Bloody stools

I'm pretty sure this was an isolated incident, but Ana had blood in her stools today. After having DH verify it was in fact blood, and then photographing it (because we're anal like that- pun intended), I called the pedi. Since this hasn't happened before, she isn't sick, and wasn't in pain passing the poop I'm a little concerned. We are seeing the doctor on Tuesday after a long conversation with her today. I have to keep a poop log this weekend and not let Ana flush before I inspect it :bad: Thankfully I work for Ana and she refuses to wipe her poop yet :bad: :bad:

So I'm worried. I have Crohn's disease so I'm a little hypersensitive. Any one's kids have one random episode of blood in their stool that turned out to be nothing?

 

I haven't had that problem for my kids, but I have for myself. Could she have hemorrhoids? Or a hard to pass stool? Sometimes that can cause bloody stools.

 

One of my DDs had bloody stool and it turned out to be lactose intolerance. Since we went dairy free (or used lactaid) we have had no problems...but her was very loose stools too and dark blood.

Red blood is most likely a fisure (cut or rip right on the rectum- usually when a kid passes a very large or hard stool) or hemerroids.

If it is dark/black it is usually from higher up in the intestine and could be a virus, digestive issues, or something else.

Hope it is something simple!

 

Thanks everyone. We are seeing the pedi this afternoon, but after keeping a poop log for her, I think she is a little constipated. She actually said that to me this morning while on the potty "Mommy I think I'm a little constipated." Sad that a 3 1/2 year old knows what that means So I think the doctor appointment will be mostly about what MORE we can do to avoid this. She already has tons of fiber in her diet, we limit dairy to 3 cups a day of milk, drinks tons of milk, eats lots of fruit... But I'm sure there is more we can do to help her.

 

I'm a poo queen. And we had lots of red blood poop from fissures.

Royce had severe chronic constipation from about 3 months to 24 months. What started this for him was that he had a little constipation from switching from the name-brand to generic formula. Since the poo got hard and clay like, too hard to pass, it would bottleneck in his "poop-chute" and stretch it out. (I like the clinical terms. )

It would continue to get harder and larger, even if he was able to poop some of it out, there was always some harder poop stuck up there keeping it all stretched out. Glycerin suppositories worked for the poop that was furthest out, and most dry and most tacky. Then the next day, the constipation would start again because the chute was so stretched, there was no need for the poop to leave his body. It's like the poop was saying, "Ooh let's party here, there's lots of room!"

We tried everything. Prunes, prune juice, plum juice, pear juice, pears, oatmeal instead of rice, whole grain everything, the highest fiber foods. He was getting a suppository at least once a week, when I finally put my foot down and asked what could I do besides the glycerin suppositories. My answer from the doctor? Miralax. So he started the Miralax at 8 months. (Then he was anemic on top of the constipation, so he had an additional 3 months of iron, yuck!)

What a friggin god-send. Basically we started out with a capful (17g), then titered it to the correct amount. He was on it for a year, then when he was able to poop regularly and a good consistency for a VERY long time, we started removing it from his diet. He stayed on it for a lot longer than you would think, because we kept him on it, even when he was regular because we wanted the chute to return to it's usual shape, not stretched out.

He still gets it if he goes 2 days without pooping, but he's just a slow pooper like his momma.

 

Thanks for the info Bex. We had to do Miralax for her in April when she got horribly constipated while PT'ing/following a stomach virus. It was bad. After a week of suppositories and then enemas, the doctor said to do the Miralx. Six days on the Miralax and she FINALLY pooped. Awful and traumatizing to her (and me). When we went to the doc today she said "they aren't going to look at my bottom are they?" Poor kid.

Since she is going everyday, but not enough we are going to tweek her diet a bit, and do some natural things to help her out. But if need be, I still have the Miralax in the medicine cabinet.

 

You'll be happy to know I think I used my 5000th post on your daughter's poop problems. :ibiggrin:

 

Love it!!! :laughing:

 

I know I'm bumping this topic up, but we are dealing with bloody poop again This its not constipation-related. I'm worried because I have Crohn's and started having symptoms around 3-4 years old. I have a call into the doctor. My poor punkin.

 

Oh no!!

I hope they find out what is behind it. Poor punkin.

 

:hug:

 

Thanks guys. We are going back to the pedi on Tuesday, and I'm working on getting her into a pedi GI. She thriving and happy so I am hopefully its nothing, but still, I'm worried (its been a worry-full week- first M's toe and now A's butt- ah motherhood).

 

Oh wow, I am just seeing this. I hope its nothing Leighann. :hug: I hate the worry!!

 

:hug: Leighann...I just saw this thread for the first time. Please keep us posted!

