For the past few months my 4 year old has bouts of loose (not diarrhea) stools with lots of mucus. He sometimes goes to the bathroom 3-5 times a day. He occasionally complains of stomach cramping and what he calls hip pain, but points to his lower left side of his belly. He also has what he calls "messy toots" and has to stop what hes doing and run to the bathroom. I talked to my family dr today and he thinks it could be related to seasnoal allergies due to the fact that my son has chronic congestion. What else could be causing him to have such an irregular bowel pattern? My da passed away from colon cancer and 2 of my nieces (from my half sister) are gluten intolerant.