Movicol

[PatricksRum]

I have a 1 year-old with chronic constipation. Was on lactilose twice daily and suppositories every 3 days.
Just moved onto Movicol. What's everyone's experiences with it? How long did you use it for? How many sachets did you use?
TIA

We have used Movicol over a number of years from age 2. We started with one sachet daily - moving to two sachets. We are currently on one sachet but discovered that the worst of the constipation happened due to being coeliac, it took us 3.5 years to get to that. If this persists, if you have a chance to screen for allergies early I would. Good luck.

@pigcon1 thank you! I will bring that up with the doctor!

Eldest child was prescribed it aged 6 but refused to drink it, eventually we identified that it made him have little control when needing to go and he was always afraid at school of the possible consequences. He is now 10 hasn't needed anything in years!

My 4 year old has been on it for about 18 months.

She was a classic poo withholder and would only ever poo in a nappy. Got constipated and held onto it because it hurt to poo but it also hurt to hold onto it. It was a grim time.

We started on lactulose but that wasn’t strong enough. So we were on 2 sachets a day (one morning and one night) until she was pooing more regularly. Then down to one a day in the morning. We mix in her milk and she drinks it no problem (we have the paediatric plain version)

We are currently on a holding pattern of 1 packet every other day. We recently changed our routine and she missed a couple of doses. She did a poo yesterday which she described as ‘spikey’ so will continue to stick to the one packet every other day.

She has now started knowing she needs to poo and pooing on the loo (she gets a poo present after every poo) and just in time for school in September.

We’ve had no help from doctors on the dosage and it’s been very hit and miss but we’re getting there.

Good luck

pigcon
Can I ask how you found out it was celiac disease? My dd1 (8) been on movicol for 5 years because of constipation issues and it's always made me wonder if it could be something like a that.
Also, has anyones child had an episode of blood in their poo? My dd has but only 7 or 8 times over 5 years. Doc says this is the constipation but I'm a worrier!

It is so much more effective than lactulose. But we have found that the dosage needs adjusting every couple of weeks/months. Have you had a referral to a specialist paediatric constipation nurse?