does your DC take miralax or anything else to help/assist/promote BMs?

[lmh2402]

DS has been taking miralax for a long time. too long, IMO. but i can't seem to get him off of it. whenever we try to cut back, his stool gets very, very hard and eventually he stops going.

we already have him eating prunes every day. he drinks tons of water and eats lots of fruit. he takes probiotics and we mix flaxseed meal into his yogurt each day.

i don't know what else to do to help him. i plan to call the pedi to ask her b/c i keep forgetting to mention it whenever we are seeing her for a sick visit

but i'm just wondering if anyone else has a kiddo with a long use of products to help them go? have you tried to get them off the product? has it been successful?

thanks

[BabyMine]

M has been on Miralax for 3 years. We found that adding gummy fiber bears helped us be able to cut back the dosage and we have even skipped days with out any problems. Our GI told us that around 6 or 7 is when most of the kids can get off of it. M is 6 and we are weaning off as we speak.

[TwinFoxes]

S has been on it for just under a year I think. I have no plans to try to get her off it. When we forget to give it to her there's a major backup. And her behavior goes downhill because she feels awful. We tried prunes, lots of water, etc, and it didn't work. I'm just sorry we didn't ask about it sooner (chalk another one up for the BBB!)

[brittone2]

DS1 had an enormous painful poop when he was a young toddler (15 months) that set us up for a loooong cycle of withholding and fear. We used miralax to get through it. We didn't stay on it super long, but honestly, probably should have left him on it a bit longer.
Does he go every day with the miralax?

[twowhat?]

DD2 has been on it for 2 years now. Her ped says to expect for her to be on it for a few more years.

We started at 1 tsp twice a day and have been able to wean it back to 1/2 tsp twice a day. I haven't been able to give less than that so we'll stay at this dose until who-knows-when. I'm glad our ped nipped this in the bud before she started PT. What you don't want is for a toddler to have a painful poop and remember it!!!

[Katigre]

DS has been taking miralax for a long time. too long, IMO. but i can't seem to get him off of it. whenever we try to cut back, his stool gets very, very hard and eventually he stops going.

we already have him eating prunes every day. he drinks tons of water and eats lots of fruit. he takes probiotics and we mix flaxseed meal into his yogurt each day.

i don't know what else to do to help him. i plan to call the pedi to ask her b/c i keep forgetting to mention it whenever we are seeing her for a sick visit

but i'm just wondering if anyone else has a kiddo with a long use of products to help them go? have you tried to get them off the product? has it been successful?

thanks

We successfully transitioned DD off of Miralax earlier this year after almost a year on it. Here is what we replaced it with that worked to keep her regular:
1. 2 adult fiber gummies daily - http://www.amazon.com/vitafusion-Fib...0256321&sr=1-4 Use the adult strength, not the pedia-lax brand that were not strong enough
2. 1 small apple juice box daily - http://www.amazon.com/Earths-Best-Or...0256371&sr=1-1
3. 1 Metamucil fiber cookie daily (she doesn't need these anymore, but they really helped at first) - http://www.amazon.com/Metamucil-Appl...0256393&sr=1-3
4. Being very conscious of her food triggers - dairy gives her constipation, citrus gives her runny poo she can't control. So right now we avoid both (won't have to next year probably as her digestive tract keeps improving)

I hope this helps! Before we transitioned her off, we had worked her dose of miralax down to just 1/4 of a scoop - so I would work on that as well. Prunes and water don't have enough additional 'get them going regularly' IME with kids who deal with chronic constipation.

[lmh2402]

DS1 had an enormous painful poop when he was a young toddler (15 months) that set us up for a loooong cycle of withholding and fear. We used miralax to get through it. We didn't stay on it super long, but honestly, probably should have left him on it a bit longer.
Does he go every day with the miralax?

yes, he does. as a baby things were fine. around 16-17 months we started having problems. we finally were told to start miralax around 20 months and he's been on it since.

ETA - so glad to know it's not just us using this for "longer than 7 days," which is what the bottle says we should not do! thanks, guys

[lmh2402]

We successfully transitioned DD off of Miralax earlier this year after almost a year on it. Here is what we replaced it with that worked to keep her regular:
1. 2 adult fiber gummies daily - http://www.amazon.com/vitafusion-Fib...0256321&sr=1-4 Use the adult strength, not the pedia-lax brand that were not strong enough
2. 1 small apple juice box daily - http://www.amazon.com/Earths-Best-Or...0256371&sr=1-1
3. 1 Metamucil fiber cookie daily (she doesn't need these anymore, but they really helped at first) - http://www.amazon.com/Metamucil-Appl...0256393&sr=1-3
4. Being very conscious of her food triggers - dairy gives her constipation, citrus gives her runny poo she can't control. So right now we avoid both (won't have to next year probably as her digestive tract keeps improving)

I hope this helps! Before we transitioned her off, we had worked her dose of miralax down to just 1/4 of a scoop - so I would work on that as well. Prunes and water don't have enough additional 'get them going regularly' IME with kids who deal with chronic constipation.

thank you! i'm going to look into the gummies and the cookies

[twowhat?]

yes, he does. as a baby things were fine. around 16-17 months we started having problems. we finally were told to start miralax around 20 months and he's been on it since.

ETA - so glad to know it's not just us using this for "longer than 7 days," which is what the bottle says we should not do! thanks, guys

It says that to make sure you talk to your doctor about constipation issues lasting more than a week

[inmypjs]

My 4 yo has been on it for about 5-6 mos. It has helped tremendously. I plan to talk to our ped at some point about lowering the dose, not sure about totally stopping. A friend of mine has an 8 yo who has been on it since age 2, and if they stop he gets really constipated.