As fans of the Bristol stool chart know, it is all about shape, colour, consistency — but now Aussie researchers have taken it a step further creating an easy-to-use spotters guide for parents wanting to keep track of their children’s faeces.

However, be warned — Flakes, Maltesers and particularly chocolate peanuts may never taste the same again.

 “Children with recurrent abdominal pain (CRAP) have been assessed using the Bristol Stool Score,” epidemiologist Professor Guy Eslick and Eloise Eslick from epidemiological services company Clued, write in this week’s Medical Journal of Australia.

“[But] it is understandable that … parents assessing infant and toddler poo may not undertake the process of assessing their child ’s poo in detail as it is gross and smelly.