movicol....how the hell do i give it to 8 mo DS??

[ipswichwitch]

DS had been on lactulose for constipation that started when we started weaning. it worked at first, but now has stopped, so the dr has given us movicol. trouble is i cant seem to get it in him!
we've tried giving it in his sippy cup, but the amount of water he drinks in a day is variable, and is rarely anywhere near the 62mls you have to make the movicol up to.
tried syringing it, but somehow he manages to spit it out, even when we aim the syringe into the corner of his mouth.
tried using a spoon - he would take lactulose happily off a spoon, but that was only 2.5ml, and it is more like syrup. movicol just keeps getting spilled or spat out.
he is a poor eater of solids now, something we have attributed to the constipation, as when he does finally have a poo he will eat quite happily, so mixing with food is a no-go as theres no guarantee he'll take it all.

he is BF, but now i am back to work he goes to nursery where they give him ebm. trouble is, even if it is possible to mix with bm (unsure if thats ok?), he doesnt always take the full bottle (has previously been a bottle refuser, and only recently started taking small amounts from bottles). also, thats putting it on the nursery staff to give him, something i think they are reluctant to do. he absolutely refuses to take a bottle off me, and DP gets in too late to try- by this time DS is getting tired and attempting this generally results in hysteria.

frankly we are at our wits end with all this. DS is a small baby, below the bottom centile for weight (he was prem and only 4lb 5oz born), and we are concerned that if we cant get this constipation sorted, he wont start eating properly and therefore wont gain weight.
sorry for the essay, didnt want to leave anything out! any advice will be welcome

you need more guidance from the doctor/pediatrician about administering movicol. I think it is a difficult medicine to get the hang of dosing....to start with i needed lots of guidance about what dose to use, and only after 1 year of administering it to my child did i begin to know how to respond to her and adjest the doses according ly. i'm sure your doctor would discuss it over the phone.

good luck...sounds like you have got your hands full.

Adding it to jelly?

Speak to the gp again as there maybe other treatments that can be done now and once ds is drinking / eating more you an retry?

Yy speak to gp/paediatrician. My paed said we could mix it with juice as it tastes horrible. We sometimes mix it with smoothies but dd2 is older/has sn.

Thanks all. Think you are right, I need to speak to the drs about this. They also gave me suppositories that I'm meant to give when it looks like he wants to poo.....erm ok then! It's not like he can tell me!! Also, I'm at work now so not like I'm there all day to see for myself. Also they are blimmin huge!!! Not sure how that's gonna work tbh

You can add it to other drinks as long as you mix it in the water first - it's the water that takes it into the bowel I was told by my doctor.

We started DS on movicol about the same age and had similar issues at the beginning. At the beginning it used to take all day to get him to drink it, then moved onto syringing it in - which he did tolerate. Now (15 months) we can get him to drink the whole thing before nursery generally through using a variety of cups, ie we start with a tomme tippy beaker, then use open ikea plastic cups (which for some reason he'll drink more from) and then failing all else, a glass which generally finishes off whats left!

Re the suppositories - we used them when we could see that DS was straining but not actually managing to poo - don't worry too much about the size - although you can use a little vaseline to make them go in easier - i think that the suppositories are more traumatic for you to use, than for them.

I dont usually loo at this topic but your title seemed a bit odd because movicol should not usually be prescribed to children under 2 years

www.netdoctor.co.uk/digestive-health/medicines/movicol-paediatric-plain.html

sorry...look

Its because of the possible salt and water disturbances it can cause. Really for a child that age looking at diet and fluid intake are crucial. Assuming there aren't special needs or a bowel problem such as Hirschsprungs
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002125/

I see you are at work all day, so it is crucial to find out how your child is actually being fed and what with and how much he/she is given to drink.
I'm not sure I would leave a carer to give my child suppositories.
Ask your GP to refer you to see a specialist paediatric gastroenterologist not just a general paed.