Lets talk about constipation and movicol...

[poshwellies]

How long have your dc's been on it?

My son is coming up to his 3 year with no change in his bowel habits,still constipated,will he always be like this?

[MrsPuddleduck]

My DS has been on this for at least year now. He is 4.7 years old. He is also showing no signs of coming off it. I give him one sachet a night.

In my experience, if we miss a sachet we go back to constipation and witholding. Only this week he managed to go three days without a bowl movement (and that was with taking the medication).

I can see no end to it either.

I hope someone manages to come up with some encouragning information.

[poshwellies]

Will,we are in the same position,currently on 2 sachets a day (ds is 5)and having major issues with him drinking his "poo juice",he often flatly refuses.

If we miss doses,he goes straight back to withholding also,sometimes hes not been in 4 days(straining hourly,poor thing)and only yesterday his teacher told me he had been numerous times to the toliet during school,obviously straining again.

If we up the dose,it goes the other way and he soils himself.We have been discharged from the constipation nurse at our hospital,wondering whether to get back in touch?!

Sorry to hear you are going through the same will.

[MrsPuddleduck]

Poshwellies - DS has his in a milkshake to go to bed. I know its not the best solution but at least he drinks it and it is better than the alternative.

We buy the Crusha sugar free stuff to put in the milk with a sachet. He doesn't even know he's having it.

If he doesn't have a poo on any particular day he has it in a squash. So it is a bit of a bribe as well.

He copes with things a lot better now than he used to but his behaviour is dreadful if he is 'hanging on'. I dread to think how he is going to cope next year when he starts in reception (he is in the school nursery atm).

If I were you I would go back if you are worried. DS just goes to see the DR at our local practice who specialises in this area and our health visitor has been very supportive.

[mrbojangles]

Hi Will and posh,
My son has been on it coming up for two years started on up to 12 sachets a day for impaction and slowly reduced down to his current 2 one day one 1 the next. He was six last week. I also put it in milkshake or hot chocolate at bedtime as it is the only way he will drink it without knowing.
He has encopresis and is under the poo nurse at the hospital. Even though he has come along way we definately still have a long way to go

[time4me]

My son is 20 years old and has never been free of constipation.Two oranges at night helps.He has severe learning difficulties and is similar in development to a two old.
I have met so many parents of toddlers with this problem.Movicol has been the best so far.Good luck

[time4me]

My son is 20 years old and has never been free of constipation.Two oranges at night helps.He has severe learning difficulties and is similar in development to a two old.
I have met so many parents of toddlers with this problem.Movicol has been the best so far.Good luck

[poshwellies]

Didn't realise there were so many other LO's suffering.I think I will try the hot chocolate idea.My ds was on 12 sachets at the beginning also Bo,blardy nitemare!

[Blessed2]

Hi. My ds was on it for about 7 months. He was soiling himself in Reception and I used to hate the dreaded phone call from school asking to come and collect him. I know 7 months isn't long but I understand the heartache and pain that we go through as mums when our child is constipated and you don't want other children to know. I used to get tied in knots when the school called. I used to give him is Movicol in squash. Also I found that ordinary green peas and sweetcorn (I put on pizza) will definately send him to the loo. I still do that to day.

I discharged my ds from the poo nurse - and they weren't very happy about it - but once I knew what would get him to the loo I didn't need Movicol any more. Plus ds in year 1 now. He still had problems with constipation up until about Dec 07/Jan 08 but he is much better now. I used to send him to school with a thomas the tank engine bag and spare pants and school trousers so that he could change himself. It was fair on the teachers having to change his pants and I also really just dreaded being called in.

We had reached the point where the school was talking about him using the separate teachers toilets just so that the other kids didn't find out but then I got him sorted. He isn't 100% perfect but I believe that he's about as 'normal' as the other boys his age. I do keep an eye on him though, to make that he does poo on a regular basis. If you have any questions you want to ask me please feel free

Sorry for the long post

[poshwellies]

We are going through the whole waiting for phones calls blessed,his teacher will tell me if hes been going to the toliet on a frequent basis (she knows hes on medication and constipated),my son seems to get obsessed with having a "dirty bum" so we are checking him constantly during this blips with excess toliet trips,due to him feeling uncomfortable down there.

