Please diagnose my 14mo (nothing too serious I think)

[Sanne Panne]

What do you think? I think it's a tummy bug but I'm not sure it's normal for it to last this long.

A normally always healthy and happy, well sleeping 14.5 month old girl has been "off" for 10 days.

It started around Saturday 10th, with some runny poos (2-3 a day). She still has these although over the past couple of days she's upgraded to one runny one and one normal one. She vomited three times in these 10 days: once in the car seat during a long drive and once in her cot when she probably had a big burp "behind" the formula and food that came out. And then once just a tiny bit during another long car ride. She hated the actual vomiting but was perfectly smily in all her smelliness immediately after.

Her sleep has been pretty bad: from almost always sleeping from 7pm-7am on a dreamfeed she's gone to 2-3 wakings a night (during which she drinks quite a bit of formula) and then waking for the day due to a big poo at 6am.

She LOOKS perfectly healthy, doesn't seem weak, hasn't had a temperature or a rash - there are no mother's instinct alarm bells ringing at all but she cries a lot more than usual during the day and I'm not sure if it's cramps, teething, both or something else on top of it.

For a few days we gave her very bland foods but have picked up some more normal foods again. Her appetite is generally fine except for one or two days last week. She drinks ok, enough wee in her nappies.

What could this be besides a mild but veeery slowly healing intestinal bug? (I had one day of mild discomfort myself but the rest of the family has been fine).

The only thing out of the ordinary has been chicken pox vaccination on the Thursday before the Saturday it started. She's never reacted to any vaccination...

Any ideas? Tips? I doubt the GP can/will do anything (I called last week, she told me to call back if things didn't improve by such and such day and the diarrhea has improved somewhat...) so I'm asking you if you have any experience or ideas.

Thanks!

[danatanovic]

Hi Sanne,

What colour stools is yor daughter passing?Smelly??

No temp?

Any signs of abdominal discomfort? ie not just when shes having diarrhoea?

Does she cramp,bend over,pull her legs up @ any time?

Points to her tummy crying?

Have you introduced any new foods into her diet recently??(prior to this illness)

It does sound rather viral but you could take a stool sample to your gp for her to have it analized to check for viral or bacterial infections ( you'll need 2 stool samples for these tests.)

Regards,

Dana RSCN

[Sanne Panne]

Yellowy, wet with bits, smelly (sorry for the details).

Yes moments of discomfort also when not just about to poo, I think the increased crying has to do with it (generally more cranky and occasionally a big screamy cry).

No pointing at the tummy. No bending over or pulling legs up. No temperature (she's not prone to having a temperature at all though. Neither of my kids has ever had a fever, my 3yo has had a warm forehead only once in her life so maybe they just don't easily react with fever).

But she does kick her legs and straighten/curl her body sometimes during a feed. I often heard her bowels rumbling during a feed when it was worse last week. But the crying is still there. Also at night. She's not always hungry when she cries at night although she generally does go back to sleep with a bit of warm formula.

New foods: no. We did start mixing formula with cow's milk back in July (as a way to phase formula out) but had pretty much stopped doing that in September (out of laziness, not a bad reaction to the milk for all I know). She's not had any reaction to any food so far.

I'll give the GP a call to see if I can pick some jars up for a sample (assuming that's how it goes - do I just scrape it from her nappy?)

[Ruth_Baldock]

I'd be inclined to say teething- Seb went through this around 14/15mo. I do think there is a mild bug going round, having had something like that myself, and seb having slightly loose poos and off sleep (he's off his food as per bloody always too...)

[Sanne Panne]

Ruth, she has indeed not had any new teeth in a long time (now 4 upper and 2 lower but the last came in June or so)... Just not sure whether to give her nurofen at night as it may help with teeth but mess with the tummy. Great! And my Dutch paracetamol suppositories will probably also not be very well "received" at the moment ;)

Thanks for your advice Dana, what do you think based on my answers?

Just asked our poor nanny to scoop the nappy out of the bin in case the GP asks me to provide a sample when I'm off work tomorrow...

[Saffron]

Try giving the suppository when your LO is deeply asleep. A single dose of neurofen or calpol (oral or suppository) should not cause any digestive distress.

When my daughter had viral diarrhoea last year, the GP suggested taking a stool sample if it didn't clear up in 2-3 weeks. Bacterial infections tend to take longer to clear from babies' intestines.

You LO acutally sounds like she's not getting worse. She's probably just fine. If it puts your mind at ease to consult with a GP, then that's what I'd do too.

[sophiechristophy]

i vote for teething too.

[Sanne Panne]

Thanks Saffron and SophieChr, I guess we will never really know for sure - she may have 4 teeth come through tomorrow but that wouldn't mean she didn't also have a bug :)

I think the occasional vomiting points to her digestive system being a bit more upset than I think it would be from teething but I can be wrong. Will hand a sample in at the GP tomorrow knowing it will come back with nothing spectacular.

I put some infant probiotic powder in her formula tonight (and will keep doing that for a while) and I'll give her some Nurofen at her dreamfeed tonight. Hope we all sleep better tonight!

[minder]

I would have thought it would be the chickenpox vaccine affecting her in some way i.e. if she had this 2 days before symptoms started.

Or it could be something to do with mixing cow's milk with formula? I've never heard of this so if you've just finished doing this and gone back to formula, could this be why?

14 month olds are so unpredictable with their poos/digestive systems.

[danatanovic]

Yes just scrape it from her nappy & pop into the pots.(refridgerate prior to popping it into your GP)

It could be viral or a food intolerance.

Just get her stools checked for your peace of mind.

[Sanne Panne]

Dana, I brought the sample in (GP only gave me one pot), the timing was good so I didn't even need to refrigerate it.

I'll post the results just in case others have similar questions in the future.

[Sanne Panne]

Well it improved over the weekend but now it's all liquid again. Only difference is she had a small amount of cheese and probiotic yoghurt yesterday. But she used to devour dairy without the slightest problem for months and months. She started having a snotty cold yesterday too but that can't be related to something that started 16 days ago.

Called the GP, stool results all good. Possible causes are temporary lactose intolerance post infection. Or toddler's diarrhoea. Nice! We have an appointment tomorrow.