eating poo

Yuk! Really? Didn't the flavour put them off!? Well, we do wash our hands after going to the toilet for a reason!

I was a nursery nurse in an earlier life when children were given a fold up bed after lunch so they could rest for half an hour. Once when I was seeing to a little girl she looked like her mouth was full of maltesers - well you know what that meant? I hooked them out and no harm done.

We found DD1 eating goat's poo when we were at a farm park - she's nearly 40 now!

I do think this might be harmful after all its full of E Coli- a word with a Health Visitor might be a good idea.

When I was a childminder, a little boy in my care used his potty then turned to me and said 'can't eat it, no?'. Apparently he had tried at home and had been told not to!

If it is her own poo then it is the same E-coli as she already has in her intestine, so not introducing any new ones. It is spreading the bacteria aroiund from one person to another which passes on disease.

I'd say it is unpleasant but not to get in a flap about it. It is a common habit of small children. Just make sure she is not left with a full nappy long enough to get at it.

"Normal microbiota

E. coli normally colonizes an infant's gastrointestinal tract within 40 hours of birth, arriving with food or water or with the individuals handling the child. In the bowel, it adheres to the mucus of the large intestine. It is the primary facultative anaerobe of the human gastrointestinal tract. (Facultative anaerobes are organisms that can grow in either the presence or absence of oxygen.) As long as these bacteria do not acquire genetic elements encoding for virulence factors, they remain benign commensals.

Therapeutic use

Nonpathogenic Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 also known as Mutaflor and Escherichia coli O83:K24:H31 (known as Colinfant[) are used as a probiotic agents in medicine, mainly for the treatment of various gastroenterological diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease." Wikipedia

I would think the bacteria in it - and there would be loads - would multiply very quickly once it is out. Yuk!

I don't believe it is very common in young kids.

Is he hungry? (seriously)

If it is because the poo is coming out in little round dobbles, and he thinks it looks like sweets, he is constipated. Give him more drink.

Starling I have to ask. How does anyone know whether the flavour is bad or not? Most people have never tried it. (thankfully)

I knew someone who dropped a chocolate on the floor, picked it up and dusted it off and popped it in his mouth - but his little dog had left a little whoopsy . . .

Apparently it was utterly revolting.

It is not normal. I don't think it will do any harm, but ought to be discouraged as it is not socially acceptable. There is a proper scientific term for it. I'll get back to you when I remember it.

Coprophagia: eating ones own poo. It is not harmful to eat your own poo as it contains the bacteria already present in your gut. It's not very tasty though, is it. That being said I've never tried it myself.

Eugh!

Can't be a common thing for toddlers to do can it? I mean surely the smell?

When they are tiny they haven't yet learnt that certain smells are horrible.

Ah, I had no idea bad smells were learned.

This has just reminded me of my Sister digging into her handbag and pulling out a coprolite, (fossilized poo) and handing over to our mother who was horrified when she learnt what it was. (My sister is also keen on Geology and collects rocks and fossils such things.)

My DinL found one of my GSs smearing poo around his bedroom. On being asked why he was doing it he replied 'that's what the gorilla did at the zoo'.

We have all been banned from mentioning gorillas in their house again.

As a qualified Infection Control Nurse my thinking is that faeces will contain your own usual bacteria but contain almost anything else - there are no guarantees that its all your own and harmless- after all we are excreting this stuff because the body doesn't want it.

I would have thought it was sterile when leaving the body as is urine.
Im not qualified though so not sure. My friends daughter used to eat poo and give it to her friends like sweeties. My neighbours daughter (about 10 yrs old) made a sandwich to give to friends she did not like. !!

This is a wind-up right? <Checks diary to see if April 1st>.
Recently we had a thread bemoaning the depiction of the elderly as gnarled old dears. Well add into that threads like this or the one about freeze drying lifers and you can add gaga to our attributes. And why oh why, GNHQ feature this daft discussion in your "highlights"? Is this a true flavour (oops bad pun) of what GN has to offer?

No its not sterile its teeming with bacteria some good some bad depending what you've been eating, how its been prepared, stored, served etc, who you've been mixing with (other people) and how you've been mixing, what floors you've crawled around on where animals may have been, shoes from other people who may have trodden in something and brought this in. This is waste matter and needs to be treated with respect and good hygiene. End of as they say!

Poo is an endless source of interest to children - I have found the wee side of potty training is relatively easy but the number 2s is more difficult. I once learned from a psychiatrist I worked with that children regard it as something of themselves which they are sometimes reluctant to let go of. Hence children with emotional difficulties will often try hang on to their poo and can become constipated.
Is the DGC on the OP anxious about anything, eg starting nursery or playgroup?

DGD2 is proving easy to potty train re weeing, but joyfully announces that she has done a poo in her pants and has to be discouraged from getting some out if I am not quick enough. She then carefully examines it (haven't known her eat any yet).

Eating it is not something I would encourage.