To do a clear out or not?

[Bbja]

Hi,

First time writing a post here. My 4 year old boy has had trouble with constipation since he was 6 months old. Since trying toilet training about 1.5 years ago it’s been a nightmare with holding back and soiling etc. we received such bad advice from doctors who obviously didn’t understand constipation. We weren’t giving him movicol correctly.

2 weeks ago we went to a new doctor and discovered ERIC and this forum. A god send!! Our boy has been so so happy that we understand what’s happening and he doesn’t soil on purpose and doesn’t have the sensation to go. I feel incredibly guilty when I think of all those reward charts we had. He was never going to get results that way. It just made him feel so misunderstood.

We started giving him 2 sachets of laxido (1 morning, 1 after lunch) 2 weeks ago. And great results, no soiling until today. His mood has changed dramatically. He’s been such a happy boy. Teachers have noticed a big positive change in him too.

Doctor had said to give a clear out a try “if we wanted to” but to do it when there was no distractions and we could take a week of school to do it.

So we are ready this week to do it but I’m worried that the trauma of a clear out will make things worse for him if we don’t need to do it. When do you know if they need a clear out and is ok to keep going as we are since his poos seem to be normal?

Sorry for the long post! Any advice would be really appreciated.

[sairthompson]

Hi, I would say if the Dr has recommended to do a disimpaction, go for it. We did it in May half term after 3 years of bad advise from many GPs. We have not looked back since. My 7 year old has gone from a poo every 7-11 days with daily soiling to a daily poo with no accidents.

I was dreading disimpaction but it went so well. He got to the loo everytime and loved following his poo changes on the Bristol stool chart.

It took him 4 days to get to type 7 poo and then a few more days to get to a daily type 4/5 poo. Now on a maintenance dose of 2 sachets of Laxido a day.

Hope you have success 😊

[squizita]

I would go for it. It doesn't hurt, it's more gross and messy!

Get all the toys and stuff on the same floor as the toilet and use a potty or camping toilet in the same room - or pull ups if they fit.

It makes getting accident-free much, much easier in the long run.

Mine went to liquid really quickly - but day 2/3 - so it didn't take a week even. After that we've kept them at a 5 rather than a 4 as she finds them easy to pass so will clear out easily.

[Helen36]

I was terrified it would traumatise my little girl too (she was 3.5 when we did it) but found she was able to understand why we doing it and it was no where near as horrific as it sounds. She didn't have any accidents during the course of it despite months of soiling! We also got to the liquid after just a couple of days and it was so good for us to be able to rule out any deep disimpaction causing problems.

I would say that I know a lot of people find that after starting on movicol/laxido they find that things are great for first couple of weeks and then feel they go backwards but the disimpaction will help you find the right maintainance dose. Good luck! X

[Bbja]

Thank you so much for your replies. Great to hear it’s not as traumatic as I thought. We will start the clear out tomorrow. Wish us luck!

[Bbja]

Hello,

We’ve reached watery poo stage! It was very easy for him. He didn’t complain about tummy pain, no accidents and was fascinated by the process! I can’t believe it! We have one happy boy.

So now what do we do?

Stop taking laxatives for 1-2 days and then find the maintenance dose or try find the maintenance dose straight away?

Any advice very welcome.