Movicol - How do I get dd to drink it when she says it's disgusting and drinks hardly anything anyway?

[katalex]

Dd (3.9) has just been prescribed Movicol. I started her on 2 sachets yesterday as directed. I mixed with 125ml of water and her favourite squash for flavouring. She said it was disgusting and it took about 6 hours of encouragement to get her to drink it all. She drinks very little anyway. When I mixed up 4 sachets earlier she looked at it in disgust.

Can you mix it up with less water? Is there anything you found that helped you to get your dc to drink it?

Movicol is horrible, nasty stuff which should be avoided like the plague because of the problems it causes and the mess you will have to clean up. If she's not drinking alot then this will make her constipated. Children are more likely to drink through a straw or a special cup at this age, I would try this first. Soft pears or prune juice is good at getting things moving. If you do want to give her th emovicol you have to mix it up as per instructions. Too little water won't dissolve all the crystals. You can put some juice in it though but it really is horrible stuff. It can cause incontinence in some children and can mess up any toilet training you may have achieved. A last resort IMO.
Good luck.

Depends on ho much discomfort your dc is in over constipation - Movicol was a lifesaver for us as dd used to cry with pain over being constipated (but she has CP so her muscles work differently anyway).

We used to mix it in her milk - maybe try it in choc milkshake?

how not ho

I agree - Movicol is fab. I have mixed it up with less water, although enough to make it dissolve completely and then follow it down with another glass.

DD2 has it in her milk at bedtime. she refuses it in ribena or any other juice.

scrooged - what do you mean "the mess you will have to clean up?"

When you have a child who has been constipated and has had a fissure, who is too terrified to poo and is strong enough to hold it in, movicol is the most fantastic thing in the world to break the cycle, to get the poo moving when nothing else will work. Diet isn't enough always, my DDs diet is excellent and i have been through the whole pears/prune juice thing - creating the poo isn't the problem, it is getting it out.

Unfortunately dd takes after me wrt drinking. 1 litre per day is a lot for me. I've tried drinking 2 litres a day but I end up feeling bloated and nauseous, so I can understand how she feels. I think I might have to experiment and find a drink that she really likes to see if it gets her to drink more.

The reason she's got the Movicol is because she swings between constipation and not being able to control herself (soft but not runny). When she's constipated she complains of tummy ache and then screams for hours until it finally comes out. The rest of the time she can soil her knickers anything from twice a week to 4 times a day. The doctor said this is overflow constipation (IIRC) and we need to clear her out completely. Then we have to work on controlling her bowels through her diet.

Thanks for all the advice. Will definitely try milkshake.

Sounds exactly like dd katalex and we get movicol in her through yoghurt drinks on a morning.

and I am sorry but the comment about movicol being horrible has made me mad.

It has helped my dd start pooing properly, stopped her pooing in her knickers 10 times a day and to be quite honest has been a life saver for us in a VERY stressful time.

It is not nasty and causes no problems as it is an inert substance which is not absorbed into the body, just passes through the bowel and stimulates the bowel to pass poo.

Try it in hot chocolate, milkshake,smoothie, apple juice, juice whatever really
Good luck

katalex, if she doesn't like to drink much, can you try to get her to have more fluid via her food. e.g. melon.

if she likes milk have you tried rice milk which has much more water(we make milkshakes with it)
i also add hot water to my DDs bedtime milk or hot chocolate, all to increase her fluid intake.

they do drink more if they have a drink with a straw...

We put my DD's movicol in her milk drink (about 250mls) luckily she takes it no problem. She generally has one sachet a day now, or I may reduce it to 1/2 if she gets a bit too loose.
My DD has low muscle tone and suffered with constipation for years and had been on a number of other laxatives which usually had little effect. Came to a head earlier last year when she was hospitalised twice and we were finally prescribed movicol for her. Far from being 'horrible' it has turned our lives around, my dd now is 'regular', she is happy, and my happiness in life no longer revolves around whether she has had a poo or not

Movicol has changed our lives. Truly it has. Our dd [4] has gone from a tired, sluggish, can't be bothered going up stairs to an all dancing giggling child. No more hour tp two on the potty playing pushing games!!

Her body was unable to read the poo cues from being overstretched from a young age. They reckon it will be a long road of keeping her bowl clear - for it to shrink back to a normal size, that then tells her 'I'm full please poo'.

