Food Looks The Same In Her Poop..

[norahsmommy]

I have endless issues with my 1 yr old daughter and her digestive tract. We have seen an allergist. All he did was a skin prick test that said she is allergic to nothing they tested her for, including wheat and dairy. I am not sure how reliable that is. Anyway he did say to remain gluten free and at her 15 month check we would test some more. Not really sure what tests he is planning. Anyway I have noticed something about my daughters poop. If she is gluten free for a long time, a month or so, her poop will look and smell (sorry) like normal poop. However if she has had gluten her poop will be totally weird. White and clumpy, grey mixed with brown, cream cheese and mustard looking and after that stage I can identify many of the foods she has eaten that day in her poop. Rice will come out in the shape and texture of rice, quinoa will come out that way as well. Grapes come out smooshed but skins still on and raisins will come out looking like slightly plump raisins. Is this in any way normal for those particular foods or is she having trouble digesting foods?

[fakename]

I'll be honest with you, I'm not an expert, but those food don't seem to be coming out normally. Granted that this is coming from an adult but still, I think it is not normal for even a baby. Some cause for concern is presented.

[mushroom]

Is this food passing through in normal transit time, or is it going straight through her like a train? Obviously, digestion is not taking place, either because the food is not spending long enough in the gut, or the condition in the gut is not right for digestion - take your choice here, lack of stomach acid, lack of digestive enzymes or..... Defilnitely something to discuss at some length with her doctor, which I am certainly not, but this should not be happening. I have had raw food pass undigested in the past, too, I must admit, but for a baby - usually they have really messy poo, not distinguishable foods

[beebs]

I have endless issues with my 1 yr old daughter and her digestive tract. We have seen an allergist. All he did was a skin prick test that said she is allergic to nothing they tested her for, including wheat and dairy. I am not sure how reliable that is. Anyway he did say to remain gluten free and at her 15 month check we would test some more. Not really sure what tests he is planning. Anyway I have noticed something about my daughters poop. If she is gluten free for a long time, a month or so, her poop will look and smell (sorry) like normal poop. However if she has had gluten her poop will be totally weird. White and clumpy, grey mixed with brown, cream cheese and mustard looking and after that stage I can identify many of the foods she has eaten that day in her poop. Rice will come out in the shape and texture of rice, quinoa will come out that way as well. Grapes come out smooshed but skins still on and raisins will come out looking like slightly plump raisins. Is this in any way normal for those particular foods or is she having trouble digesting foods?

My 17 month old has exactly this problem - he is having an endoscopy for celiac testing on the 20th.

He recently came back on a stool test as having low pancreatic enzymes which cause digestion problems. There can be many reasons for this. Celiac is just one of many. But basically 15 hours after he has eaten something it comes out intact. Not everything mind - but lots of stuff. Rice, grapes, blueberries, beans. His stool is foul full of oil and mucus - makes me sick just thinking about it.

So might be wise to get a stool test done. Get rid of the allergist and get yourself a well respected Paed GI, I think that is probably the best thing.

[tarnalberry]

While that's not abnormal in babies just starting solids, the fact that you're seeing it shift means that there's a problem. I think you're on the right track. Honestly, I'd keep him gluten free, and if you want to try challenging in a few years when he can better communicate, great. But for now, there's nothing inherently unhealthy about the gluten free diet and it sounds like it helps his digestion significantly.

[Skylark]

I have endless issues with my 1 yr old daughter and her digestive tract. We have seen an allergist. All he did was a skin prick test that said she is allergic to nothing they tested her for, including wheat and dairy. I am not sure how reliable that is. Anyway he did say to remain gluten free and at her 15 month check we would test some more. Not really sure what tests he is planning. Anyway I have noticed something about my daughters poop. If she is gluten free for a long time, a month or so, her poop will look and smell (sorry) like normal poop. However if she has had gluten her poop will be totally weird. White and clumpy, grey mixed with brown, cream cheese and mustard looking and after that stage I can identify many of the foods she has eaten that day in her poop. Rice will come out in the shape and texture of rice, quinoa will come out that way as well. Grapes come out smooshed but skins still on and raisins will come out looking like slightly plump raisins. Is this in any way normal for those particular foods or is she having trouble digesting foods?

I would guess that she is celiac. The fact that it takes a month or so gluten-free suggests that she had malabsorption that is healing, especially if you feed her the same foods and they come out as normal stool rather than whole. I used to have that same problem and it went away gluten-free.

Skin pricks don't test for celiac at all. They're for food allergies, and they're known to be somewhat inaccurate. She needs a celiac panel, but it's hard to get positive results in kids. She would also need to be eating gluten for 2-3 months to have a hope of a positive celiac test at all.

[FooGirlsMom]

The advice here is quite good. The fact that a gluten-free diet returns things to normal is a sign.

