Daily Colostomy Irrigation Challenges and Solutions

My husband has had a colostomy for several years. He has transitioned to daily irrigation. Originally, things were fine, but for the past year, he has needed 'help' getting things to move 'on demand' after inserting the water. He has found that taking prune juice an hour or so before he irrigates works well, but now his body is needing more and more - he's up to about 12 oz of prune juice every day before he irrigates. I hate to think he needs to drink that every day for the rest of his life. Does anybody do anything different to get things moving prior to daily irrigation?

I irrigate every other weekday (Mon/Wed/Fri). I usually do it first thing in the morning. I find drinking a glass of water beforehand helps, so the colon doesn't absorb a bunch of the water to rehydrate. I put in around 1000ml of lukewarm water; if it's too cold, it shocks the system and doesn't work as well. After it's all in, I start massaging my abdomen to help things move around, and take some full breaths to have the diaphragm also move things around.

Also, have him check out the UOAA forums under the Irrigation subsection, more helpful tips and tricks in there. https://www.uoaa.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=12