My son is three years old, and his bowel movements are still very soft and similar to bowel movements of infants. Occasionally, the bowels are harder/firmer, but they tend to be more of the soft and goopy side. Does this indicate a health problem of any sort? Or more of a dietary issue? I just haven't heard of this happening and can't find a good online resource. Thanks!
My son had the same thing and it turned out he has a moderate allergy to dairy. He also went a lot, 3 or 4 times a day. It is probably something he is eating.
Another possibility is celiac disease (inability to process gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye). My 5 year old son was recently diagnosed with this when the soft bowel movements progressed to diarrhea and stomach pain. I would talk to your doctor and ask what he/she suggests you do next. We tried eliminating milk and cutting back on juice first, but then were given a referral to a pediatric specialist when there was no sign of improvement. He ordered blood and stool tests, and that's how we found out about the celiac disease. The good news is if you change the diet to eliminate the trigger, the symptoms go away. Good luck.
I think it could indicate an allergy or food sensitivity. If the doc doesn't think that it's worth an allergy test, you could try feeding him just pears, apples, bananas, rice, and oatmeal (and maybe you could risk a few other foods that are low on the possible allergy list) for three days. If his bowels improve, then you know it's probably based on food issues. Hopefully then the docs will endorse an allergy test. If allergies come back negative, it could be a food sensitivity. It really is helpful to have an allergy test, so that we don't end up assigning the symptoms to the wrong cause (I was misdiagnosed with a dairy allergy and didn't figure out that I actually had a salicylate sensitivity until I was 30!).
I would ask your doctor to be sure. Very often it's related to what we eat. Does he eat fiber? Lots of fruit or juice (can make it runny)... etc. You could also try to give him a daily probiotic to balance out the bacteria in his bowel and see if that works to make them firmer. May not be an issue at all, but I'd check w/ the Dr.
