3 year old refuses to take medicine

[Nailpainter]

Hi - my 3 nearly 4 year old has severe constipation and holds on to her poos. Its really bad. She has never had a poo in a toliet or potty. I have tried movicol - she refuses to take it and even one mouthful makes her vomit. Lactulose she refuses it and tastes it in food/drink when i tried to hide it. Senna liquid she hates taking but seems to take it in a yougart. The peadiatric dr suggested movicol but obviously that treatment failed as she didnt take it. As an alternative we were told to give her up to 20ml senna and 30ml lactulose. We are struggerling big time. Any hints would be helpful. But what happens if you just cant get a child to take it? Here are things i have tried.

- hiding it in milkshake

- hiding it in coke

- playing a game and making fun of it and pretending to give it to toys etc.

- putting movicol in fridge to make it less yuck.

- bribery

- rewarding/praising

- we have even forced her to have it and she spits it out.

We are under the bowel nurse now but apart from explaining the importance of how much she needs to take it - nothings changed. She has told us to get the gp to review her meds which i will do but has anyone been in this situation? Will she have bowel problems when shes older? Do any other parents give other medicines?

[ivory_47]

Hi, i’m so sorry your daughter doesn’t want to take her meds - constipation is so stressful to deal with anyway and adding to that she won’t take her meds must be even harder. To be honest we’ve always been lucky and our daughter always took her meds, more or less well.

Does she still drink warm milk? My daughter takes her movicol mixed with warm milk (no water added, I just make sure she drinks plenty throughout the day). I also tried Aloe Vera gel on her for a while, for that I put it in a syringe and got her some chocolate buttons which she could put in her mouth as soon as Tage had the meds to get rid of the taste. This tactic might stop your daughter spitting it out.

I have also read that you can add to jelly if your daughter likes that?

In terms of alternatives, I know there’s the option of enemas or in very sever cases a manual evacuation....

we actually cleared our daughter with liquid paraffin on the recommendation of a great ormond street gastroenterologist- it’s a treatment the NHS don’t use anymore, but it was the only thing that worked for us at the time. It doesn’t taste of anything, it’s basically a flavourless oil that softens the poop. You disguise it in food or yoghurt or thick drinks if you have a good mixer or blender.

As to whether she will continue to have bowels problems when she’s older - I think that is difficult to tell from what I have heard. Some children get disimpacted with meds, than stay on maintence for a few years and finally everything sorts itself out. I have read somewhere that some children will however need to take their meds even as grown-ups, similar to how an asthma sufferer always needs their inhaler.

Good luck - it’s such a long and lonely journey. X

[Surrey05]

Hi! I’ve had the same problems with my son and his 12 now and still do but things have got easier.

I found going around in circles with keep trying and not giving up with hiding it In drinks works with my son he takes his with Strawberry Nesquck milkshake. But it’s still a battle to this day. Have you tried to make a milkshake with fresh banana and ice cream in a blender with a little bit off banana Nesquick, or maybe a fruit smoothie or perhaps a juicer.

I also found by not making it such an issue it has become a. It easier.

I personally think it’s all about control on there behalf.

You need to try and be consistent and not give up.

Don’t beat your self up if she doesn’t pooh on a potty or toilet that will follow in time.

Good luck.

[mcleanan]

We used to hide lactulose and senna in my daughters hot chocolate every morning and evening, she never had any idea it was there. Is there something you’d daughter has every day you could try hiding it in?

[SouthernPRMama]

I know your post is three years old, but can you give us an update? I stumbled upon your post after searching for better ways to hide the Lactulose for my soon to be 4-year-old. Like you, we've tried reward charts, praising and hiding it in juice, milk, pudding and ice cream. She can detect it all the time! I feel like I'm constantly saying, "If you drink your medicine, then you can do..."

How is your daughter? Does she still have constipation issues?