cheese is actually very low in lactose.

It's trial and error. I'd do a two week trial with no lactose. If you see improvement then just ease him back on to some dairy and other foods with lactose until you figure out what he can and cannot tolerate.

[JanetOH]

One of my ds, Andrew, had what was diagnosed with "toddler diarreah" after many blood tests, gi tests, etc.

It seemed worse when we gave him milk (not any other dairy) and stuff with high fructose syrup. So, we eliminated food that is not recommended for loose stools and tried to eat more constipating type food (bananas, apples, cheese) and seemed to get a little better, but never really went away until he was close to 3yo.

By the way, Andrew was tested for a milk protein allergy as well as lactose intolerance and all tests came back negative.

Also, instead of giving soy milk, we drank rice milk (vanilla flavor- Rice Dream is the best).

-Janet