3 Yo Daughter w/UTI

I add tee tree oil, and baking soda to my daughters bath. Let her play in that, and wash at the end.
A. H

J., I think you are right about the wait and see on this. I have two boys, grown now, 21 and 15 and I don't think I would rush into this either. When we were that age they wouldn't have put us through that. For more than one UTI I think I would have to have a second oppoinion on that too. Sometimes we as mothers know when things are truly wrong. Good luck. And one more thing, it could be the paper you are using. She maybe allergic to it.

Sincerely

T.

My daughter had that test at 7 weeks old after being in the hospital for a UTI that went systemic and she had to be on IV antibiotics for over a week in the hospital. The test checks to make sure the urine is not going back into the kidneys but I was told the test is usually called for infants that have frequent UTI's or very young infants that get them like my daughter. I would not recommend doing it yet the child has to lay on a table and they have this catheter that is inserted to moniter and then they have to pee on themselves I can't imagine making a 3 year old do that if it is really not necessary. My daughter will never remember but yours could I would at least seek another opinion or wait and see.

Go with your instinct. Some Dr's make it out to be more then it is. Research why he/she is suggesting such a procedure for this first UTI.
When my daughter had her UTI at about the same age, they gave us an antibiotic and sent us on our way. She has not had another one,yet and it has been two years.

UTIs are dangerous, and can turn into kidney infections. Leaving it would be a bad choice...

Which is not to say that the kind of invasive and expensive (did I say 'lucrative'? <G>) procedure that has been suggested is justifiable under the circumstances.

Get the antibiots she needs, and give her some diluted cranberry juice (pure juice, not 'beverage' to avoid all the added sugar) or blueberry juice a couple of times a day until she's done the drugs...

Hi J.~
I had frequent UTI's as a child and had further testing, as well. It was uncomfortable but not a huge deal! Turned out to be a problem that I just outgrew as my body grew. I would not do the testing after just one UTI. My first reaction would be to bump up the fluid intake, cranberry juice...blueberries help as well and make sure she wipes front to back (that is a HUGE cause of UTI's) and wait it out a little more. If it turns out that she needs testing, it won't be that bad. Im sure you'll hear horror stories just like women do with labor/delivery...just try to ignore them and be confident that you are doing the best for your child!
~L.

hello J.,
My name is T. i'm a single parent of 4 . it is best to have your daughter to threw the test , it wont hurt her. My daughter who is 9 yrs old has had 5 uti sence the same as your daughter . the dr. did the vcug test on her and found out that she has a mild case of what is know as urina relfex with can get worse if not treated by a med. Urina relex is where they dont pee all the way out and it back tracts and can go into the liver or kidness and can do more damage . she has been on a med sence 4 yrs old . she goes for check ups once a yr . I will pray for your little one she doesnt have that . This is very common in girls to get this plz have her tested it takes about a half hr. to an hour .

I used to suffer with UTI's all the time. I'm sure someone has talked with you about making sure that she is wiping front to back so that bacteria doesn't go where it doesn't belong. Also, make sure her panties are cotton so that they will not keep moisture where bacteria can grow. If she ends up on antibiotics, you may want to consider giving her probiotics to off set the removal of good bacteria that we need! (see www.marketamerica.com/thevoiceoftruth and click on Isotonix and Might-a-Mins for a great option that she can drink!)

Hang in there,

S.
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Make sure she drinks lots of water and also cranberry juice is a big help. I don't understand why the doctor would want to do that testing so soon. I myself when I was little (about 30 years ago) I ended up in the hospital with bladder and kidney infection and they just pumped all the cranberry juice and fruit to me that I could take in. Please just make sure she drinks plenty of water and cranberry juice. I especially know how important it is and still at 34 yrs old I still drink lots of water and I always express how important it is to my little girl who is 8 yrs old and anybody else I know, who I feel doesn't drink enough water. Cranberry juice also has different flavors like grapecranberry and cranraseberry, these flavors are more attractive to kids then just cranberry juice. I hope it works for your daughter. It has for me and my daughter. Good Luck! One more thing don't do baths, I know she is little but try working her into takeing showers that was another thing when I was little that I had to do. For some reason certain shampoos and bar soap would irritated me in private areas. Because of that I also had my daughter take showers instead of baths at an early age. Also don't use bubble baths. If she likes to play in the water do it when she doesn't need to bathe and just let her play in the water with some bath toys, so she isn't totaly missing out on playing in the water.

