Ear infection or food intolerance - 8 month old

[kitten2014]

Hi guys,

Our 8month old has had bad diarrhea for the past four days, only going once per day (usually 2-3 times and much more solid) and each time requiring a complete outfit change and most often a bath too - it literally goes everywhere. It stinks really bad too looks usual colour but very runny and quite a lot of obvious veggies in there (sorry tmi!) She has recently had quite a bad cold which looked like it was clearing up two days ago with just a bit of a runny nose left (she's had three colds since birth so know her usual symptoms etc), but then all of a sudden we have crankiness, sleeping loads more than usual (1hr 30mins nap this morning then an hour at 3pm, barely an hour later she's down again and has been asleep for 20mins so far!), persistent ear pulling (hence suspect teething or ear infection), and loss of milk appetite but very keen on solids. Haven't given her anything new in past four days but have now gone onto blander food items that I know she has no issues with and keeping to purees for a while in case mashed or finger food was causing digestion issues... not stopping altogether as like I say she takes 3 bottles a day and up until 3 days ago was taking 6-7oz per feed and 3oz with her brekkie but today has only taken 5 and 3oz so far with one more bottle to go...have been encouraging plenty of water drinking so she doesn't get dehydrated and her fontanelle feels fine and she has plenty of tears when crying lol so no risk of that yet...

Just trying to work it out as some of the symptoms are similar to when her first two set of teeth came through (she has 3) and the first pair and third had a 3wk gap in between and it has been 3 wks since the third so timing is about right with her current teething pattern... but the persistent diarrhea is concerning me so im at docs monday anyway and will get her looked at but wondered if anyone else had any suggestions as you may have experienced similar and have some idea...in case it is an ear infection going to try a warm compress on her ear (think its her right) to see if that helps and probably give her something tonight...thinking calprofen as if ear related could have some inflammation...

 

[JD.Deedee]

There's not much more you can do and wait to see what the doctor can either find or rule out.. If everything is ruled out, then there's a possibility it's teething.. My little ones' pattern turned out to be the same but as they come in so quite one after another I only noticed with the last molars... Stopped eating solids, increased need for milk.. Started vomiting, vicious circle of wanting bottle and throwing it up and getting diarrhoea then he would start eating again lessen his milk and he'd be fine until another tooth would start to bother him.. Many teeth come in a space of a couple of weeks where this cycle would just repeat until the tooth was completely through..

 

[kitten2014]

Thanks for your reply, well my bland food plus bread/biscuits have helped. Its still not quite as solid or the right colour but no more nap[py explosions...I did read though that after a bout it can take 4wks for their bowels to get back to normal. She has gone from runny yellow/green to stodgy yellow...just waiting for the brown to reappear. No more ear pulling and her milk qts are back up to normal qts so hopefully she is over the worst now.