If you still have trouble, you might also have her tested for Cystic Fibrosis. My best friends' girls have it and one presents primarily in the lungs, the other in the intestines (this child is now diabetic). CF causes the body to malabsorb fat (greasy stools). So the kids are thin & have some of the same GI problems as those with Celiac. I'm not saying your child has CF, but CF kids don't digest food either & they have to take very powerful enzymes to be able to digest. As babies, their capsules are opened & sprinkled on applesauce or yogurt to get them down before they are old enough to swallow pills.

What you are describing is cause for concern. As Mushroom said, it can be enzymes or other issues. Not sure this is one you are going to resolve yourself. Keep at the doctor (or switch) until you get someone to listen to you. Being unable to digest food can cause a child not to thrive and if it's something more serious like CF (which can be proven through genetic testing), then immediate & continuing treatment is a must.

Please keep us posted.

FooGirlsMom

[norahsmommy]

I worry because she was a big newborn, 22 inches and 8.1 lbs. My other kids were 6 lbs and 5.11 lbs and 18 and 19 inches long. She was in the 75 percentile for weight until her 9 month check and then fell to the 25 percentile, she was still there at her 1 yr check. They said they don't want to see her fall off her curve any more. I am thinking she is either missing a crucial digestive enzyme, is celiac or both. I vaguely remember bananas leaving visible traces in my other kids poop but it wasn't like I could look at it and it looked like a banana chunk. My youngest daughters food just looks like dirty, slightly worse for wear food she had to eat the previous evening. She has dinner and her morning poop (if she has one) has that food in it. my family doesn't really beleive me that she may be celiac because it takes SO LONG for things to get normal again. All they say is "well she hasn't had gluten for x days so it can't be that!" but I still think it is.

[Skylark]

It's the fact that it takes SO LONG that makes me think it's more likely to be celiac and less likely to be an allergy.

[FooGirlsMom]

Ditto with Skylark. At this point, with your daughter not thriving, and having the malabsorption issues, do whatever it takes to get her to normal. Gluten free isn't a dangerous diet. It's still nutritious and healthful. It just lacks certain ingredients. Everyone has diets that lack certain foods even if it's just because they dislike those foods. How many kids won't eat peas or broccoli but will eat green beans? Lots.

Taking her gluten-free, if you get results from it, is information enough. If that doesn't fix it within the time frame you saw before, please follow up with other testing (and possibly genetic as I mentioned before).

Hang in there,

FooGirlsMom

[beebs]

I worry because she was a big newborn, 22 inches and 8.1 lbs. My other kids were 6 lbs and 5.11 lbs and 18 and 19 inches long. She was in the 75 percentile for weight until her 9 month check and then fell to the 25 percentile, she was still there at her 1 yr check. They said they don't want to see her fall off her curve any more. I am thinking she is either missing a crucial digestive enzyme, is celiac or both. I vaguely remember bananas leaving visible traces in my other kids poop but it wasn't like I could look at it and it looked like a banana chunk. My youngest daughters food just looks like dirty, slightly worse for wear food she had to eat the previous evening. She has dinner and her morning poop (if she has one) has that food in it. my family doesn't really beleive me that she may be celiac because it takes SO LONG for things to get normal again. All they say is "well she hasn't had gluten for x days so it can't be that!" but I still think it is.

Yeah - this is exactly like my son- last nights dinner still intact the next day in his stools. As someone mentioned before the most common reason for pancreatic enzyme deficiency is Cystic Fibrosis. My little one had a sweat test a couple of weeks ago and thankfully was negative. I did some reading on the subject in medical journals and they say as many as 8-30% of untreated children with Celiac can present with Pancreatic enzyme deficiency. So celiac can absolutely cause it as well.

If she seems better gluten free then by all means go for it. I am currently making sure my little one eats as much gluten as possible as he is going for his endo next month - and while it is hard and scary and awful to see him sick all the time - I just want it over with - I want him diagnosed and I want him healthy. Personally I don't want him to have to go through this again at a later date. And not sure what it is like there but here schools and preschools are under no obligation to make sure your kids are gluten free unless they have an official diagnosis. Anyhow -this is just me - and I totally understand why others would leave testing and just go gluten free. The only thing is that I think if her poos are like that then she should deffo be tested for pancreatic enzyme deficiency - its just a stool test nothing invasive- and if its positive for that she will have a sweat test to rule out CF. Not trying to scare you at all - but best to rule it out I reckon.

Good luck!

[brendab]

The bananas in the poop reminded me of my son who once had a gluten reaction where he ate something with gluten in it along side of a banana and within a few hours he had a REALLY horrible movement with chunks of banana's in it. I have NEVER seen banana come out the other end before! I still suspect he is celiac even though they cannot prove it.