I have a beautiful 3 yeard old daughter (almost 3 1/2) who is only 27 pounds. She gained only 1 pound last year. For the past 6 months, her bowel movements have been a light green color on and off. However, for the past 3 months, the light green color is constant. It also has a strong foul smell. She has always been a picky eater and has always eaten very little. She also has strong smelling breath.
Her doctor never seems worried because she is always full of energy and has not lost any weight. Well I am worried! Has anyone experienced anything like this, is it normal for a 3 year old to weigh so little and not gain any weight..also is constant green poop, not occasional, normal? Should I take her to a gastroentologist? Please I would be very thankful for any input!!!!!
See if she will eat apples, and drink apple cider- locally the best I have found is Zieglers.
Simplexity has a probiotic I use for children called bifidus, and this company has it blended with a blue green algae that has all the minerals she needs.
Those would be the things I'd add, to normalize her gi tract.
best, k
My daughter had green stools until she was almost 3 years old, and her issue was intolerance of the milk protein, whey. As long as we kept that out of her diet, normal stools. When she had any food with whey (also casein on some labels), we were back to the green stools. I would push the doctor to keep checking, not accept 'this is normal'. Best of Luck!
My daughter is just over 4y and weighs a whopping 34lbs. My neice who just turned 3 weights 40lbs.... I know a 10y that only weights 50lbs. Some kids are just petite.
As for her BMs, they are usually the color of whatever went in. My daughter had green for 3 days until I remembered that we'd been eating blue iced birthday cake for 4 days!
Look at her diet. If she's only eating fruits and veggies then that could explain it. If she's eating blue gummies, that could explain it. As for going to the gastro, go ahead. It will give you a piece of mind and a check on the 'we got it checked out' list. If you do go, make sure its a pediatric dr.
M.
what is she eating? I know you said she's a picky eater but offer her only healthy foods and she'll only have those as choices. It makes perfect sense that if her mouth smells her bowels smell. That is one long tube you start at your mouth and it ends at your anus.
I strongly suggest keeping her on a clean, processed food free diet.
Start with some mild miso broth as that will strengthen her intestinal flora and sooth her bowels. Put in some brown rice and steamed veggies. If she will freak out of the veggies blend them and then put them in the soup. If that doesn't work, make a lentil soup (quick and easy to make and NOT FROM A CAN) and add the veggies and miso as flavor.
She doesn't have to eat a lot (as you say she doesn't eat much) just make sure what she DOES eat is healthy. That means no chicken nuggets or whatever fast food freezer quick foods she may prefer. It's not better just to get something in. No chemicals, no processed foods, no flours and no sugars. Her body is telling you something and you're obviously listening.
Don't give her sugar, that will make her stomach weaker and rob her of any essential nutrients.
If you ARE concerned about protein, don't stuff meat in her, that will clog her up. Give her some beans and quinoa. Quinoa is a complete food. Get some hemp seeds and sprinkle them and sesame seeds on her grains they are fun, flavorful and full of omega 3, 6 AND 9.
Remember, your doctor get only 3 hours of nutritional training in medical school and that's as an elective. His business is other stuff, not proper foods.
My youngest daughter had similar problems. She was underweight for her age and the green smelly bowel movements. It took some doing between the doctor and me to figure out the problem but we did. For starters get her to a different doctor. It is pretty clear that her doctor is a jerk. It is not normal for her bowels to be that way. I wouldn't worry about the weight but I would the bowel movements. My daughters started when she was younger than 3. What we did was only give her certain foods for a week. I had to write down everything she ate. It took about a month but we found that anything with the #10 yellow dye in it caused the problem. Also, no carrots, oranges, etc. She couldn't have anything that was orange or yellow. It stopped the problem. She was always underweight but the bowel problems were solved. It is very common for a child to have a food allergy and I was told that the #10 dye is a very common problem. The good news is that she out grew it. Now she is not allergic to any foods just everything else but Elm trees. But for sure I would start a food diary and keep track. Also if you are giving her citrus stop that right away. But do find an doctor that is willing to work with you in solving this problem.