Thanks for your input blessed,its nice to know I'm not the only one dealing with "poo" issues

[Blessed2]

I know that it can really be stressful. I had to take extra clothes if going to visit friends or anywhere infact. And woe betide me if I forgot. I still drive with wipes in the glove compartment of my car.

It just seemed like it would never end. I just think that if you're having problems with you child drinking the Movicol then put it in a drink that would be considered a treat without ruining their teeth for life! Also I tried to time the giving of M until evening time and see if ds would do a poo before going to school in the mornings. He was on 2 sachets a day.

Oh yeh I also used to let him eat chocolate weetabix as a snack about 6/7 a day because this was like a treat and it sent him to the loo. I still give him now and then. Yes - that's right! Chocolate weetabix with nothing added -

[MrsPuddleduck]

Blessed. Why did you have to collect him from school if you don't mind me asking. Was it because he needed his pants and trousers changing and they wouldn't do it for him?

I am starting to dread reception. He is in the nursery at the school at the moment so today for example, he has come home with different pants on. I sometimes wonder if it is because he hasn't managed to wipe his bum properly.

[poshwellies]

Will,my son hasn't grasped the bum wiping thing yet, hes 5-I think hes been totally put off with the constipation thing.When hes ok-school isn't a problem,just these bloody blips undo all the hard work with keeping him regular and "normal"

[shocked2nite]

This all sounds very familiar. My dd had terrible constipation for 2 years, she is now 5 but has been ok for about one year. She did the soiling thing, withholding and her behaviour was horrendous and we were at our wits end with it. It affected the whole family. It came to a head in April last year when she hadn't done a proper poo for about a month - she was in agony poor thing. We were on holiday and went to A&E with her and they gave her Movicol, which did clear her out eventually. However, we decided to go to a homeopath - we were so desperate we decided to throw money at the problem! I didn't believe it would work but it did. Within a week of treatment, she started pooing ok with just the help of lactulose, which is very mild. She still takes a low dose of it now but goes every other or every third day which I think is OK. It certainly isn't a problem anymore. We also did things like putting her on the loo with her feet supported and we bought a TV dinner table and put some toys on it for her to play with while she was going. This seemed to work really well. Also, we did a reward system. If she pooed, she would get a gift. One thing that really worked was her spotting a toy and us buying it for her and putting it away until she would sit on the loo and do a poo. This sounds harsh but it really worked. It just got her into the habit and then the treats were withdrawn without her even noticing it so no harm done there. We tried everything to sort it out. Sometimes, if they are really withholding, they need an incentive not to do it. I also bought a really good book from Amazon called 'Constipation, Withholding and Your Child' by Anthony Cohn, which I found very helpful. It has a good story in it about Mr Poo and Little Miss Wee which dd found very funny. I also bought a book called "Everybody Poops" on Amazon written by a Japanese man (can't remember name at mo). This helped because dd could normalise pooing whilst reading this book and seeing that everyone poos!

I feel for everyone because it really was a complete nightmare and we were terrified that it would never end. She isn't utterly cured but it really is OK now.

Hope this is useful to you.

[Blessed2]

The school got fed up of sorting him out plus I don't blame them. It takes real love to sort out that much poo . It was before I started sending him in with his own pants and trousers.

[poshwellies]

Thanks shocked,glad you dd is better!

[Blessed2]

Yes Shocked I also tried the reward charts but they didn't work with my ds but what worked was the bribery with the transformer toys . Bribery was just another tool towards my ds's recovery

[shocked2nite]

Blessed, glad to hear things are improving. Bribery is so great!!

[MrsPuddleduck]

We tried bribery being nice, being really vile and nothing seems to work other than patience and not making a deal of it (which is very difficult!).

