4 year old with blockage in bowel?

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Hi ladies , I'll try and keep this brief lol my DD is 4 and has been awake every night for a full week and has been having 4 bowel movements a day all just very water like , loser that diarrhoea if that makes sense . Anyhow her gp on Tuesday said her bowels felt full and prescribed laxitives . On Thursday she had got worse . He said he couldn't feel a blockage and prescribed movical . Her Bms are still the same and she's in pain. Has anyone ever experienced this with their kids . I'm considering and a&e trip to get her xrayed xxx

Like Yoga, I'd highly recommend seeing a specialist if you can.

Yes we were under an amazing Paed Gastroenterologist... if you happen to be in the London/Essex area I will give you his details.

We also had to use Pico Sulfate.

Do you have a different GP in your practice you could see?

Just spoke to my MIL, she would be very old school and she has inisisted I take grace back to doctors in the morning to be checked .. She wouldn't normally fuss with things so I'm taking her advice on board if that makes sense . There is another 2 doctors in our practise ( she's already seen 2 she's seen ) there a younger doctor who I think she might be better seeing . If she had a blockage ladies would her tummy not be very hard and swollen ? She's lost weight and tummy very soft

My DD has had constipation on and off for a couple of years and in the last month was prescribed movicol (as opposed to lactulose) and it has really helped. Our Dr said 1 sachet up to 4 a day and to contact if that doesn't work. We found 1 has made a world of difference though so sounds as if it were much less severe as your DD. I do hope you get it sorted soon, poor love and poor you!

I just want to say I've found all you ladies to be so helpful and lovely . I don't usually use forums but was really at my wits end and you all have helped so much . Thank you xxx

My DD lost weight but I think that was because she had such a poor appetite which was obviously linked to the bowel issues.

Her tummy was often distended but then sometimes it wasn't but her consultant could feel the blockages.

An X-RAY will show up blockages too so could be worth pushing for but I wouldn't definitely be asking for a referral.

It's a horrible condition, for both you and her.

Your MIL is quite right! You can't always tell from palpation - given the symptoms you're describing, it does sound as if there was an impaction, but I think its worth checking back in with them and telling them that you'll be using the "disimpaction dose" - ask them to confirm it in the paediatric BNF if they start faffing about it - and use that technical wording ;-)

Oh sorry - would have been useful to say that you should push to have her X-rayed once everyone thinks a disimpaction has been achieved - they need to check she's starting from a properly cleared out point when you then put her on a maintenance dose.

Just a quick update , just out of the bath room with her and this bm was very different from others . It's been like water for a week but there was def a bit of formation to this one . It wasn't solid by any manner but def looks like we are making progress . Thank goodness xxx

You don't need a paediatric gastroenterologist. This is absolutely bread and butter stuff for any decent general paediatrician. Some of the more kids orientated GPs are also well able to manage it.

Don't back off on the treatment yet, it's starting to work! Hang on in there! Oh, and NICE guidance is not to xray for constipation/impaction.

My ds gets this but his tummy has never been hard. We have lactulose and movicol. Lactulose is a softener on its own but movicol is a laxative and I was told it also softens the stools. So both together if really backed up will work the best. My ds has only ever had 6 sachets a day when badly bunged up but if I catch him in time 2 taken within a few hours of each other work fine. However my sisters little girl takes 2 daily as maintenance. Often with my ds lactulose on its own is enough to prevent him bunging up.

Oh, apologies nocoolnames and OP - I hadn't realised it wasn't NICE guidelines to x-ray. We used to have that done after a clear-cut, but that was in quite a complicated, intractable scenario, so a bit different from first time one-off impaction.

Just hoping things are getting moving. We had similar with my daughter and it was so worrying. Our GP had said 1 sachet of movicol a day but to ‘increase if needed’ which was so vague. We got up to 6 (after googling an increasing regimen) before we got poo. We may have overdone it though as I think there’s a bit of a lag between taking it and its effect.
Good luck.

Last nights movement had a bit of consistency to it but this morning we are back to liquid/ water movements ... Calling GP practice to see if this is normal and when we should expect to see a proper movement .. I have very little experience with this which is why it's so worrying . I have been googling / on Eric page trying to educate myself as much as possible x

Our experience was that when the movicol starts working, it’s quite dramatic. 15 explosive poos a day for a few days sort of thing.