My pediatrician told me that the only time you have to worry about poop is if it is white, or if it has blood in it.
My daughter had green poop as well.
As for the breath, is it a constant thing, or did it just start? That can be a sign of a sinus infection.
If you really don't think the doctor is taking you seriously though, maybe you could go to a new one, or maybe even see another doc in the same practice?
My boys are almost 3 1/2 and weigh 29 lbs if it makes you feel any better. They aren't gaining much weight either. They are extremely picky eaters, too. They've got stinky BM's...I wouldn't worry about it, but that's just me.
My daughter has also struggled to gain weight, but she does not suffer from poor bowel movements. She is a picky eater and we tried everything to help her to gain weight. We found a great chocolate shake called Hi5 that has a great protein source and a ton of the vitamins and minerals she has probably been missing because of her diet. Once she began drinking her "Hi5 milk" she has gained two pounds! If you want more info on it, just message me.
Hi honey,
When my son was born, he weighed nine pounds. Within 3 months, he was down below his birth weight. No one could tell me what was wrong--just that I wasn't nursing him enough. Gee thanks (I was).
I ended up taking a stool sample to a vet (that's veterinarian) and having it tested for parasites. He had very smelly, runny green stool. Turned out he had giardia. Yes, giardia. No, my son did not go drink out of a stream right after he was born. I had apparently contracted it some years before, still had it, and passed it on to him.
The moral of the story is...clearly you know there's something wrong. When the mama's radar goes off, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Do what you need to do.
If she has bad smells from both ends and isn't growing as fast as you think she should, keep digging.
If your doctor won't have the lab check out a stool sample, I would find another way. Hint, hint, hint....
I would check for parasites first. My son had his first dose of the anti-parasitic medicine and started gaining weight immediately (on my "inadequate" milk) He put on over a pound a week for two months and then leveled off like a "normal" baby.
Yes, the mention of probiotics is good. Avoiding fluoride in any form, genetically modified foods, and using some cleansing herbs would be wise. If I can do anything to help out, feel free to message me directly.
Best wishes and blessings to you and your daughter.
I do believe green poop would be a sign of lack of beef in the diet, which if your daughter is getting the protein she needs through white meat or plants and beans then she should be fine. I have a great vegetarian shake your daughter might like that is full of protein. Email me if you would like a link.
Organic Greek yogurt is another source of good protein. Lots of fruits and vegetables and a good multivitamin to help too!
My 3 1/2yr old son also has poor wt gain. Right before he was 2 they did a failure to thrive workup. We did Pediasure (or an equivalant) and 1/2 pack of carnation instant breakfast daily at one point. Between 2 & 3yr he gained almost 4 lb. He went in earlier this month for a rash and had only gained 1/2 lb in 6mo so the pedi sent us to a GI specialist. We are doing labs he ordered but the likelihood is just that he is a petite child - 5th percentile for wt & 5-10th for ht. He is active and is a picky eater at times, others he just wants to play and not eat. We get him to eat what we can and the GI doc said we could just do 1 full pack of carnation instant breakfast daily and not worry about buying Pediasure or anything. And just try to add calories (the good kine) where we can. We will be doing the labs for GI today.
I would probably say go ahead and take her to GI just to be on the safe side, but if you and dad (or even other family members) are little, she may just be a small kid. Good luck!
sometimes when food passes too quickly in our intestines, the bile doesn't have enough time to turn the stool brown colored.. that said, consider that IF your child "might" be passing food too quickly, one perhaps there is not enough absorption time of vitamins/fats.. hence, he is not gaining weight..
I would check with a different doctor and get a second opinion. In my opinion, although I am not doctor, but unless your child is ingesting LOTS of leafy greens and or vitamins like say wheatgrass, it's unlikely that his stool should constantly be green..... I would ask the doctor to do a stool test AND too... could be the gallbladder which produces bile is somehow not functioning quite right.. also, bad breath is a sign of something too.. possible digestion issues... bile production as you need it in order to break down fat......... I somehow feel it's related here.. truly... I think a second opinion is warranted even if nothing comes up..
