Question about Movicol

[Species8472]

DD (2.5) was started on Movicol Paediatric Plain yesterday, as she's been quite badly constipated for a while. Doctor said day 1 do 2 sachets, next 2 days 4 sachets, then 6 sachets for 2 days, then 8 sachets for 2 days (after which we'll see if DD seems to be 'cleared out'). Might be a stupid question, but does each sachet have to be be in a separate drink? Or can you mix more sachets into a larger amount of liquid? The 62ml for each sachet is a really small amount..

as many sachets as you need in a single drink

My experience is to keep on a lower maintenance dose for a long time - we were told they have to find pooing easy/comfortable for as long as they were uncomfortable with it in order to re-train the bowel.

That's great, thanks, I was getting worried about her having to have 8 very small separate drinks well as her normal drinks!

I mix ours with squash as it tastes horrible.

I didn't measure the amount of liquid for DD1 when she was on Movicol - I just mixed it in and added more liquid (squash usually, though sometimes fruit jiuce) till it looked palatable. To be fair, it's foul stuff, so I tried to keep the volume as small as possible so DD could drink it as quickly as possible to get to the chocolate bribe afterwards

You will need to keep going on a low dose for a while, as her bowel will be stretched by the large amounts of faecal matter, so won't send the 'need to go' signals properly until it's been retrained, as sassy says.

It worked a treat for DD1 - she was on it for nearly three years, between 2 and 5 yo but her bowel has now matured and she's fine.

Thanks, didn't realise it would be such a long-term thing, doctor didn't really specify. I'll take DD back next week to see what she says. DD had one very painful poo y'day and then a soft one after 1 sachet (doctor also prescribed suppository, that was fun...sorry TMI). Nowt today so far after 2 sachets....

I guess how long it lasts depends on the reason for her constipation - DD1 had been the amazing non-pooing baby (went up to 7 days between poos when exclusively bfed) then had suffered on and off with constipation from the start of weaning. She was diagnosed with an immature bowel, and we were told to keep her on Movicol until her bowel was mature. The paed we saw said, in his opinion, the best thing to do was to give the control to the parents to vary the dose depending upon how the child was doing, as the parents knew their child best! So we were the ones who gradually reduced DD's dose as the need for it became less, then withdrew it altogether when it became obvious she no longer needed it.

I should say, we only saw a paediatrician as DD1 had multiple UTIs caused by the faecal impaction, but it is NHS policy that a child of her age who has more than 1 UTI in 12 months needs to be checked by a paed. Generally, the GP would have been more than capable of dealing with her constipation.

DD was fine whilstt being bf but has had a few bouts of constipation since starting solids at 6m. She's never had a UTI, but this is the worst her constipation has been.

Just my experience - my DD absolutely refused to take it in drinks, but she would always have it when it'd been mixed into yoghurt.

Similar to poledra. My DD was constipated long term from 12 months till age of 4. Then she was given Movicol. She ended up taking it till she was 8/9 years old. She is 10 now and still has bouts of needing it.