Rather smelly 8 year old - advice please!

[saltire]

DS1, since he was a baby has suffered with constipation. He periodically has to have movicol. he started on it last Friday, and finally had a poo yesterday. However, the wind coming from his behind is unbeleivably smelly. It is constant, and even though its freezing cold we are sitting with the windows open, and when i have my wee mindees in i am always checking their nappies as i think it's them. Last saturday i had to walk out of countless shops becuase he was doing it there. The smell is so bad it is actually making me retch - even DH after beers and a curry isn't this bad. I had him at the doctors today and he said it's what boys do. However even his teacher commented on it today, and said she has to keep opening the window and that some of the other kids have started teasing him.
So - anyone any advice what i can do to reduce the smell, but still keep him eating enough fibre to keep his bowels regular. Or give me the email addy of a gas mask supplier

poor little mite. constipation is no joke my neice suffers with it too, she's 4 and going through the same, breaking wind all the time and like u said the smell is horrendous.
i don't think there is much u can do about it really other than keep giving him the movocol and plenty of fruit and veg and loads of orange juice.
my neice breaks wind in school too and they have mentioned it.

Keep an eye on his diet?

I might be wrong but I think charcoal tablets are meant to help. DH1 had a particularly smelly friend and I'm sure thats what his missus bought him.
Your poor DS. I feel very sorry for him. Hope it resolves soon.Other kids can be so cruel.

He does eat a lot of fibre - because of his copnstipation. He has weetabix, we always have brown /wholemeal bread, he eats fruit every day and, on doctors advice has two glasses of pure orange/pineapple every day as well as a carton of it in his lunchbox.
I just don't know what else to do, and don't want him to keep taking the movicol, but even with it his poos are rock solid(sorry, TMI) and almost always block the toilet and i have to flush bowls of water down to get it away

Does he excercise regularly? excercise gets the bowel moving.

sorry meant exercise, i'm tired!

Yes, he plays football every day at break time,goes to football club twice a week, he goes to cubs and runs around there and when its dry is always out. obviously a bit harder with the darker nights

Does he drink enough water?

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Poor little guy. I would get a second opinion from a gastroenterologist. A regular gp can be too fast to write things off as "normal", but this is something that is causing him grief in day to day life and deserves to be taken seriously.

Does he eat bananas? They can be "binding" - a friend whose DS had constipation was shocked to find that the 3 bananas he was eating every day were hindering not helping.

Charcoal tabs do work - have tried them myself - used to get IBS wich would result in me being very unsociable. The charcoal absorbs the gases.

yeah, i would ask for a referral to a gastro.
Does your son cry in pain with it??
poor little boy, must be awful for him. My neice has a condition called Hircshsprungs disease (a bowel problem) and has had it since birth. she has and will always suffer with constipation and she cries when she goes to the toilet. it's heartbreaking.

buda - where do u get the charcoal tablets from?

alexa, he does cry, but it's usually after he has eaten something, almost as though he has trapped wind or colic.
I will try Boots tomorrow for charcoal tablets.
Went out to bonfire and when we came back the smell was still lingering!

You could try Acidophilus tablets, you know, the ones which put the 'good' bacteria back in the gut. Like Yakult or Actimel, but more concentrated.

I first used them on holiday to Turkey in 1987. Everyone else made horrible smells, because of the oiliness of the food, we reckoned, but not me!

Holland and Barrett have chewable strawberry flavoured ones, so not too difficult to take. Children over 3yrs can have 1/2 to 1 whole one per day.

The traditional way (pre-aerosol room fresheners)to get rid of bathroom smells is to strike a match

Charcoal tabs available from any chemist.

I've just been to a herbalist for my ds - no joy from gp, just movicol, movicol, movicol. Which is OK, but wanted to get to root of problem.