 

We went to the pedi this morning and we talked again about constipation. The blood still might be from a little cut in her rectum that is irritated by her hard poops. So we going to do Miralax for 3 weeks (1/2 cap full for 4 days, 1 cap full for 4 days, and then back down to 1/2 cap). And we have to collect 3 stool samples to send to the lab- especially if we see blood. The thought behind the Miralax is to soften her poops to the point where the little cut will heal, but if we see blood after this, we'll have to go to pedi GI to do more blood work and possible scope her I'm trying not to think of that, since I'm fairly confident we are still dealing with a constipation issue and nothing more. She is a thriving, rosey cheeked (i.e. not anemic), active girl. So thats my update. Poor punkin was a trooper for the whole thing and told the doctor "I drink lots of water to help get the poop out!"

 

:hug: Leighann! Thanks for the update and I hope the Miralax does the trick for her.

 

Aw, poor girl, and poor mommy too!

Searra ended up on Miralax for about 6 months before I finally weaned her off of it and knock on wood, we haven't had any significant issues again since. The first go around with Miralax, I only kept her on for about a month and then took her off. It was way too soon. Our pedi said it can take months before they really "forget" the vicious cycle of constipation, pain while pooping, holding it to avoid the pain, causing constipation, and on and on. Hopefully this is just a fissure and will heal quickly! :hug:

 

So the bloody poop saga continues. At A's last two pedi appointments she's tested positive for blood in her stool and then this weekend she had more blood, so we did three days of poop collection that I dropped off at the lab this morning.

Actually I drove to the first lab and they said they didn't do the test the pedi ordered anymore. I drove to the second lab and they said that can't do the test because they've had a cdiff outbreak and won't accept stool samples. Then I drove the pedi's office with the poop, and they told me to go back to the second lab get cards for the occult blood, and take the samples and spread them on the cards. The lab said I had to go out to my car to do it because they couldn't have any poop in the building. There I was in my van, smearing poop on these tiny cards. What a way to start the day :bad:

Now we wait to see if those test positive for blood too, and if yes we have to go the pedi GI. Thankfully I have an in with that office, so if I need to take her, I just have to make a couple of calls and we'll get in there asap.

I'm trying to stay positive about all this, but I'm still scared.

 

What an ordeal! I'm sorry. I really hope you get some answers soon.

We're dealing with bloody stool, too.

 

Oh damn. I was hoping that there would be good news!

(although the thought of doing poop smears in the car made me smile a teensy bit.)

 

:acute: It was a rather ridiculous way to start my day. In my van, heat blasting, snow falling, trying not to get poop all over the seats and myself. :crazy: There better be no blood in that poop though. I don't want to have to recreate this lovely scene if they send us to a pedi GI.

 

Please keep us posted! :grouphug:

 

I kept seeing this thread, but didn't open it until now. Because I just found blood (I think) in my daughter's poop At first I thought maybe it was a cranberry from my cereal, I can't remember if she tried a bite of mine or not. But the more I examined it, it seemed larger than the raisin size of the cranberry and more mucousy. It made my knees go weak examining it, so I hope I'm not making you queasy! Funny, because my first instinct was to take a picture like you guys said you did, but I didn't. Now after reading this thread, I wish I would have saved it - she went in the little potty, so it would have been easy enough to do. This is the first time I've ever noticed this, and she wasn't constipated - it wasn't a hard poop and there was no blood when I wiped her. I'm wondering if I should call the doctor after one occurrence. Please keep us posted with what you find out!

 

Denise I'm sorry you are dealing with this cr@p too (pun intended). I called after the first time we saw blood because of our family history. When in doubt I call. I figure I'm paying them so if I'm concerned, I should call. GL :hug:

 

It happened again yesterday so I called and they had me bring her in. I'm bringing a sample in later today.

 

Oh, Denise. I'm sorry! I hope all goes well.

 

:hug: Denise.

 

I saw you're going through this too? I hope everything is ok!

 

It cleared up after two weeks. We're waiting for the next routine appointment to address it unless it flares up again.

Are they having you do poop samples, too?

 

I think we have enough people to start a support group for twin moms of toddlers who have bloody poop :bad: Stephanie glad it cleared up on its own. Since I dropped off the poop to the lab last week I haven't seen any more blood in Ana's poop either. We have a scheduled f/u with the pedi on Tuesday so hopefully this is all over for us too. Denise, hang in there.

 

Bloody stool makes me nervous because this is one of the signs of hemorrhoids. And I heard that Hemorrhoid cure is kind of hard to find. Feels like it will never disappear and will be there forever. Try to give your child more fiber and water to avoid hard poops. Hope everything will be okay.

 

We had another f/u with the pedi this morning and I'm happy to report that there was NO blood in the samples I took to the lab 2 weeks ago!!! We are continuing to work on her diet to make sure she's getting the fiber she needs to 'stay on track,' and we have to do another stool sample in 3 weeks to make sure there is still no blood. I'm so happy because all of this points to the blood being from a fissure and not from something more serious and systemic. WOOHOO! My poor lil punkin has been such a trooper through this whole thing.

 

Yayyyy!!

/doing the poop dance.

 

That's great, Leighann!

(Who knew that we would one day be so excited about poop??)

 

And now my 7,500th post to resurrect this dead thread to ask how your daughter's poop problem turned out in the long term.