Toddler always constipated - any suggestions?

[LittleMissTwins]

My 2 year old has always been prone to constipation, sometimes going up to a week without doing a poo. She has a good diet - enjoys fruit, veg and lots of wholegrain foods, drinks lots of water and had limited dairy.

I am really struggling to help her. At present she does a poo every couple of days but it is a major event - lots of crying and straining which is heart-breaking to watch!

Our GP has suggested lactulose solution and glycerine suppositories when she doesn't go for a few days. Neither seem to be the answer. She enjoys prunes and got through eight in one sitting the other day - to no effect!

Do any mums have experience of this and any suggestions, recipes or ideas? I feel dreadful that she has to go though so much pain to do a poo and dreading the onset of potty training.

Cheers for the help.

ds1 is prone to constipation. weetabix is a big no-no as it always makes him stuck.
bizarrely he can tolerate wheat in bread and stuff, but weetabix and things like that seem to be too much for him
oh, and bananas

Grapes and grape juice can have an effect if given regularly. Apricots and other soft fruits also. Avoid dried fruit though as it can make the problem worse.

lactulose is good but takes time to work. so you have to keep giving it. it softens the stools so helps in passing. plenty I mean plenty of fluids is really important. can you see if it helps for her to sit on a potty to do it. make it really realxing (read a story/ play music)
or see gp and ask for some senna.
(dd has cp so I have had years of constipation to deal with)

lactulose each morning, and plenty of fresh orange juice works best for my lot

Poor thing. Tinned pears seem better than normal pears for some reason. Apple juice, grape juice, maybe even a digestive biscuit? No bananas, no eggs. Dunnot what else.

erm, i mean when there's a problem not all the time...

half cup warm water and fresh orange juice with tsp of brown sugar works everytime

Prune Juice daily a couple of teaspoons or mix it in with yoghourt.

Agree with avoiding eggs and bananas

plenty of liquid is necessary otherwise poos harden
prunes good,
oranges

a nice warm bath seems to shift things for my dd, (20mo) funnily enough I just started a thread about the horrors of daily bath logs

She was on lactulose for months. it didn't work and we just had to keep upping the dose. she's on movicol now and much more comfortable. its just managing the symptoms though.

my local hospital has a constipation clinic and a constipation nurse.
so obviously common problem.

perhaps a referral if it continues? assuming your hospital does that is

Flax/ Linseed oil or ground up seeds on cereal/ in smoothie
Plums
Peaches
Pears
Prunes

Wow - thanks so much for all the advice, I knew I could count on you mums! Our GP seems hopeless when it comes to children. I will try some of the suggestion above.

WatsTheStory - the linseeds have worked a treat! I have managed to mix a teaspoon into a couple of meals and she has had a significantly more comfortable day today. Worth checking out if anyone else has the same problem.

We were having similar problem and found daily orange juice (on own or in smoothie) and fig rolls did the trick to get her going regularly.

ice cream does the trick here...!