Help - constipation hell with my 13 month old - which laxative, movical making pain worse!!

[lottylou30]

My little girl is now 13 months and has suffered with constipation since we started weaning at 5 months old. Prior to this she had projectile stool and was thought to have cows milk protein allergy. But then told differently fron another consultant. She was started on docusate and lactulose inisially. With absolutely no effect. She then had a rectal prolapse and we started on movical. She started passing stool but the pain worsened to the point she was passing out and having floppy episodes. She seemed to be worse with the pain on movical. After a long fight with the consultant we decided to stop the movical after 6 months. She is 13 months old and she immediatley improved but stopped having her bowels open again. I am now trying the lactulose and docusate again with no effect. The spasms are back and I don't know what to do next. I am really concerned about putting her back on movical again. Movical only really works if your child drinks and mine doesn't. Any ideas PLEASE.

My DD suffered a lot withpainful constipation when she was younger. She was prescribed lactulose, takes a few days to take effect. Have you tried weetabix and prunes?

Also, if she's not drinking that could account for the constipation, would she eat an ice lolly to get her fluid levels up?

What foods is she having? If its loaded with carbohydrates, then that's why she's constipated, for every 1 gram of carbs you need 3 x as much water for it to be digested. And you've already said she doesn't drink a lot.

Make sure her diet is quite liquidy, soupy stews, casseroles etc. Well cooked potato, particularly sweet potato, would be a good alternative to wheat-containing products like bread/pasta as its easier to digest... as is rice. But not too heavy on carbs. Offer some live, probiotic yoghurt with whatever fruit she likes instead of breakfast cereals. Probiotics aid digestion.

Also you mention a cows milk allergy, does she have a special formula? My DS has multiple allergies, luckily he's still BF as he was quite sensitive to cows milk.. it gave him asthma type attacks. However he tolerates goats milk really well. Once they reach a yr, they don't need formula and most supermarkets stock goats milk.

Warm cooked apple always seems to work for my DS when all else fails...

My dd who is also 13 months suffers from constipation. My HV recommended trying her with cloudy apple juice. I know you have mentioned your dd doesn't drink much but neither did mine, but she loves it and is drinking more.
I now only offer her milk at bedtime which I think has encouraged her to drink more during the day. Prunes are brilliant too!!!
I really sympathise it's so distressing!

We found lactulose didn't do much but glycerin suppositories if he hadn't been for 3 days worked. At the start we had to use them almost every week but it has got less and less until we don't use them for months at a time these days. We've also been able to reduce the lactulose until he was off it completely.

Glycerin suppositories... buy infant ones over the counter. They work very well:)
(my sympathies..my DD1 had hideous problems as a baby and toddler... we had everything.. meds, enemas, the lot) She has gown out of it tho:)

DD had lactulose when about this age but the only thing that got things moving was to get her drinking. Ice lollies is a great idea, my DD (now 4.3) loves crunching ice cubes. Can you make a game out of what she's allowed to drink from ... toy tea pot, a grown up water bottle, the bath water (euuggghh!) or anything really. If my DD thinks I don't really want her to drink from it, she will!

Oh & prunes, grapes & pears helped too

Movicol is one of the bect constipation meds available - if not the best. That said its not going to suit everyone.

I expect your consultant explained how and why it is different to other constipation meds like lactulose and senna.

My DD is 11 and never drank much and suffers with constipation and tummy pain issues. The movicol is working OK for her atm but not 100% but alot better than fybogel, lactulose, senna and loads of other meds we have tried.

I am on adult movicol long term for similar issues. Normal foods that make people go to the loo just have zero effect on me and my DD - rhubarb, prunes, apple, stewed fruits. I also have spasms so bad I can pass out. Picolax has even failed on me - well 3 doses and lots of enemas before things moved . Movicol is OK - not without a few problems but works OK.

My DD never feels thirsty so wont drink unprompted and struggles to drink much at all because of this. She gets her fluid from smoothies, ice lollies (home made with juice/sugar free squash), high water fruit and veg like chopped up melon, salads etc. Obviously we encourage her to drink as well.

Perhaps you need to go back to the Drs and discuss the options because her diet and digestive system will have changed abd developed alot in the last 6 months and she may tolerate and cope wit movicol or something else better than before - although I do appreciate your reluctance. No one likes to see their child in pain. I do have to say it takes weeks if not a few months to work out a good proper maintenace dosage of movicol because initially most people that start on it are in a bad way - pretty blocked up etc. That needs to be cleared properly and the bowel recover, before the bowel can start to retrain itself. Like I say my DD is 11 (just) and been in this now for 2 months - we are only just reaching a nice place with it now and I was the same when I started out.

Good luck.

My DS had this at about the same age. My GP warned me off Weetabix as it bungs you up.
Also she advised me not to stop the lactulose too quickly, as the muscles in the rectum need time to recover. We had to reduce the dosage gradually.

Don't give her weetabix or anything with bran if she isn't great at drinking. she will end up with painful impaction.

Stewed apple, mashed carrots, wet foods like jelly, icelollies, fruit purees (but not banana) are all good. Tinned prunes are good because they are thoroughly cooked and easier to digest.

I would avoid dairy products.

If she has been constipated for 8 months it will take at least 8 to 16 months of consistant, sustained treatment to deal with the problem.

Did you try the glycerol suppositories? Or syrup of figs?