My daughter, who will be 3 in Feb., had her first UTI about 2 weeks ago. She was never febrile, and after a 2nd UA, seems to be completely cleared. The pedi recommended a renal ultrasound and a VCUG. The VCUG is invasive (they catheterize her and inject a fluid into her bladder to check for reflux into the kidneys). I'm not really sure I want to subject her to this after only one infection. I understand this is standard practice, but it seems a little over-reactive to me. However; if there is a problem, I want to find it before it becomes more serious. Does anyone have any experience with this?
On a side note, in the past month, we have used a menthol bath wash in the tub with her and some of those tablets that color the water in her baths. Plus, she is recently potty trained, and while I wipe her most of the time, I occasionally let her do it for practice. My gut tells me this might be the underlying cause?
Thanks.
Susan, the menthol was in a bath wash that we used, just like any other bath wash and it was used b/c she was congested. The tablets were also not used consitently, but we have stopped using both.
I have been giving her cranberry juice, and I have a juicer so I'm going to go to the grocery store to see if I can find some. I also give both children probiotics daily. I'm going to make an appt. with a pediatric urologist and have them look at her lab results up to this point. If it is recommended that the testing be done after that, there will be no question as to whether or not to proceed.
tablets that chemically color the bath water cannot be good for a young child! And why would you use menthol in the bath? Try eliminating that and see if that doesn't clear the whole issue up.
Trust your gut. Girls get UTIs much easier than boys (shorter tube from vag to bladder). Extra bath chemicals and new wiping practice will increase the risk that much more. Utilize less bath additives and clean up after she wipes. Reoccuring UTIs are a concern, one is simply the fact of life. Invasive tests are traumatic and any invasive procedures, no matter how hard we try (using proper sterile technique) the risk of another UTI raises exponentially. If you are still on the fence, get a second opinion. We use Dr. Albright at Forsyth Peds(sincerely an ER RN)
My daughter had this done around 4 years old. I was worried about her always wetting overnight. It was invasive, but I was able to be there with her and the pediatric nurse was great with her!
My daughter was very young, 3 months old, when she had her first UTI so there was no question in my mind about having the testing done. My husband was a little wary in the beginning but after coming to the urologist appointment and understanding the testing a little more he had no problem having her undergo the testing. I'm glad we did because my employer's 7 year old daughter was diagnosed with urinary reflux and ended up in the hospital for a massive kidney infection. Anything I can do to avoid this for my child I will do.
dont do it. they wanted to do that to my daughter too after one uti i said no lets wait and see... a year later still no uti. just wait and see if another comes up.
Is she potty trained yet?
It is standard for the first infection before they potty train. My daughter had one early december of 09 at 5 months. VCUG turned up a level 2 of defect. DMSA was clear- that test for kidney damage. Kidney disease/damage is very serious. Early detection and management of UTi's help to prevent new or further damage. Having said all of that, she is not on the preventitive and has not had another infection if almost 14 months.
But any fever i run to the docs and if they can not clearly identify a cause she is caht'd to check for an uti. Now not a fever of 100, but anything over 101.5 and especially if she is very cranky and clearly not herself. But that has only happened one another time.
The reason checking so early is so important you only have a small window to treat the UTI
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I have two girls 5 and 7 who to this day can not take many bubble baths if any. They got a couple infections and kept getting sore when they were taking baths. I honestly agree that one infection is too soon to traumatize your daughter like that. Maybe ask another dr or your family dr.
Sounds painful for your daughter but I would do what the pedi is requesting. My 4 year old now 5 had 1 UTI, took meds cleared it up temporarily and 6 months later another UTI and what I noticed was her vagina being red and tearing of the skin, she would tell me it hurt down there constantly and this was us cleaning her everytime she went to the bathroom. Meds were not helping they saw some bacteria but could not tell what exactly it was through culture at the office so they sent it off after her 2nd they recommended that she get a renal ultrasound and VCUG if needed after reading her ultrasound sure enough there was something not right. Took her in to do the VCUG, looked painful but my 4 year old did awesome and low and behold when they put the cathider in her bladder we saw a buldge in her bladder, it looked like she had 2 bladders, she had a diverticulum bladder and thank God we had the procedure and found out early, she was a trooper and had the surgery done early and recovered & healed. I'm not saying this is what your daughter has but do what is needed so you can have peace of mind. Also, the Pedi Urologist recommends not using wipes to clean due to having chemicals on the wipes that can do more harm then good. Having yeast believe it or not is a good thing, he just told us that is a natural for our bodies to have some form of yeast and you do not want to try and clean the vagina area constantly. Hope this helps.
