Movicol...how long does it take to start working?

[patchesmcp]

DD is 18 months old and has just been prescribed movicol by the hospital for constipation.

I'm wondering how long it'll be before it starts working? We were told to give two sachets initially followed by one a day. Unfortunately, due to the hour of the day we were seen, the nurse then said we'd struggle to fit the two in on the first day so to give one that day, then two the next, then back to one.

DD did do two poos about 5 hours after taking the stuff but I actually think that was due to the lactulose she'd been taking the previous week softening the poo to allow her to pass that bit.

So far she's had 3 sachets in about 31 hours and she's had those two poos and one tiny other one. She's really distressed and I'm worried and wondering when the movicol will start giving some results.

Movical will start to work as soon as its taken but you may not see results for a few days, but when you do you do.

I assume your DD is constipated and not impacted so it should work sooner rather than later.

Did they say why you could not give the two sachets together? as that may speed it up, if she seems distressed and is not passing anything or seems to be in more distress take her back to the Dr's as she may need more than two to get her moving.

Would you consider looking at the constipation problem as a problem related to her food? If yes - I can tell you how in simple way, you can get rid of constipation - by changing what the baby eats.

One of mine had movicol.
She was impacted so we were told to:
Day 1: 6
Day 2: 10
day 3 12:
Continue at 12 until all through (very watery)
It hit at day 3, before that we had seen nothing change. We knew when it had worked though.
Don't reduce too quickly. We were at 2 a day for about 18 months before we went to 2 on one day 1 on the next for about 6 months before going down to 1 a day. It took about 3 years before she was totally off.

Thanks everyone.

She's started pooing, and we've just had a very soft one which she passed really easily so I'm very relieved

Ginger she has a good diet, lots of fruit and veg and she drinks quite a lot. She will happily eat dried prunes and apricots so we're going to try and ensure she has some daily to help with her constipation. Any other suggestions?