Weaning off Lactulose

[WhatTheActualFugg]

Has anyone done this?

My 5yo has been on Lactulose for about 9 months.

Been having a twice daily maintenance dose of 10ml for months with no issues.

He's recently become very keen to come off it as he notices none of his friends have to take 'poo' medicine. He's also developing the maturity to understand that if he drinks plenty and eats his daily half apple he's much more likely to have easy poos.

His last 4 poos have all been very/too urgent, soft and loose. He starts school in September and is currently at risk of soiling himself if he isn't able to get to the toilet at a moments notice.

So basically, I want to try and reduce his Lactulose so firm him up a bit. But of course I don't want it to go too far and have to start from square one.

Does anyone have any experience of Lactulose weaning?

Why is he on this in the first place,? Is there a congenital problem? some people poo often, other less so.

He has long-standing chronic constipation deriving from early toilet training fears resulting in internal injuries. It's not congenital, it's psychosomatic.

If he gets bunged up he can be in extreme pain for hours. Keeping him regular but continent is a fine balancing act. Which is why I don't want to risk weaning him off too soon.

Bumping own thread for morning crowd

My DS (3.6) has also been on lactulose for about 8 or 9 months. He was taking 5ml twice a day. Once he was pooing regularly every day or other day, i reduced it to 5ml a day. That was about 2 months ago. Now just last week i reduced it to 2.5ml a day. The poos have remained soft so i think i will try stopping it altogether soon.

I understand the fear though - the thought of going back to where we were with witholding terrifies me!

I have found that fruit juice really helps my DS, now it's just trying to get a balance between helping him poo and not rotting his teeth!

nut I weaned my DS off after about 3 months once he was regular and happy sitting on the toilet. He was pooing without Lactulose fine for a good few weeks before it all went back to square one again. It was horrendous. When I finally saw a GP who would take it seriously he just said "why did you wean him?". He said DS would have to be on it long term and said to come back and talk to someone about it "at some point". (He was a locum).

So I'm thinking this needs to be a 12-18 month action plan. I'm hoping taking him to 9ml will stop the urgency a bit.

Of course he's a fussy eater so while he's eating apple every day and handfuls of almonds, he might change his mind next month!!