ABSTRACT
Persistent diarrhoea presents to the health professional when the frequency or looseness of the child’s stools is perceived by the parent to be excessive. However, there is a wide variation in the ‘normal’ pattern, depending on the age and diet of the individual child. Constipation with ‘overflow’, i.e. semiliquid stool seeping past an impacted faecal mass, often with incontinence, may present as chronic diarrhoea, and this diagnosis should be considered at an early stage.
