Can’t disimpact daughter feel so helpless.

[Ffswhatnoww]

My 5 year old has chronic constipation, I’m guessing due to her very limited diet and then withholding.
This has led to impaction which is being treated with Movicol. The thing is I can’t 1 into her never mind going up to 12 if need be. We have the chocolate one and she still won’t take it. She can taste it every time.
The next step is picosulfate and a high dose of lactulose but the problem is I won’t be able to get that into her.
She won’t drink chocolate milkshake, juice, Fruit shoots, just milk which doesn’t cover the taste. Tried cereal, yoghurt even stews and mashed potato.
I just feel a bit lost and hopeless. She’s not passing bowel movement just lots of little blobs through the day.

Ds was on movicol for several years. We put it in milk as he wouldn’t drink anything else, but like another poster suggested we had to build it up gradually. Pouring it on cereal was a good way to hide it for us, as he and my younger dd are medicine refusers.

For the pp who say ‘just make them take it’, I think they haven’t encountered children with sensory issues who will stop at nothing to avoid things they don’t like.

As well as movicol, we found that dried apricots were helpful, and fig rolls. The problem is getting rid of the impacted stuff before introducing the fibre to your dc’s diet. Movicol does work wonders once you can get your dc to take it.

Cosmocol is what both my boys have had and my eldest for impaction... flavourless and just pop in a large glass of black currant they can't even taste it! They're only allowed water usually so they think it's a nice treat xx

We started by mixing tiny amounts in milk and using those straws ...magic milk sipper straws to flavour it (quite an artificial flavour so she may not like them) straws get it down quicker and with less taste.

I also gave him a tiny present when he had a poo (withholder) so maybe bribing with stickers or a reward chart?

If she will accept a suppository I would just use that for now though

Do try stopping the milk it worked miracles on my DN. Years of pain stopped over night virtually

This was 25 years ago, I think DD was about 5. I can't remember what the GP prescribed, but it was something usually prescribed to adults, and he had to ring a pediatrician to get the ok.

IIRC it looked like orange squash. It wasn't very nice, but we sat together playing Beat your Neighbour, and after each trick she had a mouthful.

Perhaps she could hold her nose when she swallows it.

I remember the stress of trying to get movicol into my then two year old child. It was horrendous. We lasted about 3 days and I demanded something else. We started on Lactulose 5ml or 10ml everyday and then I reduced this to as and when and we've now weaned down to no medication at all and our daughter is now 4.5 and has found that tomato soup is her failsafe for relief when constipated.

Oh and lactulose worked so well for her because it was a quick 5ml syringe washed down with a drink at first and then once she realised that she liked the sweet taste of it she happily took her "poo medicine" without a drink to wash the taste away.

Lactulose was good for me because I knew all I had to do was get that one syringe in her, no faffing about with mixing and monitoring drinks and intake.

We call lactulose her "poo medicine" too 😂
She likes the taste!
When she's bad we give 10ml daily for a few days and reduce to 5ml when things start moving. After a few days we stop and monitor. Things are usually regular for a week or two and then we try and nip any slow down in the bud by giving 5ml as soon as we notice a day without poo

I’d take another look at suppositories. The U.K. is funny about them but they are VERY commonly used in many European countries and can be very effective, and they completely bypass all the stress around taste and swallowing something she hates. You definitely don’t need more anxiety around eating and drinking when her restricted diet is already contributing to the problem.

I've got family members who had the same issue, and it turned out it was the milk causing the problem for all of them.
Try any other fluid, lots of it, and and then dried fruit, ordinary fruit and leafy veg once she's actually hungry. No point in her having anything much to eat until she's had a clear out - it's just adding to the problem, and she probably isn't hungry anyway.

OP, try Dulcosoft. Same drug as Movicol but a fraction of the quantity needed.

www.boots.com/dulcosoft-oral-solution---100ml-10264055

My daughter would hold her nose and down it.

She's 13 now, she's had constipation Her whole life, I've been giving her Bisacodyl laxative pills for the last three years - it's the only thing which is powerful enough to work. We just spend a day at home pumping her full of water and fruit and voila.

Pretty sure this wouldn't be OK for a five year old. But yes she may have SEN, mine does and is a large part of why she wasn't using the toilet properly.

I agree that lactulose may be easier because it just tastes sweet and the quantity is less than movicol. I'm an adult and I struggle to take movicol, it's just rank. You could mix lactulose into a food that she likes, such as yogurt or jam?

Have you tried making milk shake with ice cream, a bit of squirty cream and decorating with sprinkles and strawberry or chocolate sauce, served with a straw? So many distractions and being cold helps.

BTW DD recovered fully, I got more fruit and veg into her (she was fussy which was how it occurred in the first place) and she took seriously the GP's advice to her to eat more veg.