It is good to hear that DS is not the only one and that for some Movicol is not necessarily a short term fix.

[poshwellies]

Bump

[mimsum]

ds2 was on movicol for 4 years from the age of 4 and has only just come off it - he also had laxiberol for 3 years - in nursery I was at my wits' end with the soiling, witholding, behaviour etc - however, it took a long time, but finally he's pretty much sorted = coming up to xmas we weaned him off the movicol (already weaned off laxiberol) and we got discharged from the continence clinic a couple of months ago

we still have to keep an eye on him and if he gets dehydrated or has a stomach bug we have to slip him some movicol (in ribena) as those are both triggers - we can always tell if he's constipated as he gets very weepy/grumpy

the poo nurse said she knew when he was better as when we went to see her I was only carrying a small bag instead of my enormous holdall with spare clothes, wipes etc

[MrsPuddleduck]

How did you get on with the hot chocolate Poshwellies? I hope it helped.

I have resigned myself to the fact that we will always have this problem. As long as we can 'manage' it without him getting upset I don't mind.

I remember the health visitor telling me that it may occur again at times of stress eg when he is doing exams or if he ever gets worried about something. I think it is just something we are going to have to keep any eye on.

It is definitely diet related too imo. I will have to be careful over easter as too much chocolate and not enough fruit (which he eats ever day at school and refuses to eat at home) will end up in disaster.

[mrbojangles]

Hi all, I hope im not to late coming back to this.

It really is good to hear of other parents in the same situation.........not that i'd wish it on anyone

Everything you have all said we have experienced or are going through at the moment.
Blessed I have also experienced the school problems. When my ds started reception I went in every lunchtime to put him on the loo, it didnt always work but you get fed up with waiting for the phone call to say they have soiled. I kept the school informed always on his condition but untill the poo nurse went into the school for me I think they just thought he was'nt trained Since he started yr1 in sep things have improved and I no longer go into the school and so far hes been fine but like most of you I always carry extra clothes and wipes with me.
Like the rest of you I have tried charts/toys/books/sweets/being positive/being angry and very little works. Now I apply a quiet acceptance with positive praise when good, but its not easy and both my dp and I find ourselves at our wits end at times.

One of the big problems we have is his resisstance to sitting on the loo, often shouting he doesnt want to go etc
(he's not scared of the loo by the way) we then have to force him onto the loo via blackmail etc and he then WILL do a poo!!!!!! all the drama could have been avoided.

He is our third of fours sons, and although his brothers are brillant and understanding of the problems he has it must be hard for him to see he is different in this area. So we try to make as little of it as possible.

[Tras]

Help, has anyone any tips on weaning off Movical and how best this can be done? My baby is 10 months old and has been on 2 sachets of Movical a day for the last 3 months. The consultant advised us to start reducing Reece's medication at the beginning of February but as soon as we did this, Reece became constipated. About 2 weeks ago I cut his dosage down to 11/2 sachets and he seems to be coping well. Im now afraid to cut this down again too quickly. Does anyone have any experience of this?

[mrbojangles]

Hi Tras
Have you tried one and half one day and one the next? maybe try that for a while and see how your baby gets on if that works go for one a day and then reduce again.
the other option is one and half one day and then lactalose the next.
good luck

[poshwellies]

Thanks for all your input/experiences folks.

It's quite nice to offload isn't it? We just seem like a household obsessed with bowel movements or the lack of them should I say .

We did try the hot chocolate trick Will-it worked and I've purchased some nice strawberry milkshake stuff to try and cover it up(although-every drink gets inspected to the highest level!)

Hes been a few times this week and last night was crying was crying in pain (that his poos are scratchy/spikey) they are very huge (sorry tmi!),so then this puts him off going and we go back to withholding,we just try not make a big deal of it.

Our son has hypermobility syndrome (very very lax double jointed joints) and we were told his bowel muscles are more than likely the same and the movicol would help "retrain" the bowel to become stronger and thus being able to push it through in a normal fashion.

Hope you all have a enjoyable easter weekend with copious poo's