The Study of Racialism

Monica · Mentor Joined: 02 Oct 2007 {Posts: 345 }

I couldn't use the subject line I wanted to "white skin is funny" but here is what happened. It's cold out here in Philly so my husband put on a thermal shirt. He carries a heavy back pack to work. So when he came home last night and took the shirt off his back was covered with a million red dots. He looked like he'd been beaten with a waffle iron.

I told him if there was any known sex act that involves being dragged on the ground in a thermal shirt, he would have been in hot water last night. It took over an hour for these red dots to fade off his back. How amazing.

Which leads me to a question maybe the readers can help me with, this is kind of serious. We have a child in daycare of "another race" who has loose bowels all the time. One thing I do know is that different races have different colored ear wax...and the dirt in the tub, looks different based on skin color. So are bowel movements different based on race and diet?

Serious question because I have to decide whether to suspend this mom's care, which means she could lose her job and she is an immigrant with NO family support. I have to err on the side of safety, because in Philadelphia, a kid died in childcare from an overdose of cold medicine. I suspect the mom doped the kid up, so he would not be rejected from care on the basis he was ill.

My husband who works with Africans say they always have loose bowels, he says the mens room at his job is a hot mess.

This child is not African, and upon discussing this issue with staff we all admitted we noticed his very odorous, yellow, runny bowels, where most of the black children make brown firm ones. And yet this kid is the healthiest, biggest kid in care.

Are bowels different colors and firmness based on RACE and diet (mind you 5 days a week, ten hours a week he eats what the other kids in care eat)

Monica · Mentor Joined: 02 Oct 2007 {Posts: 345 }

We have to be so careful about racial differences in children, about a year ago a staff person almost reported to social services a parent of a fair skinned newborn, under suspect that she had beaten the child.

I had to expain that the huge bruise marks were something called "stork bites", common on the lower backs of newborns but not usually visible on browner children.

OTHER · Posted: Sun 18 Nov 2007 14:07 Post subject:

Diet most definitely plays a role which, of course, is influenced by ethnicity and culture. I mean, if the kid is Mexican, he's probably not eating bok choi and bean sprouts for dinner every night, know what I'm saying?

The color and consistency of anyone's stool will vary based on their dietary habits. However, the fact that this child is constantly having what you describe as loose bowels could indicate an illness. I would recommend that you address the issue with the mother. Sensitively, of course. I don't know how long the child has been under your care, but you could maybe ask her if it is normal for him to have loose stool and how long it's been like that and if she's ever been concerned and maybe recommend that she talk to a physician about it.

Now, I have a couple of questions for you. Isn't it standard practice for a daycare to send a kid with diarrhea home in order to prevent spreading gastrointestinal viral and bacterial diseases to the other kids? Is it diarrhea he's experiencing or just semi-solid bowel movements? Lastly, are we talking about little kids whose diapers need to be changed?

Monica · Mentor Joined: 02 Oct 2007 {Posts: 345 }

Monica · Mentor Joined: 02 Oct 2007 {Posts: 345 }

Lemme tell you about how these young moms are...we had a baby in care who had recently turned one years old. You know how from birth to one years old a child drinks formula ONLY. This is what doctors reccommend. Well this mom took the advise that AFTER age one a child can drink whole milk, literally. So this mom fed her one year old ONLY whole milk...no food...

Well this child's stools were solid dry white rocks. The baby was so fearfull of drinking fruit juice (because it would make her push out more white rocks) this baby would examine the bottle and if she detected juice she would reject it...she would also reject real and prureed fruit.

I tried talking to this mom...but she was convinced that the child needed ONLY whole milk. I gave her an ultimatum...bring me a doctors note that says "this child should drink only whole milk" and "rock hard dry white bowel movements are perfectly normal" I never saw this parent again.

OTHER · Posted: Sun 18 Nov 2007 16:31 Post subject:

I wonder how long she intended to keep the baby on a milk only diet. Confused

BlueDreams · Regular User Joined: 10 Nov 2006 {Posts: 53 }

Diet does, race doesn't...least it doesn't in my family. Race and, more specifically, culture can play a big part though. My brother was switching from soy milk to regular while I was his daycare provider during the summer. He had the nastiest pooh I've ever seen in my life. Just thinking about it makes me shudder...it basically had the consistency of runny mustard. Yet the kid was as happy as a clam and he's always been fairly healthy. Because of this, my parents didn't get the full extent of the problem until the weekend...got a good laugh at my step's face when he saw one of those nasty diapers.

The diarrhea is probably just a sign of some sort of diet change/problem, especially if in all other ways this kid appears healthy. It took a few weeks before my brother had normal stools again and could handle milk. You might want to give it more time or ask the mother if he's had any recent diet changes or might have some sensitivity to foods.