How long take till movicol pediatric to work?

[Mummy-of_3]

My Lo is almost 23m and the doc prescribed movicol after a failure with lactulose. He already on 3 day but the first one he take just 1 sachet, yesterday 2 (1 in the morning mixed with his wetabix and yes I done the mix worth water first let stay till the wetabix is warm up and then mix when he’s ready to eat, and the other one with his oat milk at nap time, again mix like they said.) today I’ve done the same has yesterday. All this start with cows milk (he can’t have , his stools get so hard and dry and he was straining so bad.. now he hold them..) he been trying to do and done just a bit.. the doc said he need take for a few good months even if he start doing well. I never give this to my other 2 kids so I’m completely lost.. hi need to top up 1 more or better keep on 2 and wait? I don’t want him have diarrhoea I just want him make a big poop 😊 thank you and sorry for the massive text!

[JessGirl]

We have just finished a course of Movicol and my boy is 7yrs old so older, but we had to go up to 6 sachets (we could go up to 8) a day and it took about 3 weeks before we noticed any change. Not that it made much difference for us.

I would say keep it for a week or so then you can always ring the Gp and ask about increasing the dose. X

[naimaro]

Hi there

I feel for you, my son started holding at that age too. He is 4 years old now and still the same thing and even worse. I would say to you regarding Movicol, that it will take you some time to figure out what is the right dose for your baby, as it is different for everyone, my son can do with two a day. Do you know about (Sodium picosulfate, Senekote, ...)? they provide a constipation relief after some hours, generally between 6 to 12 hrs, but ask your doctor first.

I wish you all the best

[SallyCal]

My daughter is 5 and started on Movicol about 3 weeks ago as she witheld and had constipation. It took 4 days to get things moving on the dose we were recommended. She has pooed every day since and we are now slowly reducing the number of sachets to get the right balance for the right type of poo. Good luck and I hope it starts to work for you all soon.

[Faymcclure]

Hi there. I had a similar experience with my now 5 year old. It sounds to me that your little boy is passing hard stools which you are trying your best to resolve. What you need to avoid now is your little boy withholding his stool which he will to initially consciously and then subconsciously do as long as he is passing hard painful stools. So you need to try and get his stools to a consistency that is easy for him to pass. I would stop putting it in his weetabix in case he’s not getting full dose. Maybe even try changing weetabix to something else as that can make stools hard and painful. I normally give it with warm juice or milk. I’m sure you’re already encouraging plenty of fluids. If this has no effect after 3 or 4 days I would be looking to increase the dose. GP’s are unfortunately very hesitant about increasing movicol but if he needs it, he needs it. Movicol literally goes in one end and out the other so doesn’t stay in the system long. My daughter at one point went up to 6 sachets and then had a stimulant introduced. We are now down to 3 a day and a stimulant and going fab. So I would maybe try your Gp again and if he’s still being hesitant ask to be referred to a paediatrician (that’s what I did and was life changing). Waiting months for movicol to work is not right and will only make things worse. Hang on in there. It’s stressful as a Mum but you’ll get there. Other things to try are apples and pears (purée and fresh), prunes. Bananas can cause hard stools too. Hope this helps. Is you little boy potty trained?