Constipation in My 8 Yr Old(i Think)

I am by no means a doctor, but I think you need to talk to another doctor. My 3 1/2 year old son and 14 year old step son both take miralax for constipation issues and only take one capful once a day...the doctors here don't recommend any more than that. Good luck.

that is a lot of miralax for an 8 yr old! if things are moving thru now i'd back off on that. one capful a day should keep things on an even keel. it's mild so it should keep him more regular than too much or not enough. if he were to then get constipated again you could give him a dose of milk of magnesium or something. you're right to worry about dehydration. give lots of popsicles, pedialyte, toast, etc. poor guy! my daughter suffers from constipation and it's no fun. good luck.

S. m

Hi T.! All three of my biological children have had this problem. They've all three been on meds, seen gi docs, and one even had minor surgery. Please don't go through this anymore! Have you tried the typical blueberries, prunes, prune juice, etc.? If these fail or even if they work I know this sounds so gross but it's really not that bad. All three of my kiddos now take cod liver oil daily and are so much healthier now. It's not as bad as it sounds, and you can buy it at the health food store for a reasonable price. I'm tellin you it's worth a try! Good luck!

That seems like way too much miralax for anyone to take in one day!!! It is too much for his system since he is now throwing up and have liquid bm's. I would stop the dosage and speak with your doctor again. Taking that much is clearly making your son sick!

That sounds like WAY TOO MUCH!! As others have mentioned, the adult dosage is one capful once a day. My daughter takes miralax (she's 3) for severe constipation and we were told to give her one capful once a day until she "was cleaned out" and then lessen the dosage as we see necessary. She now takes 1/2 a capful every day or every other day if her bowel movements become too loose. Miralax does work great, but the dosage needs to be correct!!

Make sure he drinks lots of gatorade and give him prunes to eat. Also, my son was having issues like this and there is a bug going around that involves diarrhea and throwing up. It takes about three weeks to get out of your system. A couple things that will help with the diarrhea are blueberries,rice, mashed potatoes, chicken, bananas, applesauce, yogurt see: http://ibs.about.com/od/diarrhea/tp/Diarrhea-and-Food.--0...
Hope taht helps.

STOP!!!! That is an extremely high dose for an adult!!!!! The usual adult dose is 1 capful once a day (some md's say twice a day if constipation is severe but only for a short time, then they go back down to once a day). Mirlax just got approved for children (even though md's have been using it for years in kids). I don't know what the dose is off-hand (it goes by weight), but I know 100% the dose should not be more than 1 cap once a day!!! You can call your pharmacy and they can tell you what the correct dose should be...

It sounds like you need to annoy the doc again. My child had the same issue at 3. And the miralax didn't help. He had to use go- lightly and be cleaned out while in the hospital. Then they tried the miralax, stool stimulant and all sorts of stuff. We even did enemas every night for a while on him. What finally worked was a C-costomy button that allows us to hook him up a litter of water every night for a clean out. But this is because he has few nerves down there. But leading up to this our GI took him 1 step at a time to find the least invasive means to get his system working. I just advise you keep bugging your GI. Don't rest until his system is working normally again.

Good Luck- R.
Mother to 5

T. My now 7 year old daughter had constipation problems until last year. Miralax is pretty potent that is what we had to use. I with my MDs knowledge had to find a dose that was right for my daughter. We started out w/ the prescribed dose but them she wound up w/ major bouts of diahrea so we had to lessen the amount until it was good for her. We has to make sure she got plenty of water and when she got used to having a BM without force and pain we started weening her off the Miralax. Good luck it does get better.

I sympathize with you. My 3 year old went through a really bad bout of constipation last fall. He was having some diarrhea and throwing up. I took him to the doctor and he was in fact constipated. The doctor said that when people are constipated, some of the softer bm leaks around the blockage and looks like diarrhea. He suggested an oral laxative at 1/2 the dose of the adult. I was able to find an oral laxative for children. It took about 3 1/2 days of the maximum dose of laxative before he finally was cleaned out. However, once we started giving him the laxative, the vomiting stopped as things were loosening up, even though he hadn't actually pooped yet. The 5 capfuls of miralax seems way excessive to me. We tried the miralax, a suppository, etc. and none of it worked. We were also told that we could use mineral oil mixed into ice cream, applesauce, yogurt, etc. I found that yogurt worked the best. Up to 3 TBSP per day. It is flavorless and mixing it with something else will get past the texture. However, for as constipated as your guy is, the mineral oil probably isn't enough alone. Good luck.