My daughter had the same procedure done last April. Normally I would tell you to wait becuase I felt it was a little excessive too, but turns out my 3 yr old daughter has Stage 3 Kidney Reflux which means her bladder is leaking urine back into her kidneys causing this infection. Kids can grow out of it, so they ended up keeping her on anti biotics for this whole year and we will go back again in April to see if she has outgrown it or if she will have to have surgery. It's better to rule out worst case scenario!
I will tell you it was kind of a traumatizing experience. The catheter didn't hurt her but she got really upset when they wanted her to pee out the dye they had put in. She cried saying she's only supposed to pee in the potty not on a table! LOL She finally ended up going in a bed pan after I told her it was a "little" potty. Good luck! And I wish the best for you and your little girl!
It seems over-reactive to me as well, and considered an occasional UTI to be no big deal and fairly common among children (although my 2 boys never had one). I say "go with your gut" like others did below. Ask your doctor what happens -- both best- and worst-case scenarios -- if you refuse the VCUG and just assume that this UTI is as a result of improper hygiene and/or the chemicals in the bath. Can you take a wait-and-see approach, and if she develops a UTI again, to do the test then?
*My* gut reaction is that the doctor has to offer/recommend this test, even if it's likely that there's nothing wrong, just to cover himself legally "just in case" there happens to be a problem with your daughter's system.
Perhaps you can give her cranberry juice for a week or so, to help her urinary system recover from this UTI (preferably not the cranberry juice *cocktail*, because that generally has high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, rather than just juice; and if you have a juicer or access to one, the best would be to get cranberries from the grocery store while they're in season, and juice those and add it to apple juice [you can freeze extra and use them later]).
My 4 year old son just had a uti and Dr didn't say anything about doing any of that. But you just got me thinking. He was using thoes disolvable things in the tub also.
I have been going through this with my daughter. (we are now completely done thank God). She had her 1st UTI at 4 years old. Her doc immediately suggested seeing a urologist because according to her, a uti under the age of 5 is not normal. I don't know if that's correct, but thank God she sent us because my daughter did have reflux of her urine. It started out backing up only slightly, but then did get worse backing up to her kidneys. It is a pain getting all the tests done but worth it. She had kidney ultrasounds 2x a year and vcug's 2x a year. And she was on a daily antibiotic. At 8 she finally outgrew it. I would get it checked just to be on the safe side. If she does have something going on and it is never treated, it could lead to kidney infections and worse.
After seeing the urologist, he told us that she is no longer allowed to take bubble baths, wear too tight pants, and she has to be sure she is wiping correctly. Good luck!
It seems a little excessive to do the testing after just one UTI. My daughter had her 1st UTI at about 1 1/2 years old. Once she got a 2nd UTI a few months later they recommended testing her. The testing was not pleasant at that age as she was not able to understand what was going on. She did end up having stage 3 urinary reflux. She was on antibiotics for 1 year and then retested. She was just about 3 then. The testing was easier the 2nd time around because she was old enough to understand when I explained to her what would be happening. She still cried when they wanted her to pee while laying on the table. Kids often out grow urinary reflux. When my daughter had her 2nd round of testing they discovered that she had out grown it. :)
If I were you a would start giving your daughter plain water baths. No bubble bath or menthol washes. They can cause UTI's. If she develops another one then I would have her tested.
Both of my girls have had the vcug and they were not invasive. My girls were sedated and when they woke up they were back in their panties and just fine. My youngest has stage 3 reflux on one kidney and stage 2, on the other and the oldest does not have reflux but Has a loose bladder. My youngest is 2 1/2 and had had 2 vcug's and will get at least 1 more. Trust your ped and ask about sedation.
