DS will not take his Movicol

[StuntNun]

My DS has been prescribed Movicol for an impacted bowel and we just can't get him to drink it. He managed to choke down his first dose mixed with Fanta earlier but it took an hour of cajoling to get him to do it. The current dose has been mixed with Ribena and he has been having full on hysterics. We've tried getting him to hold his nose and given him a straw to drink it but we are currently at an impasse after 45 minutes where he is refusing to drink it even though he has been told he can't leave his seat until he has finished it. He's supposed to have three doses tomorrow, four the next day up to a maximum of six doses a day. How can I get him to drink this stuff?

How old is he? We struggled to get our almost-3yr-old to drink his Lactulose last week, and ended up putting it in the little plastic cup with a fizzy sweet in the bottom...he had to drink the medicine in order to get the sweet and it worked.

He's 11 next week.

We went through this last year and in the end managed to get it in by serving it in squash, very cold and using a straw.

Chocolate buttons and then cold hard cash were effective as bribes.
Hope you get enough in him to get things moving- we ended up dosing up to a maximum of 12 a day before the action started.

11? Oh no, was hoping my ds's bowel problems would be restricted to the toddler years

Sounds like bribery of the cash variety might be the best way forward then?

Sorry to hear he is suffering, sounds awful (and what I'm constantly trying to avoid by using the Lactulose). How long has it been since he passed a stool, if you don't mind me asking? Just wondering how long it takes before a bowel becomes impacted.

Have you tired warning it up a little. Not boiling up but just warn enough to drink in one go. The stuff is bloody disgusting so don't blame him but that helped me drink it.

To be honest I think he's had the problem for a while and been covering it up. He's already passed a large stool today so hopefully a maintenance dose will keep him right - so long as I can get him to actually take it.

To be honest I think he's had the problem for a while and been covering it up. He's already passed a large stool today so hopefully a maintenance dose will keep him right - so long as I can get him to actually take it.

mix it in a little water first then...

put it in hot chocolate
or mix into a yoghurt
mix it with ice cream topping and put it on icecream
put it in breakfast cereal

I found putting it in the milk for DD's breakfast cereal worked - particularly if the cereal was sweet as this counterbalanced the saltiness of the Movicol

I second sprinkling it over his cereal without him knowing.

By 4 doses, do you mean 4 sachets? That sounds like a lot.

I second mixing with a hot chocolate then make sure he drinks lots of water/squash afterwards.
Good luck

10 yr old ds1 takes various foul tasting medications. He has a cup of medicine mixed with the drink of choice and a separate cup of just the drink. He takes alternate sips.

It took a lot of patience at first to get used to it and some chocolate at the end! Now he does it in 30 seconds.

Patience and perserverance are the keys - hard I know! Good luck.

Sympathies. But at 11 he must be amenable to bribery or getting rid of the awful discomfort he must be in.

Chocolate nesquik worked here. Good luck!

My dd has the same problem but thankfully drinks the Movicol. However 2 years ago she got impacted so badly that she had to spend a night in hospital with a tube down her throat... tell him he doesn't want that to happen.

Oh poor lad, I have a lot of sympathy, I'm no good at taking things that are disgusting and I'm considerably older!!

I am surprised it's disgusing though, my friends little boy had to take it for a long time (and still does occasionally) no fuss at all and he's generally a fussy little bugger! Are there different versions of it?

Apple juice hides movicol really well. The stuff from concentrate, not fresh. I love the way it's labeled as "plain" it's not, it's horrible

I used to mix it into chocolate custard, worked a treat here.

DD (2.3) has it daily in her milk. She doesn't seem to notice so maybe milk's a good cover-up? That's the paediatric version-don't know whether your son's on that or the adult stuff?

Agree you need to disguise it in milk. My ds has always had his in his milk from 6mths old to 2.2yrs now. My nephew is 9 and has his in hot chocolate.

If you need to use it as a threat, my ds ends up having enemas and bowel wash outs in hospital if he doesn't go. I think drinking the movicol is the preferable option! Good luck

Haven't had to deal with Movicol but DS aged 6 had to take a particularly disgusting antibiotic and the only thing that worked was a spoonful of Nutella afterwards as it really took the taste away quickly (thanks to another MNetter who recommended this). Before that we had the full on hysterics/total refusal too. Good luck!

DD (3) absolutely refused it...when I tasted it I could see why. Maybe try milk or yoghurt as others have suggested. That's what the doctor suggested we should do with her amoxicillin...(we didn't use it it the end as it turned out she had a virus)

I mix DD2(10)'s Movicol with a tiny bit of water and a large amount of neat blackberry and apple squash. It has to be really strong to hide the taste so 3/4 squash to 1/4 water and Movicol.

It is the only way to get it down her but it seems to work as she does let on when she needs it these days which she wouldn't if it didn't taste OK.

Thanks for all the tips, we'll give some a try tomorrow. The GP said to give him four sachets today (it's the paediatric version) and increase by two every day until he's up to 12 a day!