I could understand them wanting to do that if she's had multiple UTI's, but not with this being her first one. I used to get them a lot when I was younger, and when they did the test you're speaking of they found a small sac on my bladder. Luckily, I grew out of it on my own, otherwise they would have had to surgically remove that sac.

HI J. My daughter went through it at the age of 3 1/2. The VCUG was a very tramatic procedure at the time. We found out that she did have reflux. (At a very high level). We were told to give her antibiotics everyday. Well I couldn't imagine giving it to her everyday. What I did is if she started to complain of it hurting when she went potty I would give her antibiotics for the next 2-3 days. A year later when she was 4 1/2 we had to do the test again. This time the procedure was much easier because I knew what to expect and could explain to her what they were going to do. She didn't cry at all (we also promised to take her shopping after). The test results showed that she still has reflux but not to the high degree of before. I have not given her antibiotics for reflux in quite some time. Anyway I would wait till she had a few UTI before the VCUG is done. If you have any questions you can email me or call me. I hope this helps out. J.
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I can't imagine any reason w a 3 year old should have any urinary infection at all let alone her first. What first crossed my mind is that she may be wiping the wrong way after using the potty. Make sure she is wiping from front to back because if she wipes from back to front she brings whater she's wiping into the urethra and that causes infections. If that is not the problem you need to find out what is. A urinary tract infection in a 3 year old is not normal. I hope everything turns out alright.

My daughter is now 19. When she was young like your little one, she too had UTI and not just onCe. She seemed to have them 2-3 times a year. The Dr. who we trusted never asked for this test you are beinging asked to consider for you daughter. What our very wise Dr. did say is that he was affraid that enventually she would not respond to the antibiotics, so we needed to do some thing. That something was... FOR MY LITTLE GIRL TO STOP TAKING BUBBLE BATHS AND WORK WITH HER ON PROPER WIPEING AND WASHING PROCEEDURES. It worked and she never had another one after that. Maybe bring this up to your Dr. and see if he would consider holding off that test and try what we did. If with antibiotics it works, it really would save your little girl the diffuculti of that proceedure.

Do not have this done! I had this same thing done when I was a small child and it awful! They injected the dye through a catheter and to this very day I can no longer feel when I have bladder infections, they somehow killed those nerve ending and now when I do have bladder infections, I do not know until the infection has reached my kidneys. Also, it was horrible for me to pee again after that, my mom had to sit me in the bathtub full of warm water. If you do decide to follow through with this, be prepared for a major backwards step in the potty training area.

I just wanted to add one more thing. My daughter has had a few UTI's, she doesn't have any problems now. BUT it's not just bubble baths, our doctor says not to wash her hair in the tub also.

Please have your daughter tested. Even when the infection clears she may continue to reflux which may lead to scarring of the ureters and long term kidney problems. If it is just an infection than you are none the worse for checking.

When my daughter was that age, she was having the same problems. She did go thru the dye test & I have to same it was one of the worst times of my life, watching her go thru it.
After all of the testing, thankfully nothing was found. After doing much research, it was determined that taking a "bath" was the root of our problem. We switched her to showers & the problem went away. I have recommended this to other mothers who were going thru the same thing & they were successful in eliminating the problem also.
So my advice: try to remove the bath from her daily routine, use a shower instead. If the problem persists, then I would do the testing. I hope this helps.

My daughter got her first UTI around 1 and the doctor wanted to do testing as well. We thought that was a little extreme for one infection so we waited to see if she got another one. Sure enough she did so we did the testing and it was horrible. I had to leave the room. She did end up having bladder reflux and was put on antibiotics for a year and then retested. The specialist said they usually outgrow it between 4 and 5. Since this is your daughters first infection I would definitely wait to see if she gets another one. If she is 3 already and has never had one before I would think it is probably not bladder reflux or she would have had other infections before now. The advice about the bath is good. I would try that. Also you said she was recently potty trained and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. When our daughter was diagnosed they told us to hold off on potty training until she outgrew the reflux because it can cause more infections.
I hope this helps.
God Bless.

