# Food going right through her (TMI WARNING)



## emnjjsmom (Nov 1, 2006)

DD2's food seems to pass right through her. She is still breastfed, although she does get 8 oz of milk a day. She is 14 months old on the 12th.

I feed her 3 meals a day plus SEVERAL snacks in between.

Say for breakfast I feed her a banana and some oatmeal, almost exactly 2 hours after breakfast, she will be poo-ing that out, and it looks almost the same as it went in. Whole banana chunks and whole oats. Same thing happens again for lunch, and again for supper. Snacks are less obvious because they are smaller.

On average, she poops around 5 times a day.

This girl eats probably twice as much as I do in a day, yet her weight gain has slowed WAY down.

At her 12 month well baby, her pediatrician didn't seem concerned. But she is 14 months old now and it almost seems to be getting worse.

Does this seem normal to you guys??? Anyone else have kids with this issue? Is it just a high metabolism? I'm just worried that she isn't breaking the foods down enough to actually get nutrients out of them.


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## emnjjsmom (Nov 1, 2006)

Anyone??


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## FiddleMama (Feb 27, 2007)

That sounds normal to me. We're used to seeing whole pieces of corn, beans, etc in our son's diaper. He's 14 months old too. As long as she's eating well and eliminating well, I don't think there's anything to be concerned about. I think it's also pretty normal for the weight gain to go down a little at this age because they're so busy moving around. Have her sleep habits changed? I was surprised to learn from my uncle who is a sleep expert that sleep is intrinsically connected to growth in children.

I remember asking our pedi- "is he getting any nutrients if the food seems to just be moving right through?" and she assured me it was normal.


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## khrys (Aug 1, 2005)

I think it might be worth getting a second opinion, that doesn't seem normal to me. Undigested food in poops can be a sign of food intolerances or inflammation in the digestive system (from the book "How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy"). This is from an adult with undigested food issues, he has other symptoms also, but it might give you some ideas:
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/gastro...ges/37549.html
HTH!


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## Lila (Dec 5, 2001)

I agree with Khrys, you should probably see a doctor to make sure it's not something more serious. That said, I have seen this in my toddlers at some points too, and it usually passed. If she's still gaining weight and acting normally, it is probably nothing to worry about.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

how many teeth does she have? there is a biochemical trigger for digestive enzyme production that occurs with mastication (chewing) of food. sounds like she needs to practice chewing but with those grinding molar teeth, chewing will only do so much.

the large chunks of food in poop sounds kinda normal, but the pooping five times a day, about two hours after eating, does not sound within the normal range to me.


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## FiddleMama (Feb 27, 2007)

I forgot to mention that my 14 month old, mentioned above in my response, has no teeth.


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## emnjjsmom (Nov 1, 2006)

She actually only has 2 teeth, but her food is cut up very tiny and soft so she mashes quite a bit, but obviously a lot of chunks get swallowed. A portion of her food is mashed yet too (but obviously chunks remain in mashed food too)

I'm just worried because she is really struggling to gain weight now, and has gained barely anything since her 9 month appt. I know that weight gain is supposed to slow down, but she has almost stopped (she's only gained about 7 oz since her 9 month appt)

I thought she would be pooping less by now too, 5-6 times a day is seeming a bit excessive.

Her ped gave me a "guideline" for how much a 12 month old should be eating, and she eats about 3x as much as the list. If I cut her back on her food, she screams constantly because she is hungry.

I explained to her ped that she literally is NOT happy unless she is eating. Whether it be nursing, drinking a sippy, or eating food, she is happy, when it stops, she cries. It's been like this since she was about 10 -10 1/2 months old. She started on table foods at 11 1/2 months old.


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## emnjjsmom (Nov 1, 2006)

Oh, and for the sleeping habits question, she stopped sleeping around 10 months old LOL Since then she has woken up 3, 4 , 5 , 6 times a night. I brought that up to the ped and she promptly suggested teething and said I shouldn't worry about it. (that was 2 months ago and still no new teeth! the night waking started 4 months ago!)


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## BellinghamCrunchie (Sep 7, 2005)

That definitely does not sound normal to me. She is eating 3x as much as she should be, is not gaining weight, and transit time is 2 hours! She's not absorbing anything hardly at all.

I think you should take her to a GI specialist or back to your doctor.

If you don't want to do that, I would recommend you start looking for food intolerances, beginning with that 8 oz of milk. Try eliminating the milk and see if the transit time improves (gets longer between eating and pooping).


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## FiddleMama (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm guessing (this is just mama's intuition- I have no medical background) that the slowdown of growth is much more related to the developmental stage (crawling, cruising, walking, etc) and to the sleep than it is to the food question.

We have a late teether too and he has woken up a few times in the night fussing which is pretty unusual for him. Two nights ago we had to give him a bath at 2:30 in the morning because nothing else would calm him. Here's hoping that the night waking ends soon!


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## khrys (Aug 1, 2005)

Here's another thought since you mentioned she's only happy when she's eating. Some kids with reflux feel better when they are eating because stuff is going down. Reflux could also cause night waking.


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## caedmyn (Jan 13, 2006)

It is not normal for food to go through that fast. She is not getting any nutrients from the food, and that's probably why she acts hungry all the time. You may want to check out the "Healing the Gut Tribe" in the Health & Healing forum, and also the "Healing the Gut" cheat sheet stickied at the top of that forum. You could also try PM'ing JaneS or moneca as they have a lot of experience with gut issues.

I would recommend only feeding her highly nutritious, easy to digest food like homemade bone broths in a sippy or other cup, yogurt as it is pre-digested (preferably homemade from good quality raw milk), and possibly things like scrambled eggs as eggs are very nutritious and easy-to-digest. Any fruits or veggies should be well-cooked and pureed for easiest digestion. Whole grains tend to be hard to digest even for adults, so it would probably be best to eliminate those although. Meat purees might be good as well, or very tender bits of chicken or turkey. It would also be a good idea to give her probiotics and cod liver oil.


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## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

Not normal (not the frequency of the food passing through). I agree with the pp on healing the gut. However, I would also consult with a gastro dr. perhaps allergist. If you have celiac disease you need to know for example as gluten is in all kinds of things. If it is an allergy to say dairy obviously yogurt is out. I think you need an expert here (and I'm not big on traditional medicine; but sometimes it is needed)


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## hottmama (Dec 27, 2004)

That sounds like my toddler! He eats all the time, he can easily eat a kid's meal at a restaurant or a whole can of (organic







) ravioli in a sitting. For breakfast he usually eats a packet or two of oatmeal, a single-serve yogurt, fruit (blueberries and a banana), and more. He poops usually 5 times a day, and there is lots of undigested food, especially vegetables and beans. The only fruit I've noticed is raisins, though. I give him acidophilus every day and he nurses a lot. He recently gained 3 lbs, jumping from 21 to 24 lbs. Previously, he had only gained 1 lb. in 9 mos. but I attributed it to how active he is (he stopped gaining when he started crawling).
I feel like he's okay, but I'm going to keep an eye on this thread.


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