Re: lactulose vs miralax

[Guest guest]

When my son was first constipated, the doc rx'd mineral oil, but that

made for the orange 'squirts', so then he rx'd lactulose in the liquid

syrupy form. That seemed to work fine for us. He was on it a long

time. I don't remember if there was gas or bloating or not...probably

not a great deal of it or I'd remember that. Getting A LOT of water

in, is important with lactulose. It's helping to pull excess ammonia

away from the liver, which is a good thing for most kids on the

spectrum, but at the same time, you do need to make sure the child gets

enough water so that it can flush that ammonia out through the colon,

as well as allow the product to work. I know a mom whose dd was low in

weight and so the doc wanted her to only consume 'calorie' foods like

juice and milk and so forth. No water. None. Her dd had been

primarily a water-drinker. So the combination of lactulose with no

water, and very little juice or milk, didn't help her stool

whatsoever. Once she got back on enough water, it worked better.

I wonder if the " brief " time period was still the time that your dd was

dealing with excess ammonia and maybe once that passes then the gassy-

ness and bloating might pass? no pun intended.

If you think you can have her drink enough water, then I'd say you

could give it a try. There is also a powdered form which I'm not sure

which one is better in terms of less troublesome ingredients--the syrup

or the powder.

W

>

> We tried lactulose when my daugher was a year old. It didn't work

> that great and made her gassy and bloated. 3 months later her dr put

> her on miralax. She has been on it for over a year. We are down to

> 7/8 tsp. now. Her new dr said she would rather go the lactulose

route

> then the miralax until we can get her off them.

>

> Since it has been awhile since we tried lactulose and it was brief,

> could you share your opinions and experience with it.

>

> Thanks, Aimee

>

[Guest guest]

My DD will drink water but not a ton. Right now we are just pushing liquids of any kind. Water, juice, pop, milk. I have never heard of the powder. I would like to know if anyone has experience with it. What did you do with the liquid? We just used a big syringe and squirted into her mouth. She was only a year old though. __________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

The powder is under the name Kristalose, I think.

Soda pop is actually de-hydrating (due to the combination of chemicals

and acids), so if you can avoid the soda, it would be better for her.

I was just at the new Super Supplements store in town yesterday and

we've talked on this board about Natural Calm, a magnesium product, and

I saw that they have one specific for babies called Baby Calm (I think

is what it was). Anyway, I just wanted to say that might be an option

to look into, just in case the constipation is related to a lack of

magnesium.

An update for us is, for a while I had dropped the oxypowder, but kept

up the benefiber pill, fiber choice, magnesium sulfate. My dd wasn't

eating as much celery lately, nor oranges like she had been. So while

she was still going, the stool was really lumpy and hard. Worrying

that if it continued to be that way, she might start to get afraid to

push, I put her back on the oxypowder and the stool is soft and smooth

and easier to get out now.

W

>

> My DD will drink water but not a ton. Right now we are just pushing

liquids of any kind. Water, juice, pop, milk. I have never heard of

the powder. I would like to know if anyone has experience with it.

What did you do with the liquid? We just used a big syringe and

squirted into her mouth. She was only a year old though.

> __________________________________________________

>