Increase his fiber and fluid intake. Avoid caffeine. He either isn't getting enough fiber or he doesn't consume as many fluids as he should be getting. If he is on medications, they may be making it worse. They include:

* pain medications (especially narcotics)
* antacids that contain aluminum and calcium
* blood pressure medications (calcium channel blockers)
* antiparkinson drugs
* antispasmodics
* antidepressants
* iron supplements
* diuretics
* anticonvulsants

Hi T.,
5 capfuls seem EXTREMELY EXCESSIVE! Please double check with his doctor to make sure his directions didn't say point 5 (.5)capful meaning 1/2 capful three times a day. I work in a Pharmacy and have NEVER seen a 5 capful dose even in a very large adult. Good Luck and hope your soon feels better soon!
T.

Look into Arbonne products. They have an Herbal Colon Cleanse supplement. It is more for adults but I have had people tell me they have given it to their children in smaller doses and it does wonders! On their website you can print out all the info on this product to ask your dr. what they think if you have any concerns before trying. FYI: all of their products are plant based!! Good luck!

Way too much Miralax! I agree with the other responder(s) who stated that is too much Miralax. I did a capful 3x day (up to the white line...not full) for five days. After the five days of three times a day, I gave it to him once a day for 6 weeks. I put the Miralax in a small bottle of Gatorade, and mixed it until dissolved (anything your son likes to drink will work - except milk as it will gel up in milk). The doctor we saw said this will soften everything, but he won't be scrambling to the toilet with diarrehea. He will have the urge to go but it won't be a explosive liquid nightmare. It slowly moved everything out so he can resume normal function.

I guess constipation is a huge issue for kids this age, this time of year, because they just aren't drinking enough fluids because they aren't hot and sweaty. As long as you do 1 capful a day for weeks instead of numerous capfuls for a short period of time he should be fine. Also, I sent a water bottle to school with him which his teacher allows in class.

Also, I just learned yesterday from a candy vendor that if your child likes licorice...buy the Australian kind as it has anise, which settles the stomach, and acts as a laxative. Also, the Australia brands have no natural coloring or flavoring, if you get the good stuff, so it is a great way to bolster your digestive health.

Whoah! Way too much Miralax. My almost 6 year old with Down syndrome only takes 1/4 cap a day to keep him regular!

I would definitely see another doctor. Did he do any food allergy testing? Have him tested for Celiac and take a close look at his diet.

K.

Hi T.,

When my kid was born she was a premie. Had lots of issues, which luckily she out grew. But the one we have continued, but have under control is her constipation issues. Her doc suggested this diet, which helped alot. I can't think of the name, but it has to do with brown rice, it was a help alone with enimas. Needless to say the enima thing didnt go over to well with a then 3yr old. But the change in diet helped, alot though. try to have him drink alot of jucie and have lots of green veggies. for my kid it helped alot. we also learned that certain things simply locked her up, so watching what she ate was major. she now takes polyeth glycol.it mix's with any juice or water and as a picky teen she does not complain. 2 to 4 days and she's all good. asked your doc if this is something you can try. Hope your lil boy feels fine soon !!

P.

If it were me, I would stop giving it to him and call the Dr and let them know what is going on. Maybe he really only needed a smaller dose then they expected. Poor kid :(

Good Luck :)

Hi - Obviously you know from the below that the amount of Miralax is excessive. My 3-year old had been on Miralax for about 7 months. After doing some research, we learned that some experts believe that taking Miralax for a prolonged amount of time can make children exhibit some Autistic-type characteristics. My son started exhibiting some of these characteristics about 6 months ago, shortly after starting the Miralax, so we took him off of it. We now give him a glass of Sunsweet PlumSmart juice whenever he goes a day or so without pooping. You can buy it in Light as well so there's not as much sugar and it works wonderfully. It's available at Cub, Rainbow, etc. Good luck!

Grand daughter went thru this awile aho. dr gave her miralax also. also had to give enamas. Another thing was for awhile we had to sprinlke benefiber on her foods during the day. she is 3 years old so we put the benefiber in a salt shaker and she thought she was sprinleing salt on her food like the big people but it was her own special shaker. She finally got straightened out and now if wqe suspect she is having problems we just get our the shaker for a day or two

I just wanted to point out that diarrhea can be a sign of constipation. especially "spurts" of it. It can signal that there is actually a blockage, and that liquid is all that is able to get past that blockage. I don't know anything about Miralax, but a little bit of prune juice or even apple juice may help things along a little more naturally?

After all the responses, you now know that is an overdosage, but I just wanted to add that I am pregnant and during my 1st trimester I was severely constipated so my doctor had me take Miralax (1 capful once a day) until I was regular, and since then I have been taking one capful every 3 days to keep me regular. You may want to ask about giving it to him once or twice a week to keep him regular now that he's not constipated anymore.