We put one sachet in a glass of pure juice - the dr said don't water the juice down as the extra sugars are worth the laxitive effect set against teeth rotting. The strong sharp juice covers the taste accoring to dd. They also said don't force the drinking in one go thing - let it take all day if neeeded.

Good luck and I know how this is important this is to you having been there.

Sorry I haven't replied. The dcs have been keeping me busy. It's good to hear from others who have experienced the same thing and have come out the other side. I was beginning to think dd would still have this problem when she starts school in September. It would be very embarassing for her if she had to tell her teacher every day that she'd done a poo in her knickers. One of her pre-school teachers once told her she was naughty so she stopped telling them and came home with dirty knickers

Dd got much better at taking the Movicol in a drink and even had it in water on its own for a couple of days. Thanks for the idea of putting it in milkshake - this was very successful.

We've stopped giving her the Movicol now as she got back to the 'Type 4' poo (according to the chart) by Wednesday. So far so good but I guess now the hard work starts getting her to take enough fibre. These days I'm lucky if I can get her to eat breakfast, let alone a high fibre breakfast.

Has anyone got any ideas for high fibre foods that your dcs like? Dd has a very small appetite so I need to get as much fibre as possible in as few meals as possible. I was given a booklet with that kind of info in it but I can't find it.

WRT drinking. I think I'll take her out on Saturday to buy her a new cup with a straw to see if that encourages her. If not, I guess we'll just have to spend the extra money and keep buying Fruit Shoots. She loves those. Dd is very fickle with fruit. We find something she likes and then a week later she says she hates it. In general she only likes tinned peaches and bananas.

Hi everyone, we have been having toilet problems with our dd ever since she started potty training she will not go to the toilet to do a poo (try sitting a screaming toddler on the loo). Over the past 2 years she has been on lactulose, senokot and since 2 weeks ago movicol. Our dd is at school she is 4 now luckily she has a great teacher as the mess she has been in is nasty.

During the first week of using movicol it took 3 days on two sachets for her to go to the toilet properly - we were over the moon thinking she had finally found the right medicine to make her go to the loo. Since then she has been in a mess no big poos just mess in her pants. We reduced the sachets to one a day half morning and half at night she is sill a mess and not going to the toilet. Thursday we reduced her to half a sachet in the morning and this morning although her pants were messy she sat on the toilet and did a proper big poo - hopefully we have got the medication right and its a start of good things.

The doc told us to make sure she eats a banana everyday and to eat either weetabix or weetos for breakfast to boost her fibre intake.

Can I buy it oveer the counter? Dont want to embarrass my son at the drs. thanks in advance

i think movicol is the most wonderful invention for dd, it has really helped her.

she suffers with terrible constipation, she has hemiparesis and her muscles are affected,she has been hospitalised on 2 occasions and given xrays and enemas,then prescribed movicol.

without it i dont know how we would have coped as she would have been in agony.

katalex,we give her a sachet in her milk with her cereal in the morning,then either in a yoghurt or a yoghurt drink in the afternoon.

she calls it her sugar and knows when she needs more for her belly,i dont understand how it can cause problems as we have been told by numerous doctors/paeds that the body doesnt absorb it.

cant recommend it highly enough here.

ask to be prescribed sodium docusate instead. much better, I used to mix it with a tsp of lactulose in DD's milk.

Agree get wet fruit in her, mango, kiwi, pineapple. Even tins of fruit cocktail.

Keep away from anything high fibre, it takes too much moisture from the gut & will bung her up even more.

ps she's at an age where you might be able to get her to drink some linseeds.

1 dessert spoon soaked for about 10mins in a tbsp of water, then topped up with juice (I took this when constipated whilst pregnant) got to drink it quick though. Follow with another drink. My DD (age 5yrs) asks for this if she ever does a hard poo (which is very rare now) She'll need to take this everyday.

another 'movicol saved our life' story here - after 2.5 years of chronic constipation it started to sort ds2 out - although it's taken a long, long time - movicol isn't a quick fix

check your dd has been prescribed the paediatric version as apparently it's easier to disguise - also make sure it's really well stirred as it can take a while to get the crystals to dissolve (it often helps to let it stand for 10 mins or so) - if she needs more than one sachet in a day you might have to give it in two separate drinks

hang in there - constipation is horrible but once you get on top of the problem your child will be transformed you only realise how horrible things were when you look back and see the difference as constipation affects virtually every aspect of your child's behaviour

Spread it over all of her drinks through the day.

