Has anyone given their baby lactulose for constipation?

[iwouldgoouttonight]

Doctor has just given us some, just wondered how long it generally takes to work? DS is literally screaming with pain each time he tried to poo now - he's been constipated on and off for a while but yesterday it got really bad and seems to be upsetting him all the time now rather than just when he's trying to poo. Doctor said to give him first dose this evening and repeat it every evening until his poo is soft again.

Finding it difficult to get him to drink water or juice which is part of the problem so worried that once we stop the laxative medicine the problem will come back again?

He's nearly one btw.

Lactulose usually takes a day to work as it's very gentle.

Can you manage to get him to eat fruit? Raisins go through mine like a dose of the trots. orange juice also works as does prune juice.

Re the drinking water thing - I wouldn't panic too much. Why don't you just give him milk but add some water to it?

sorry - just an afterthought.....why didn't they give you a suppository to get him started if he's in that much discomfort? They work in about 10 minutes!

Mind you over here in Europe Doctors seem to be rather keener to give you things to stick up yer bum than in the UK!

LOL at being more keen to stick things up your bum in Europe!

He loves fruit - eats lots of it already, raisins, plums, pears, apples, apricots, grapes, oranges, etc but it doesn't appear to make any difference! We're all veggie so he eats loads of vegetables and beans too so I can't imagine he's not getting enough fibre - in fact looking at his diet you'd imagine he'd be filling his nappies all the time!! I've tried giving him orange juice and diluting his milk with water, not tried prune juice yet though, will give that a go.

To be honest the doctor seemed reluctant to prescribe anything, it was only when I told her everything I'd already tried and kept going on about his screams of pain that I got her to prescribe lactulose!

Thanks for your advice.

How old is your ds.

Mine is enternally constipated despite his diet being good. He eats plenty of fruit, drinks lots of water and doesn't eat rubbish. He's had poo trouble since he was only on breast mil

We used lactulose for a while but now have Movelat, I think it's called. So much better. It's got him moving a treat.

He'll be one this month. He's also been constipated on and off since he was on formula (and we've tried different types) but never as bad as it is now.

Can laxatives be taken all the time then? The doctor said we should stop immediately when the poo is soft again.

My DS is quite late with crawling and I'm wondering if that isn't helping - just sitting in one place probably doesn't get his bowels moving much - I know with adults that exercise had supposed to relieve constipation so possibly the same for babies.

my ds was exactly the same as yours
(plus mine drank tons of water and it never made any difference at all, so don't worry about that bit)

the lactulose is good. we had to give it to ds on and off from about 6 months old until he was well over 1.

it's only since about 18 months old that he seems to be getting better and we no longer need it.

sadly I think some babies are just prone to getting it and there really is not much you can do. sounds like your ds eats very well too.

the lactulose will help and just use it as long as you need it. stop when it goes ok like the doctor said. but the minute you think it's coming back don't be afraid to use it again. worked wonders for us.

I hope he gets better soon and naturally grows out of it. I know how horrible it is

Thanks everyone. Hopefully the lactulose will do the trick then.

It is horrible watching him in pain, its like he's trying to give birth - with me and DP watching helplessly, rubbing his back and telling him to push!

My DD went onto lactulose when she was about 1.3 - we had the screams too, and holding it in and then doing an ENORMOUS poo. She eventually grew out of it at about 2.5. We went through the first bottle with it having little effect but when I went back the doctor said to up the dose. Once we did this it worked a treat.
We also found that things improved when she sat on a potty - just the natural physical opening when you sit down (as opposed to standing or lying) seemed to help. I know your DS is a bit young but it might be worth a try.