Although i eat reasonably well, i have often had 'bowel problems' stemming from childhood, and often made worse when i stay away from home or have a slight change in my diet to containing more fruit. I sometimes think i verge on irritable bowel as i can go from constipated to having to be close to the toilet in the space of one day.

I never really thought about it much before i became pregnant. I would just have a good glug of orange juice and it would sort me out. However, one day when i was about 26 weeks pregnant with my second pregnancy, i had horrible stomach pains, and was advised to go into the maternity monitoring unit as i couldn't feel the baby moving about. After i had been sat there recording movements for an hour, and done a urine sample, i was relieved but a little embarassed when i was told i was so badly constipated it was causing the pain.

I ended up being prescribed 6L of lactulose, which was a further mortification when the chemist dispensed it to me.

I'm not going to go into the total ins and outs of it, but i was told to take 3x5ml spoons twice a day through the pregnancy. It certainly made sure that my bowels were not constrained for the rest of the pregnancy, and we still have a couple of bottles of this lurking around now for if i ever feel the need again.

Lactulose is basically a very sweetened suspension. It needs to be shaken up well before use or the sugar comes out of the suspension a bit, and you get a crunchy sticky coating on the top of the liquid where the sugar has recrystallised, and you find that it gets harder to unscrew the lid on your bottle.

It is an artifial sugar which acts as a food source for beneficial gut bacteria. It helps the motions retain extra water through the increase in the bacteria, so the mass of the motion is more, and it will be softer, easier to pass, and you will pass motions more frequently.

Taking the lactulose was not overly unpleasant unless it had not been shaken properly and you got crunchy sugar crystals, but it was quite sickly sweet and i have a pretty sweet tooth. I found during the pregnancy one of my molar teeth which had been filled previously actually broke, and then kept breaking. I eventually had to have the tooth pulled out. This may or may not have happened without the lactulose consumption, but it did make me rather wary about it.

Lactulose does seem to be commonly prescribed for pregnant women to use, as your intestines fail to work as well during the later stages because there is a great big baby in the way. Not surprising really.

I found it made my pregnancy more comfortable and i would definitely take it again if i had constipation problems.

I know it does not work as well for everyone though. My dad is a paraplegic disabled from his T-vertebrates just below shoulder height. He has the same sluggish digestion as he is not moving around. He tried lactulose and it wasn't a good reliable solution for him. He prefers movicol.

Lactulose is a less invasive treatment than movicol, and does seem to have some effect. Relief was not instant by any means, but it did relieve my blockages and was safe to take while pregnant.