Consitpation/Holding on Help & Advice please

[Mojomummy]

My DD is 2 & for the last year,at least, has had problems with no2's.

In October last year she was given a lactulose perscription, but this didn't seem to make much difference.

She eats very well & I don't think the poo is hard to give her pain, I think she is frightened to go. She stands very straight, squeezing her legs together & I am pretty sure she is holding it in. This makes the poo drier, so we are caught in a vicious cycle .

At the begining of June I took her to a cranial osteopath who said she had a sluggish bowel & tension on her head. After the first session, she did a massive poo & I don't think she even noticed. At the same time I started to give her the yogurt drinks with friendly bacteria.

On our hols she was mostly fine, but the last couple of weeks, she is back to the squeezing it all in again. We visited the oesteopath today ( 4th visit) & she said she was very bunged up, did lots of massaging, but still nothing.

I am at my wits end....Does anyone have any suggestions ?

Oh yes gave her califig at the weekend, even that didn't work

I am very sorry to hear about your daughter, she is so young to have that problem. I dont have any suggestions but i am thinking why does she hold her poo. Are you potty trainging her and become very angray when she has an accident?

Mojomummy, this is quite common. Over the years there have been quite a few threads about this, so it may be worth searching through the archives.
My ds did the same when he was little - bit younger than your dd. We found that Junior calfig & lactulose together helped. However, I seem to remember that you can't just do a one off dose, you have to give it daily until it starts working through the system. The calfig helps move it through and the lactulose keeps it soft so it won't hurt.
Lots of liquid is important too, particularly in this heat when it is easy to dehydrate. I'm sure I remember there were lots of other tips that parents who had the same problem gave.
The other thing we found made a huge difference was to take ds swimming. He would relax his body and before he knew it the poo would be out in his swim pants. Bit yukky for us, but a relief when he'd been holding on for 7 days on the go!!!!
Good luck.

Hi, thanks for your comments.

pomi she holds on to her poo because ( I assume) going hurts her, so she holds on, it gets dry, then it hurts, so she doesn't want to go. As far as potty training is going, I'm not really trying because I think it's important for her to be able to do a poo without being uncomfortable. having said that she was in the paddling pool with the potty nearby & she got out, said poopoo & sat & did one Ok she was almost horizontal, with straining.

bugsy2 yes giving her the lactulose regulary, but it seems to have lost it's affect. Also offering drinks, fruit, add vegetables to everything or cucumber & tomatoes with sandwiches (wholemeal)

If you do a search you will see i went throughthis with ds1, v badly. We were on Senna and lactulose, 15 spoonfuls a day (honestly) and it still didn't work. As a last resort took him to the homeopath who prescribed opium, and it worked. Ds1 is now 5 and still has a lazy bowel, and can go for a week without going, but considering he at one point it was over a month between poos, this is a lot better.

I know this can be very distressing, if you want to cat me I don't mind