Confused about what foods to treat constipation

[silkenladder]

2.8 yo DD has been holding in her poos since we potty trained last Oct/Nov. She usually goes once every three days, although it is now day 5 since her last poo.

Things seemed to be getting better recently - she would recognize the need to go and ask me for a nappy, plus the frequency seemed to be increasing - but we were away last week and she was ill and not eating much and we seem to be having a set-back.

I think I could probably help her by making a few changes to her diet, especially by reducing dairy and giving her more veg, but I'm confused by the recommendations for fruit and cereals, particularly wrt apples.

So, do apples make things better or worse? What about oats? And sugar - orange juice with brown sugar seems to be recommended as a home remedy, yet a high-sugar diet is supposed to cause constipation .

You've got a bee in your bonnet about dairy?!

What are normal amounts of dairy? I wasn't talking about gorging on tonnes of cheese and nothing else and tries to point out that it doesn't take much dairy to get your daily intake of calcium etc.

As somebody else mentioned, prune juice and stewed plums for example can cause explosions and cramp. So best to only give a little and take it from there. There are lots of nice packs with fresh fruit juices. Innocent of course and Tesco does Mr Men figures on its small lunchtime juice packs. All 100% fruit juice.

I was always told by our paed to be careful with carrots as they can cause constipation and mushrooms as well.