Constipation

[indiechick]

That's it really, have a two year old dd with constipation and really after suggestions as to what works. We've changed her diet, more fruit and less cheese (she would live on babybel and toast if she could). She drinks lots of liquid. Doctor has put her lactulose twice a day but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Would really appreciate anything that works really. Neighbour suggested bran flakes (and helpfully donated a packet four years out of date), going to buy some this pm.

What would normally give her a runny tummy (apart from viruses, I mean)

Prunes/other dried fruit?

Ask the Doc to increase the lactulose?

She eats dried fruit daily, I guess increase the lactulose. She's wolfing down bran flakes at the moment. Maybe they will work.

I tend to find seeded rolls (especially those with linseeds) do the trick.

lots and lots of water ...fresh orange juice , dried prunes (without preservatives), rocking back and fourth on the toilet helps as does a stool to prop her feet up to put her bowel in the right angle on the toilet, also blowing bubbles while sat on the loo all helps! sounds mad i know, but my 4 year old dd has suffered with very bad constipation so i know all the tricks!

Really, blowing bubbles? I'll try that. Thank you.

Apricots, fibrous cereals such as weetabix, orange juice, gallons of water, ask for paediatric Movicol to get things moving (senna is awful and can give terrible tummy cramps).

This is a great website

Doc has given us lactulose, is movicol better?

Movicol all the way!!!
It works very differently to Lactulose.
Lactulose makes the bowel lazy, so the muscles don't do the work. DC won't get a strong pressure feeling when she needs to go. So, when it eventually happens, it may be big and painful and could make her sore - a slipperly slope into pain-fear-tension.
Movicol adds water to the stool, so she'll still get a feeling she wants to go, but her poo will be soft.
Trick is getting the dosage right.
Definitely ask for it - it was a winner for DS when we started potty training a couple of weeks ago (he stopped himself from going to the loo as he was frightened to go

Alternatively, you may want to consider seeing a cranial osteopath. I did this when DS was first weaned onto solids and was constipated and the cranial gently massaged his abdomen and a couple of hours later, one big poo explosion and no problems thereafter!

Either way, I'd personally avoid Lactulose or any other laxative.

Lactulose isn't a laxative, it's an aperient - it draws water back into the bowel to make the poo softer and wasier to pass. It doesn't stimulate the gut directly. It doesn't make the bowel lazy unless too much is taken causing runny poo.

It's generally a first line treatment for mild constipation, then Movicol is often added in. Movicol is a similar sort of treatment in that it encourages water to be retained in the bowel and so makes the poo softer and more bulky.

If lactulose isn't working then you can increase the dose up to 10mls twice a day, and if still no poo then it's worth asking for paediatric Movicol, or further investigating the constipation.

She's having 2.5mls twice a day. To be honest it's not making much different. She's still waits three/four days between poos, however she did two today and they seemed to come out quicker.

Sorry, that made no sense. What I meant was, I sort of thought she would go more frequently. Although it seemed far less painful and quicker for her, it's still the first time she's pooed since Mon.