Movicol when breastfeeding - I’m sure it’s affecting by baby’s nappies

[BeckyLeo]

Hello! This is my first post on mumsnet so apologies if I’ve done it in the wrong place…

I have been incredibly constipated since giving birth 2 months ago so have been prescribed Movicol sachets from my GP. She said they were perfectly safe to take when breastfeeding.

After the 1 sachet per day dose wasn’t working for me it tried the “8 in one day” method as described on the box. It definitely worked!! Ever since doing this 3 days ago I’ve noticed my poor baby keeps having “wet farts” sorry tmi 🤢 and constantly having violent poo’s. His little bum is getting sore!

Google says that it shouldn’t come through to my breast milk but I don’t understand why my baby is all of a sudden having these symptoms.
Has anyone else ever had this happen to them and their baby?

Here he is again - giant wet fart as I type this! I can hear it hit his nappy from a different room!

ps. I am exclusively pumping my milk for him, not actual breastfeeding.

Thank you
x X

Movicol’s main ingredient isn’t supposed to absorbed by the blood stream so it can’t get into breast milk but I believe it also contains a bowel stimulant which I suppose could pass into breast milk. The best place to look is the breast feeding network.

The beat thing for baby’s bum is lots of naked time and thinest possible layer of the yellow nappy cream, the name begins with a b.

Thank you for your speedy response! Is the breastfeeding network a thread on here? I tried to find a breastfeeding related one but couldn’t seem to find it on the drop down list.

Hmmm interesting, maybe it is the bowel stimulant getting through. I will keep an eye on his nappies over the next day or so and hope it gets better. I’ve been making sure to dry is bum after every clean and have been switching between sudocrem and metanium and it seems to be helping.

Poor thing he looks so shocked when another one fires out into this nappy, they are so violent!

I would also add for you to drink plenty of water throughout the day and importantly “during your meals”, this will hopefully help with your constipation 🤞🏼

You can talk to a pharmacist specially trained in breastfeeding here on face book messenger

www.facebook.com/BfNDrugsinBreastmilkinformation/

That's a service from the breastfeeding network btw

Movicol doesn’t contain a stimulant.

Oh amazing thank you will have a look at this now x

@Rainallnight hmmm I wonder what’s going on then. Unless he’s just got a bit of a tummy bug? Just seems weird that his symptoms started just after I took the big load of Movicol.

I’ll look at the link @olderthanyouthink posted above and see if I can get any info there.

thanks everyone! X

According to my pharmacist it does. I will check the name if it later.

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/constipation/

website is run by a pharmacist who has a PhD researching the transfer of medication into breast milk.

Breast milk itself is a bowel stimulant for baby. They can have very loose, even watery, bowel movements.

@eatyourcrustspls yeah he does have the usual breast milk runny poo’s but the last few days he’s just constantly having wet farts that are explosive, more than 10 times a day which is really usual for him.
He usually has about 2/3 poo filled nappies and the rest are just wee. Now every happy I change over the last 3 days he’s had some amount of poo in it and I can hear his explosive bum going off all day.

It doesn’t seem to bother him otherwise and he’s not upset or fussy until a few seconds before he’s about to do an explosive fart - he whinges and squirms for about 5 seconds then you see him force it out.
I must have done though 100’s of nappies over the last 4 days!

It really doesn't. It has one ingredient plus some electrolytes and it works by making your poo softer - if you take enough very soft! It's not absorbed by the gut.

This NHS link also says it's safe for breastfeeding:

www.nhs.uk/medicines/macrogol/