Movicol - making it worse?

[Mumsy2501]

My almost 3yo boy has been toilet trained a while but has issues now going for a poo! I think it hurt him once now he holds it back - which makes it hurt even more!

The dr has given Movicol which we've had to dilute down a lot so he can't taste it. But the two times we've tried it he just gets bad cramps for days and is grumpy and whiny til he finally has to give in and go and he's traumatised!

So Ive stopped giving it and am hoping he just grows out of it - any advice welcome?!

Thank you xx

You need to continue with it until his poo is like water, It needs to totally clear out his bowel. Hoping he grows out of it will not help with impaction. His poo will til be hard at first but get better over a few weeks.

Are you making it up with the correct amount of water? You can add squash/juice to disguise the flavour.

This was a nightmare for us with our 3 year old, fortunately only lasted 2 weeks before we sorted it. I didn't go to DRs but got lactulose from the pharmacy.
When they got soft enough we realised it was purely psychological so tried to worked on knowledge and familiarity.
There's a lot of good books aimed at children that explain the digestion process, "come out mr poo" was one that really clicked with our son. There's also an app our HV recommended called "poo goes home to pooland". Rewards were what cracked it for us though, collectable rewards! We had 4 toilet poos in one day when he knew what he might get next.
It's heartbreaking when they're so uncomfortable but you can't do anything, and when it finally comes out you hope they'll feel better but you realise it only came out because more poo is waiting.

You need to make movicol up correctly or it doesn’t work right

Thanks so much for your replies. I have found that the Movicol has not improved anything at all - it is all in his head and he is still holding it back until the very last second but is also in a lot of pain and very distressed when he finally does have to give in and go. It seems to have made things worse, not better.

I will speak again to the Dr but glad to hear that the reward method worked for you, we have said to him about doing a star chart but he's not interested, he may be once he gets a present though!! X

Only if he is impacted.

Movicol can be diluted into juice or other drinks as long as it’s been made up properly first.

OP have tried to poo goes to poo land app. Also talk about going for a poo yourself and let him be around when you do go. Try to get him to sit on a potty or toilet for 5 mins about 20/30 mins after every meal time. It’s fine if this is in front of the TV for with a book.

When DD was impacted we used the movicol but we also used to sit on the toilet for a long time. I’d set a film up on the tablet on a chair and she would sit. Sometimes it took a while to get going.