Your doctor will prescribe a large dose of medicine for a short time to get the old hard the poo out.
Disimpaction regimes differ depending on the age of the child. Here is an overview of what to expect. The ERIC Guide to Disimpaction ↪ has information for each age group.
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Day 1–2: Start with minimum 2 sachets of laxative
Start with the dose your doctor has prescibed. This is usually 2 sachets.
Try to give the medication at the same time each day.
Day 3 to day 7: Increase by 2 sachets each day
By day 3 or 4 the poo should be very soft.
It will be difficult to keep it in.
You will need to make sure that there is a toilet nearby all the time.
Keep going with the medicine until you see poo that looks like brown water.
It can take up to 7 days to get rid of all the impacted poo. Tummy aches may happen at this point because the medication will cause the bowel to squeeze.
What if it's taking longer? If it is taking longer than 7 days, talk to your nurse specialist (if you have one) or your GP. They may prescribe a second medicine to help.
Day 8 and after: Start decreasing the medicine
First, well done to you and your child. This is really good progress.
When all the impacted poo is out, reduce the medicine by 2 sachets each day until the poo is soft and easy to pass daily, type 4 or 5 on the Bristol Stool Chart.
What comes next?
There is still some way to go so you need to keep going with the medicine to keep things as they are and to recover (doctors call this the ‘maintenance stage’).
Continue with the medication To make sure that the constipation doesn’t start again, give the medicine to your child every day even if this is difficult, or if you think things are getting better. Your nurse specialist or GP will tell you when to stop.
You will be told how you can adjust the medicine as you go along.
Keep an eye on the poo You don’t want the new poo to start building up again in the bowel, so use a Poo Diary ↪ to monitor how often your child does a poo, and the type of poo ↪.
It’s not unusual to need more than one disimpaction This is especially the case if your child has been constipated for a long time. Talk to your nurse specialist or GP and they tell you what to do next.
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