Lactulose for 5yo - advice and tips?

[FelicityJean]

Hi, my dd (age 5) has just been prescribed lactulose because she has a habit of holding poo in, only going twice a week or so (even though she needs to go more often) and it's painful when she does go. She has to take 5ml once a day. The GP said usually the medicine is taken in the evening with the expectation of going in the morning. Is this your experience? And is it likely that she will soil herself? She's ever so worried about this happening while she's at school. Any advice would be much appreciated!

That dose is verging on homeopathic. I'd be gobsmacked if it made her soil herself. However, I'd be surprised if it did much good. She may well need movicol/laxido. You might find www.eric.org.uk useful to read about constipation in children.

Poor girl, it must be really uncomfortable for her. Before this started did she have a good handle on knowing when she needed to go to the toilet? My experience of lactulose is that it just makes it easier to go when you feel you need to, rather than forcing you to make a mad dash for the toilet

Thank you for your replies. I'm pleased to know it probably won't make things uncontrollable for her although fingers crossed it will do some good, we'll see!

She does seem to know when she needs to go, she just holds it in because she doesn't like going and then I think it hurts her when she does go so it becomes a vicious cycle. I'm hoping if the lactulose makes it more comfortable to go then we can break that cycle.

My DS (7) is on 10ml lactulose twice a day. We've been using it for 2 weeks now. It's never made him soil himself. It just makes it easier to pass and he's going about once a day. The only time we've had soiling is when he hadn't been for ages and it started to leak around what was stuck. That was before he started the lactulose.

It's awful when they can't go. My son's issue is not drinking enough rather than purposefully holding it in. I hope your daughter gets some relief soon.