My daughter who is nearly 9 has been constipated since she was about a year old. She has been on movicol for a long time. She soils herself almost everyday and the doctor says this is a side effect of the medication.
I’m going to stop giving her the medication to see if she stops spoiling herself, can anyone recommend an over the counter laxative that I could try as an alternative? I have spoken with the doctor but they say to keep on with the movicol but I don’t think it working.
My daughters problem is she doesn’t drink enough. She eats a healthy diet with a lot of fruit and veg.
I just don’t want her to be picked on at school because she smells of poo. 😞
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Mrsthestob
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My daughter has been on Movicol / Senokot since age 4 (she is 12 now) but has not had a soiling incident for 2 years (and the bedwetting stopped too). Although it is tempting to stop the Movicol, your daughter will only end up more constipated and the accidents can be really upsetting (especially at school). Are you being supervised by the GP or Paediatrician? I was told by the hospital that the soiling is caused by overflow (or if you are having a major clear-out) - it might be worth asking for a referral if you are not already under the constipation clinic?
We have introduced a number of natural foods / products alongside the Movicol and I think that this is why the accidents stopped and my daughter only needs an occasional clear out dose (after having milk products which trigger her symptoms). However, none of the natural stuff is fully effective until you have cleared out the stuck poo & shrunk the bowel down to normal size as you will just end up with runny overflow and not clear out the problem. You need to wean off movicol gradually and that's not until there are no accidents as this suggests the bowel is not empty.
My daughter is also rubbish at drinking at school, so we agreed with school that she could have sugar free squash in her water bottle for medical reasons and this helped. We bought a smoothie maker and my daughter has a big smoothie every day with breakfast (cereal, never dry toast). We always include cloudy apple juice, a splash of prune juice, any red fruit (eg strawberries, blackberries or raspberries etc) 1/2 tsp chia seeds or a fybogel sachet and a handful of baby leaf spinach (the red fruit hides the green colour!) Make sure you add enough liquid with the chia / fybogel (it says the amount on the pack). Chocolate brownies made with prunes (hidden) are another winner! I also hide spinach / spring greens in pasta sauce by using a stick blender. Pumpkin or butternut squash, sweet potato and parsnip soup (with onion, chicken stock & a bit of ginger) is nice and effective too. We also bought Mango and Passionfruit Symprove (a probiotic liquid - about £20 on Amazon - expensive but really softens / bulks poo).
We found that her problem foods which increase constipation are: white bread, gelatine (jelly, sweets etc), cows' milk, oats, pasta, crisps, crackers etc but these are probably different for other children. When she was really constipated and had tummy ache, she would crave white carbs and not drink which only make things more stuck!
Lifestyle-wise, we got a second-hand cross trainer and encouraged (bribed!) our daughter to do a 15 minute exercise session each morning, She used to be terrified of exercising / sports day for fear of accidents, so at home works best for us.
We also have toilet tech (ie limit screen time to toilet time) after breakfast/ dinner and this has had a remarkable effect on her commitment to the plan. We keep a notebook in the toilet with the Bristol Stool Chart stuck in so she can keep a record and we have pocket money targets for getting a number 4 or above.
Is your daughter taking a stimulant laxative as well (eg Senokot?) This is what finally enabled my daughter to get fully clear for the first time at the age of seven.
It's a long road but please do not give up! I never thought we would get sorted but we are so much closer to reducing the meds now and my daughter is so much happier in herself too.
That’s great advice from Amelie. If she’s soiling every day makes me wonder if she needs a disimpaction week of movicol. Soiling is not a side effect of the medication, it’s usually a sign of constipation. But check with a good doctor first. Does she have a daily sitting routine and a squatty potty type stool and electronic game to play on the loo? My son sits on the loo Morning and evening daily, he’s accepted it now although I do have to get him to do it every time (and once he’s on there he’s on there for ages) . From my experience the drinking is crucial. You have to tackle that. I’m literally getting my son to drink like it’s medicine. Talk to School and childminder is she has one. Explain the impact of her not drinking enough. Get school nurse/continence team involved. Make her drink a big drink of something in the morning before school and another one straight after school. A hot drink if she likes hot drinks (my son drinks hot squash). Measure the liquid and show her how much she needs to drink. There will be a specific amount for her age, GP can work it out for you (maybe 1500 mls?)
There’s no way I would stop the movicol. My son stopped movicol and ended up severely impacted and has now lost all bowel control. Obvs just our experience. I’m looking online for things to supplement the movicol. My son takes oxypowder as well. Someone on here mentioned syrup of figs recently. I’m ordering a couple of new ones to try I found on Amazon last night so I will let you know if they seem good. It’s fantastic she has a good diet. Please know you are not alone, it’s so hard and we all understand on here and relate to the struggle. My son is 9.5 and in nappies for now and has had to miss the School residential and not do a sleepover party recently so he understands what your daughter is going through. You can tell her that xx
My daughter is 10 and has also been soiling since she came out of nappies due to chronic constipation. She's been on 2 sachets of movicol and 30ml of Senna a day for 18 months. The movicol stops the poo getting hard. The Senna stimulates the bowels to push it out. I'm surprised your doctor hasn't suggested Senna. You can buy it over the counter but it would be better to get it on prescription as it isn't cheap if you're using it constantly! I would also say not to give it to your daughter unless suggested by the doctor (the label says its not suitable for under 12's unless under doctors supervision).
Having said that, based on my daughters experience, here's my humble opinion of the laxatives...
The paediatrician's answer to increased soiling is increasing laxatives. But then, in my daughters case the soiling gets worse. The poo is so runny that she doesn't stand a chance of making it to the toilet in time. The paed says the soiling is due to lack of sensation because the bowel is stretched, and the cause of the stretch is the hard poo. However, my daughter has NEVER had hard poo. Movicol, I was told, bulks out the poo. So, I now think that her bowel remains stretched because the laxatives are making her poo bulky (I mean - 3 huge soft poo's everyday does not say constipation to me!). So I have just started to decrease my daughters laxatives (I did call the hospital first to tell them and get their advice). I'm not going to stop them, but just get to a point that she's still having soft poo's but not having accidents (or at least having greatly reduced number of accidents).
How much movicol is your daughter on? If her poo is really runny (the actual poo's in the toilet rather than the accidents) then maybe it just needs to be reduced a little (you can reduce by just half a sachet at a time). If her poo's on the toilet are hard then I would say not to reduce it... but ask your doctor about the Senna. You should really push for them to refer her though - the GP's aren't experts in this and in my experience, the longer the problem goes on, the harder it is to fix.
We found the key thing was getting a low dose - as (we finally found out) some kids leak because the poo is too runny on movicol, and our GP was like "that's overflow, give more!". Once we got the dose down right, the poo is marshmallow-y and she can hold it in.
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