I'm also cross about the negative comment about Movicol. I would far rather have to clean Tink up than have her go through the pain of having to pass a pooh. One might be a PITA to me but the other literally is to her!

fruit shoots won't do her any favours with the artifical sugars & please keep away from the high fibre cereals, you're making it far worse.

Porridge is good, as it's a soluble fibre, rather than the dry wheat/bran fibre.

Jacket potatoes & beans should help. Prunes, dried apricots soaked overnight in water.

We had problems with movical & sodium docusate was much better. Please do try it.

We bought a new cup for dd on Saturday and she has gone from drinking hardly anything to drinking almost 1 litre yesterday. I really hope it continues.

I'm a bit confused about what to feed her now though. I thought high fibre was a good thing and I was told that bananas can make you constipated. Dd won't eat fruit other than tinned peaches and she will suck the juice out of a satsuma. She is fussy about food on a good day. The guide book that we got about constipation said that she needs to have 8g of fibre per day. She has a very small apetite and it is difficult to get her to eat enough of one thing to count as 'one portion'. She eats less than her 16 month old brother. Are there any good web sites I can look at for nutritional information and meal suggestions to get her to 8g per day?

shortcircuit - Dd won't eat porridge. I've tried to get her to eat it many times. I'll get her to eat more beans though. Will stop the Fruit Shoots now I know they're not good for her. I normally take squash out with me she has a FS twice a week when mum looks after her.

Hi Katalex, yes it is all confusing. Agree to keep her away from bananas (although good if she has the runs !)

I really do think the way forward is the sodium docusate. As far as I know, it just makes the poo soft, so easy to pass, without all the explosions. My dd had terrible time with lactulose, with explosions etc. My heart goes out to little ones (& anyone else) that is constipated.

8g fibre isn't that much. How about porridge which she helps to make with some cooca powder (a tsp) + some sugar ? only give fruit as a snack - eating tin peaches will be fine, much better than crackers.

Need to give her soft poo so that she regains her confidence at going, my dd would hold on to it desperately & then of course the poo dries out & becomes very difficult to pass.

Have you got a coffee grinder ? you can grind up the linseeds & mix them with soup. Red lentils are good, make into a soup & blend, add an apple for natural sweetness.

What cereals does she like ? I'm still kicking myself for letting DD eat tesco's wheat flakes - I thought I was doing the right thing

Will she eat blueberries ? strawberries ? (even tinned ones).

Off to do school pick up, so will try to remember some more tips for you.

Thanks for all your help shortcircuit. Can you get sodium docusate over the counter or does it have to be prescribed?

Cocoa powder in the porridge is a good idea. Definitely worth a try.

I think I've got some red lentils in the cupboard. Dd likes soup so I'll give that a go. I haven't got a coffee grinder but I guess a mini chopper would do the same thing.

Dd likes most cereals. Cheerios, rice crispies, Shreddies, Weetabix, cornflakes.

She doesn't like blueberries or strawberries. I've never tried her with tinned ones. Perhaps tinned fruit is the way to go.

I fully support what amidaiwish and Tink's mum have had to say about Movicol.

I know it's not an ideal situation for a toddler to be on daily medication to help them poo, but neither is a one year old who hasn't opened his bowels in a week, and is screaming hysterically while you can actually see his bottom tearing and bleeding as he tries to pass a stool the size of a tennis ball.

Sorry if TMI and you're still having your breakfast, but the truth about severely constipated children is that if you could get them to ingest natural remedies they probably wouldn't be constipated in the first place.

(and no, I know Movicol is usually only prescribed to over 2s, it was a happy happy 2nd birthday in this house, let me assure you!)

I used to put it in his milk, first thing in the morning when he was so thirsty he'd neck it down without even noticing.

And once the Movicol meant it no longer hurt to poo, he stopped stool holding. And once he wasn't constipated and distended any more, he started eating better and had a better appetite, and now he's 4 and has been off the Movicol for about 6 months, and is as regular as clockwork.