14 Month Old with Loose Stool

Try goat milk. It's a lot easier for children to digest. You don't lose much in the way of calories and you don't have the hormone mimic issues of soy. Do you dilute his juice? Children this age should have 1/2 juice and 1/2 water. Cuts way down on the diaper rash. Even so, he shouldn't have more than 8oz of juice a day. The other thing to look at is his diet. Maybe too much fruit? My boys are fruit freaks and will eat it to the exclusion of anything else if I let them. I know they are getting too much when the stool gets loose.

First of all does you child have a runny nose right now? That can cause runny or loose stools. With all of the allergies in the air, many kids have runny noses right now.

I am not a Doctor, but could be your child cannot handle dairy at all.
I found this information about Whole Soy milk. This may be something you could try. Notice in this article it talks about what you will need to add to your child's diet and that you need to make sure the soy milk includes certain vitamins...

http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-safe-to-give-my-toddl...

Most likely dairy (checkout www.notmilk.com), it is very common. Could be other things, avoid high fructose corn syrup, msg, hvp, fd&c colors, sucralose (splenda, equal). Learn to read labels you will be surprised at how many things have these and they are not good for anybody. If you have a Whole Foods close by you might want to check it out, they have more organic (to limit pesticide & chemicals )& baby products there. Also, look into a probiotic (they make them for babies), and they help add friendly bacteria to digestive system. C

www.mybiopro.com (learn how to protect your family from cell phone radiation)

Hi K.,
I don't have any advice as to what to do about his stool problems, but I did want to let you know about a clinic here in Katy for people who don't have insurance. It is called Breath of Life and it is on Kingsland. You may want to call and see what their rates are. I've heard that they are very reasonable. I hope you find the solution to his troubles.
Good luck,
H.

K.,
You gave the answer in your post- take him off all milk. He may be allergic to milk caseins which is not the same as lactose intollerant.
When the loose stools have stopped, start giving him soy or goat's milk. See how he does. I would not consider giving him raw milk. While TB in cows is rare today, I wouldn't take the chance with a little child. Pasteurizing is a safe process for ridding the milk of harmful bacteria.
Some children can handle the proteins if in cheese or youghurt but not milk. After you have it under control, you could try adding those one at a time and see how he does.
Hope this helps.
K. c

Hi K.,
I would try a couple of things, if you're willing and able. One is an elimination diet. It may not be just the milk, it could be other forms of dairy and wheat products as well. You can do a google search for elimination diets and see how to do it. You usually remove all possible offenders for a 2 week period and keep the diet pretty bland and then slowly and one at a time add them back in and watch for a few days to see what happens.
Another option is to try raw milk. The pasteurization process really wreaks havoc on a system...especially a babies! My 2 kids are both on raw milk (as is my hubby and me) and we love it! It's so good for you. If he is still having issues with even the raw milk, then you could switch to goat's milk which is very similar to breastmilk and very easily digested in a baby's tummy.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Blessings,
A.

Eliminate all milk and milk products for about a month. Use soy or rice milk, soy yogurts and cheeses (check to make sure they have no milk protein). If it clears up, then you know that it is a sensitivity/allergy to dairy. Hopefully something that he will out grow. An elimination diet will be cheaper than a trip to the doctor's office in any case.

Milk seems to be an obvious allergy! I wouldn't substitute with soy, though. Soy is also a common allergen and it is known for causing estrogen production as well (something you don't want in your son!)

I wish you the best,
S., mom to 5

Along with trying to eliminate whether he is allergic to a food try probiotics! It helps the healthy bacteria that lives in our bodies digestive systems. When a person has a bout of "loose stool" it can flush out the natural flora that our bodies depend on to help with digestion. If he's having continuous problems this may be causing them to be worse. It's vicious cycle. Loose stool flushes out the good bacteria, not having enough good bacteria can cause loose stools.

I would normally recommend yogurt as a great source but since there might be a milk issue happening I would say try the granules first. You can find them at most pharmacies. They are over the counter but they keep them in the fridge behind the counter. Ask the pharmacist how much to give him according to his weight. Our daughter had somewhat of the same problem and we tried switching her to all the different formulas and nothing worked. Even soy. When we started mixing the granules into her bottles and within about a week her loose stools were better and she was a happy baby again. We don't even have diaper rash issues since we've kept her on a steady diet of yogurt since then.

Hope this helps!!!
Jen
http://www.mommysjoy.com

Both of my kids had trouble digesting the proteins in dairy. With them, it showed up as painful gas and constipation, followed by loose stools. It something they've both grown out of, but they had it from the time they were born. My kids were able to digest hard cheeses (like cheddar) and yogurts (in which the proteins are broken up) long before milk.
You can try goats milk, which others have recommended, or soy milk. There's even a soy milk version of those nutrition drinks for kids, but you have to order them on line. You might try some of the yogurt drinks or a Kefir drink, which is similar to yogurt. Just remember, it's also okay for your kid to just drink water.

Good luck!

My son was the same way up until about 16 or 17 mths. The docotr said to switch to soy milk so we did and it didnt really make a difference. i think it was when he started eating more solids than he ws drinking liquids it stopped. We are even back on regular milk now. Some days its still not a solid peice but I think it's just when he gets to much milk. Don't worry unless it goes once he is eating all solids and cant have a solid bm.