Use of Miralax

I am going threw something very similar. My 4 year old son is on MiraLax and it seems like giving him a half capful once a day is too much, but if I take him off of it we go back to EXTREAMLY large bowls or little rabbit pellets. We are trying to find the right dosage for him to keep him on track. We are going to try every other day right now and see if that keeps enough in his system.

I was also told by other moms to try benefiber rather than the MiraLax. If we can just him balanced this way we may talk to the doctor about try the BeneFiber.

Good luck. I know it is hard.

Hi S.,

My daughter has been on Miralax for a month now. She is 2 1/2 also, well she'll be 3 at the end of August. I would say bump up the dose and things should take care of them selves. Miralax has worked wonders for us.

This was my first response so I hope it finds its way to you.

A.

Try mixing flax oil in with his food.It has a very mild flavor and he might not even notice it.When my baby started having solid poops it was very difficult and painful for him.My m-i-l suggested flax oil and it worked like a charm!Personally I would try natural remedies before giving a child drugs.Good luck!

Hi S.,
My daughter, 7, has been on Mirilax since she was 3. It will kick back in if you keep giving him his regular dose, or even double up on a dose (two times one day) if you get worried.

Hi S.-

My DD suffered from severe constipation since she was 6 months old. We tried all sorts of natural remedies until she was 1 year old and nothing worked. At that point we finally took our doctor's suggestion and tried Miralax. It worked! We started with 1/2 capful/day. Once we had success I would then taper off the dose and then she would get constipated again. We would have to kick things off with a glycerin suppository and very large doses of Miralax. My daughter is now 27 months old and we have found that for Miralax to be truly effective and to prevent any constipation episodes, my daugher needs to have at least some Miralax every day. I generally give her 1/2 capful in the afternoon and a second dose in the evening before bed. The amont of the second dose depends if she pooped or not. We have been doing this for 3 months now and it really seems to be working. It really seems like for Miralax to work well (at least for us), you need to give at least a little bit a day. Good luck!

Hi S.,
I'm not quite sure I followed exactly what has gone on however if your son is acting constipated and your "gut" tells you something isn't right then please follow up on it.

Watery or liquid stool can actually be fecal liquid moving past an obstruction. In general you should expect your son to have at least one bowel movement per day that is relatively soft at the vary least.

Our instructions were for a goal of two stools a day of "mashed potato" consistency. We ended up having to increase to 1.5 caps twice per day until that was established then back it down slowly to 1 cap in the morning and 0.5 cap in the evening plus a high fiber diet. Occasionally our boy will have a very liquid day but then things resolve on their own. We all have natural variation.

Because our son is also on another medication that can have constipation as a side effect we are not planning to wean him from the Miralx until the other med is complete. We hope to start weaning him from the other med sometime this year.

Every situation is different as is every child. If you are concerned you should make an appointment to have your son evaluated by a physician or nurse practitioner.

I have experience at both "waiting it out" thinking I was over reacting, and at having an evaluation that proved everything was perfectly normal. I'd rather go with the second one, it is easier on everyone and less likely to have the early stages of something missed.

K. H.

Hi S.. Our GI doc said the Miralax takes 2-3 days to be working at full effectiveness. My thinking is if your son isn't having normal stools in the next few days to call the GI. Watery stools can be a sign of something else going on.

My son was on Miralax for almost a year due to rectal prolapse - which I was surprised to find out it was very common in toddlers. I would not worry about going back to the full dose. Give it another month and then maybe try to cut back again.