Hello. My daughter is almost 10 months old and has been diagnosed with a UTI. The pediatrician wants her to have a renal ultrasound, and two tests--a VCUG and a DMSA. Does anyone have suggestions as to which hospital is best for these tests? CHOP? DUPONT? St. Christophers? (I live in South Jersey) Also, has anyone else been through this? My daughter was on antibiotics for 30 days for a stubborn ear infection. I wonder if this is why she even has the UTI to begin with. Doesn't that seem excessive for a baby? I mean, 30 days of antibiotics would screw anyone's body up, right? Should I also be requesting an ENT eval for tubes so we don't have to put her through all the antibiotics again? If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
My husband and I always take are kids to CHOP for anything serious. They are great. When 3 other hospitals couldn't fix my son's issue, CHOP was the one to do it. So, now that's the only place we go. Good Luck!
C.
My daughter has had frequent UTI's and we had all of these tests done at CHOP. My daughter's was from wiping the wrong way, and still wearing a diaper at night. That's obviously not the case for a 7 month old, but they should be able to figure that out from these tests. I don't know if the antibiotic caused it, I thought if antibiotics caused anything it's usually a yeast infection which babies can also get. If you have any questions about these tests I'd be happy to talk to you.
D.,
My daughter was hospitalized w/ a UTI at 7 months old. She had the renal ultrasound and VCUG and it was determined that she had urinary reflux. She had to go on a small dose of antibiotics for about 2 years after that. The VGUG is not pleasant given the catheter involved, so it is important that you have good people doing it. We went to Virtua Voorhees and were happy with the nurses there.
I'd recommend CHOP. Dupont, of course, is fabulous but it's a hike. Sounds like they are trying to rule out 'urinary reflux.' Ask your Ped about the ENT eval. I think she needs frequent ear infections to be considered for tubes... not sure how many it is.
Ok, so I may be biased, but the nephrology (kidney) and urology doctors at St. Christopher's are really great-I am a nurse there and work closely with both specialities. I will honestly tell you I wouldn't say that about all of the doctors at St. Chris. My son needed to see a specialist and I refused to take him to my own hospital for that particular specialty. Like the others said, being on antibiotics for other things and wiping improperly may have contributed. These tests are fairly routine and painless so your little one should be ok. Best of luck!
Hi D.,
i can't recommend one children's center over another - in this town it's all preference anyway; they're all top-notch.
what i can tell you is this - it is likely that being on the antibiotics allowed your daughter's flora in the urinary tract to grow, leading to her infection. in a 10 month old, it's hard to tell if she has any back pain, which would indicate that the infection has spread to her kidneys and this is quite serious. i can imagine this is why your doc wants further evaluation.
tubes in the ears won't necessarily mean an end to infections - there could be many reasons why she had to be on antibiotics for 30 days. more than likely it was a smaller dose for a baby and smaller dose = longer time. also, did you switch medicines at one point? if so it could be a resistant strain - nothing to do with your daughter, but the bug. and lastly, your daughter could have difficulty with bugs in general, her immune system is just starting to get organized, so keeping her on antibiotics longer makes more sense, as well as keeping an eye out for how her immune system is progressing.
just some thoughts.
take care
C.
pax
