constipated 3 yr old

[mum2kai]

hiya, my name is mel, i am new here. my 3 yr old son suffers with constipation, and he has had 2 and a half sachets of movicol in 2 days. i dont want to give him too much of it. he still isnt going, just loosing watery pooey stuff. my mum says this is called overflow........help!

What's diet like, water intake etc?

he is a picky eater, but he has been eating apples, he hasnt had one for a few days. he does get plenty of juice though

Experienced this with dd2 at 2.5 - she did not "go" for 3 days and ended up quite poorly - very uncomfortable and almost passing out. Took her to the doctors and he gave her Lactulose and a suppository. This did the trick and got rid of the blockage. Doctor said toddlers (2 to 3s) can get a bit of a lazy bowel which contributes to the constipation. If your ds still has not had a proper bowel movement by tomorrow then i would suggest going to the doctor - or if he seems uncomfortable now, try the out of hours service.

thanx. he has been in hospital with it before. they gave him 3 sachets of movicol and it cleared him out. he used to take lactulose but it doesnt work now. his movicol usually does the trick, but i dont wanna give him too much. he says his bum is sore, but he is trying to poo

he has passed a small amount but if he does no more i will take him to doctors tomoro

Poor poppet - hope he feels better tomorrow!

No advice but welcome and i hope he feels better soon x

I totally feel your pain, but unfortunately have no advice. My 3 (4 in May) DD1 has been chronically constipated for 2 years now. Started with bad bout of teething and ear infection (didn't eat properly for 2-3 days) so got bunged up and voila here we are. She had been on senna and lactulose for a year which would shift it eventually but she would go for up to 8 days with only passing small amounts. She has been on 2-4 sachets a day of movicol for 6 months now and will now poo most days but occasionally gets bunged up so has a pooing fest for 3-4 days i;e on and off toilet 8 times a day but also soils.

Anyway, this is turning into a hi-jack (sorry). All I can advise you to do is pester you GP before it gets to the BAD stage, up his fluids, fruit intake, loads of exercise, and don't worry about the movicol.

Hi Mel - we're going through exactly the same with our three year old boy - he's on two sachets of movicol and one to two 15ml doses of lactulose a day. He was recently suffering from the overflow problem and had a belly like a balloon and was in agony. He had suppository which shifted a very large, hard poo and since then the movicol and lactulose have kept him going. It's really interfering with potty training as he's scared to poo on the toilet or potty because it hurts (think it might be psychological now as well, as poo is now soft). GP has referred him to paediatrician (appointment late April) and we're hoping that will help but in the meantime we're trying not to worry about giving him such a lot of movicol and lactulose and trying to make sure he eats plenty of pears and other fruits and drinks plenty. The suppository works within 10 minutes and once you've cleared the blockage, the movicol will do the rest for you. Hope he's ok and you are able to get it sorted.

avoid binding food like apples (full of pectin), eggs, toast, white rice, white bread.

Massage the inside of his shin bones these are bowel reflex points and they really work. I do that to my dd when she can't poo.