She has had several UTI's and I'm curious about possible causes and treatments that worked
I don't have any girls. My sister does. She said her daughter was getting them through bubble baths.
Only treatment that she said that worked was Cipro that was prescribed.
I would be consulting a Dr. with this question instead of asking strangers on an internet forum.
There could be many issues. Partly diet, bubble baths, etc.
Go to the Dr. and find out so you can prevent the issues in the future.
When I was a kid, mine were caused by a combination of occasional constipation and the opening of the urethra being too small. I had a diagnostic procedure where they filled the bladder with a contrast liquid and watched it empty (not a fun procedure as I was 3 and still remember it, but not the end of the world). Then I had a procedure done, I believe under general anesthesia, where they stretched the urethra opening. Then I was on preventative antibiotics until I was around age 5.
If she is drinking enough water, not holding her urine too long, wiping correctly, wearing cotton underwear, and not taking bubble baths and is still getting UTIs, has for a referral to a pediatric nephrologist for an expert diagnosis.
I'm surprised your doctor didn't advise you if she's had reoccurring ones.
As Marda said, the most frequent causes in young girls are wiping incorrectly (or not enough) and bubble baths (or irritating soaps, etc.). Wearing cotton underpants, and keeping area clean helps.
Sometimes children can have an abnormality in their urinary tract system although I think that's pretty rare, but if she keeps having them, her doctor should start the investigation process.
Antibiotics to help.
Good luck :)
my daughter got them from having kidney reflux, she needed a different test to show it was reflux and then had to have surgery to fix it, unfortunately we didn't learn this until she was 8 yrs old and by the time she had her surgery she had lost function in part of each kidney and only has 3/10th of one and 9/10th of the other.
During the surgery it was also discovered that she had a ureter that was not formed properly.
Kidney reflux is what Gary Coleman (of Different Strokes) died of by the way, it is not a thing that cleanliness, diet, etc. would solve. The only reason we discovered it was an issue is she was still wetting the bed at night at 8 yrs old. She could hold her pee forever which is a symptom. To the mom that said she refused the tests, my heart hurts for her poor kid - yes the test was horrible for my daughter, but dying would be even worse now wouldn't it?
What does her doctor say?
Have her drink more water - dehydration can be a problem.
Use no bubble bath - the soap can be very irritating.
Instead of bubble bath - try putting 1 cup of plain yogurt into her bath water.
It's great for her skin and can help reduce irritations.
Showers might be better for her than bathes all the time.
Holding pee for too long or not emptying her bladder completely - having her drink more water should help with this.
Also - have her sit backwards on the toilet - she'll spread her legs out farther and will help her empty out when she goes.
Improper cleaning after using the toilet - learning to wipe efficiently can take some practice.
If she'll drink it give her cranberry juice.
It really could be a number of things, but definitely warrants a trip to the dr.
It could be baths, not wiping herself well, constipation, not drinking enough water, and some anatomy things that can be found by some testing.
My daughters was constipation, even though she regularly went #2. What worked for us (after we did testing to make sure nothing was anatomically wrong), was probiotics and a regular peeing schedule at school. At first she needed to pee, then get up, and try again, sometimes sitting backwards on the toilet....but she has since kind of out grown it...and we just need to make sure she goes to the bathroom regularly and keep up with probiotics.
It is a lot of trial and error and my daughter had so many UTI, but it has been many months without one now!!
My 5 year old daughter had 3 UTI all in three months length. The Ped, asked to run tests, I only agreed to one, a sort of XRay, the other one was a type I considered too painful for my kid, the first test showed an enlarged kidney, and thick bladder walls. So doctor said she wanted the other test done also. I again refused, but I told her I would work more in hygiene and see if that stop the uti's and that if after that kid does not improved then I would be doing the second test. ( doctor want to find out if the urine is backing up, a sort of reflux and contaminating the bladder with bacteria by doing so) well, I purchased a hand shower, and everyday I cleaned her down there, front and back, only soap for the button, no soap at in the vagina and a lot of running water, I stop adding softener in her underwear and boiled them one time just in case, it has been 9 months with no more uti,I also kept teaching her to wipe better and to not hold the urine, I kept going to the doctor office for four months for uti test and after all came negative, doctor did not push me into the test anymore. So better hygiene could be medicine too. So far so good.
I assume if the UTI's have cleared up she is already under the care of a doctor who prescribed something and you are asking for other advice here. I'm not sure why some people have to be harsh. Sometimes mothers have homeopathic remedies that doctors don't tell you about. Glad you're getting some good suggestions and I second the bubble bath one if you haven't already stopped those.