Since your daughter is new to potty training, most likely her UTI is caused by wiping incorrectly. Make sure she is wiping from FRONT to back. Some children can be very independent and desire to care for themselves instead of having assistance from mommy. Make sure that she is wiping well because if any fecal matter is left in her panties, it can lead to UTI. I have had a lot of experience with a daughter who had constant UTIs. I would agree with you to wait and see before having her tested. Best to you!

Hi J.,
My daughter had the same thing around that age. She got one infection and I thought "what are they wanting to test her for?" But my Doc said they wanted to check her for reflux in her bladder. My daughter did end up having it and had to be on antibiotics for about 1 year until she grew out of it. She's 15 now and has no memory of the dye proceedure and no side effects but it seemed very traumatic at the time. Maybe you could ask your doc if reflux is what they are testing for. Remember, she probably won't remember it next year...it's harder for the Mom than the child, I think! Good luck
K.

Hi J.. I wanted to respond to this because I have a different experience than everyone else that has responded. I was actually diagnosed last year, at the age of 28, with vesicoureteral reflux. It is very uncommon for someone my age to be diagnosed. Most of the time children are diagnosed since they have frequent UTI's. Actually the only reason I found out I had a problem is that when I was pregnant everytime I would go to the doc and they would ask if I felt like I had a UTI. I would say no, and after I had one 2 months in a row I had to be on antibiotics the whole pregnancy. Well after the birth of my 2nd son, my family doc sent me to a urologist and he did a test and determined that I had reflux. I have to be on daily low dose antibiotics and since I am older there is no reason to have surgery or anything because my kidneys are already damaged. A few months ago my sons had to have a VCUG because there is a 30% chance they could have reflux. My sons were 2 1/2 and 7 months at the time. What they do is inject dye through a catheter and then take an xray as the dye fills up the bladder and then once they start to urinate they do more xrays to see if they have reflux. Well I had my husband go in with my 2 1/2 year old because I knew I couldn't handle him crying. He cried the whole time and wouldn't urinate at the end and was in there forever. The 7 month old was easy and his test didn't take that long. Luckily, they both don't have it! Girls are more prone to have it than boys. They also said that my siblings also have a 30% chance of having it too. I would suggest that if anyone in your family has it I would do the test. Since she has only had 1 infection, I don't know why the doc would want to do the test this soon, but I would for sure watch her and if she did get another infection I would get the test done. Most of the time they do grow out of reflux, but if they don't, surgery needs to be done to correct it so kidney damage doesn't happen, which is what happened to me. If you want to ask me anything else, feel free to email me. ____@____.com

I would not put her through that for one infection quite honestly. What is the reasoning behind the dr wanting the test???

Does your daughter take bubble baths?? If so...those need to stop. The soap can get into their urethra and cause infections. If you continue to give her a bath, wash her a the very end and then don't let her sit in the soapy water... pull her right out. You could also switch to a shower.

I would do some more research on the topic myself before you agree to go through with the test. Dr's make recommendations... and often make us feel like we are bad mommies if we don't do what they say. BUT...they are NOT God. They DO NOT know everything... and too often they go overboard on what needs to be done.

An UTI in a young child is nothing to push aside. Please take the doctors advise and have it checked out if you are still apprehensive get a second opinon. remarried mom w/ 12 yr old

UTI's are very common in girls as I'm sure you know. My 8 year old daughter has had at least 3! She can no longer take baths and after she swims in a pool it is advised she shower. My doc said that some girls are very sensitive to bacteria. Make sure that now that she's potty trained she wipes front to back. She hasn't yet had to have the VCUG testing. Although, the doc did say if it keeps re-occuring she would have to. I hope this helps!

I just got over a UTI myself recently and the doctor gave me a few simple suggestions.

1. Pee after every bath, even just a couple drops will help.
2. Don't use soap in the butt/genital area.
3. Wipe from front to back.

This will help keep the 'good' bacteria where it needs to be and keep the ph balance in check.