Stool softener

[DobbyForever]

Hey all!

Oh my son and his poops. He goes back and forth between wildly constipated or poops for days so huge they clogged the toilet. He hates pooping, I think in large part because they’re so big and it’s hard when he’s constipated. It’s a potty training nightmare at daycare. Usually at home I can get him to go in the toilet but it’s still messy.

He won’t take the fiber pouches, I can’t get him to eat applesauce with prunes, I can’t get him to drink the prune juice. He drinks so much water and blah blah blah. So his doctor was like hello stool softener. And I obviously trust her medical opinion. I just am very anti talking medication myself unless I have to. And the poop system works at home just not at school. When he’s constipated and pooping in his pants these little nuggets, they’re like consistency of dried out play dough whereas his doctor is talking about pudding. And just looking at it, it’s so clearly dry even when it’s fresh.

So I guess I’m curious have any moms used Miralax/a stool softener for their kids? What pushed you to do it versus accepting the status quo? If it was a one time thing, I wouldn’t question it. But she’s talking about potentially having him take it every day for 6-9 months.

 

[lau86]

Hiya. I’ve put my daughter on it recently. She was having soiling. I’m a doctor actually as well and can see where you’re coming from with your thoughts on medication but I wouldn’t really class stool softeners as medication, they literally just soften the stool and you can be on them long term with really no issues (just talking specifically about miralax or movicol which it’s called in uk). My daughter did great at first but since she’s gone back to school she is soiling a bit more. She was on 12 sachets a day at one point! It sounds like your son needs it.
I would really recommend the book what to do when your child won’t poo. It is so helpful.

 

[DobbyForever]

Glad to hear it’s helped! I just keep running into all these small issues that nobody in my family has ever had to deal with, so I constantly feel like I’m making unvetted choices and constantly on the verge of f*ing up.

 

[lau86]

Oh it’s hard isn’t it! I have quite a bit of knowledge with my job and I even I find it hard! If you trust your sons doctor I would take her advice x

 

[LoneWanderer]

We've got my son on Laxido, which is basically Movicol. It goes in his juice, he doesn't even notice it, and it just brings more water into the colon so his poop is way softer and he can't hold it in for days. And believe me, it sure works!! But it takes a bit of time to balance the dose: too little and it does nothing, but just one packet more than he needs and we get the nappies from hell!

He's not potty trained yet so that does make our life easier, but the poor kid screams in pain when he's backed up and just refuses to go at all, or passes these tiny little bits all day so he's really sore by the end of it. There's no health issue we know of, he's just been freaked out ever since he got horrendous nappy rash and an internal tear all at once. Poor little bugger.

But anyway yeah, I absolutely swear by the softeners for keeping him comfortable and reducing his discomfort, they are so mild and he doesn't know he's having them but they definitely do the trick and keep things moving along nicely. I'm definitely going to keep him on them til we've cracked potty training, then see where we go from there.

 

[DobbyForever]

Ironically now that I’ve committed to doing it, I can’t get the kid to drink it he’s not bothered by the taste, he just rarely sits and drinks 4 oz of water in one go. He’s a sipper lol

and ty! Yeah his doc said start with a dose then increase on some schedule until his poo is the consistency of pudding then hold at that dose.

I’m just hoping he can get into a routine, preferably at home, to poop.

 

[LoneWanderer]

It's pretty slow acting - like 24-36 hours we find - so I reckon even if it takes him all day to get a cupful down, it'll be doing the trick

I always try and get extra water in the kid too - I figure if the medicine is pulling extra water downward, it needs replacing to some extent. But that's a whole other battle...

 

[Bevziibubble]

I hope it starts working soon

 

[DobbyForever]

Thanks ladies! I’m putting it in a 360 cup so he can just drink it in the morning then finish when he gets home. I’m trying to not over stress because he’s noticing me noticing the cup and avoids it more

 

[Bevziibubble]

Lol!

 

[DobbyForever]

So we had the first poop and it was a blowout. Like flashbacks to baby poo sooooo now I’m like was half a cap too much or do I just wait it out. I never thought I’d spend so much time thinking about poop

 

[Bevziibubble]

Yay! Maybe his body is just adjusting to it.

 

[DobbyForever]

Thanks! I found this resource. I haven’t run it by my doctor though but the visual chart really helped me.

https://www.plateaupediatrics.com/pages/2014/9/16/using-miralax-for-your-childs-constipation