Tummy Troubles, Take Two

A year and a half ago, right around Rylie's third birthday, I posted about her tummy troubles. It was a very scary time for me, and at one point, we were even talking cancer. She endured several procedures and tests to get to the bottom of it, and after everything, we found out that she had severe constipation issues. Things have gotten better for her and she doesn't seem to have the issues she once had, at least not at the level they were back then.

Well now it is Bryce's turn to have tummy troubles, I guess. For several months now, he has had a big, distended belly. He wakes up in the morning just as skinny as can be, and by the end of the day, he looks like he has a basketball in his belly. I took some pictures of him a week or so ago, and when I was looking through them, the first thing I noticed was his big ole belly sticking out. It's crazy how big it gets!

When this first started happening, I just figured it was because his abdominal muscles hadn't fully developed yet and as he ate, his belly stuck out since the muscles couldn't hold it in. Then one day he started complaining that his belly hurt so I felt it and realized how hard it was. I took him to the doctor back then and was told that he was probably suffering from a virus and to keep him away from dairy for a week or so because it was causing gas. We removed dairy from his diet and he didn't complain again. After a week we allowed him to have milk.

He continued to have his daily distended belly, but never complained. This past weekend, though, he wouldn't even let us touch it. Brian thought he might have just been being a bratty two year old wanting attention, but pain or not, I decided it was time to get to the bottom of his "basketball belly". Having that happen on a daily basis is not normal.

My mom took him to the pediatrician on Monday and his doc thinks he may be lactose intolerant, especially since I had a mild case of it as a child. She told us to completely remove dairy from his diet for 2-3 weeks to see if that helps. If it doesn't, we have containers to collect stool (oh yay, fun!) and a slip to go to the lab for blood work. When I saw that one of the blood tests was for sed rate, my mind immediately went back to those scary days with Rylie and I absolutely dread going through all of this again.

So for now, no dairy for Bryce. He drinks almond milk when he wants milk, and has been eating soy yogurt. It does seem to be helping some, and his belly isn't near as big as it was, but still gets a little puffy in the evenings. We haven't been vigilant on reading ingredients like we do for Rylie's nut allergy, but we may have to start making sure he isn't getting any dairy, just to see if that takes his bloating away completely.

While I hate the thought of having to deal with another food issue on top of Rylie's nut allergy, the other possibilities scare me to death. There is a pretty simple fix for lactose intolerance, and if we need to adjust his lifestyle to accommodate that, then so be it. For now, though, we just wait and see. Easier said than done, right?

Have you had to deal with any tummy troubles with your kids? Does anyone have a child who is lactose intolerant? I would love to hear your stories.