Two Year Old Daughter Diagnosed with UTI

My daugher is five and is getting frequent UTI's but I guess among that age it IS common, mainly because they are potty trained and they may wipe the wrong way and get stool in their pee. When seeing the doctor they did tell me that if she was not potty trained it would be more of a concern for Reflux because they're not wiping the wrong way so there's no other reason really for them.

Hi G.,
My daughter was diagnosed with stage 3 Vesicoureteral reflux on both sides. She was 6 weeks old and got a terrible UTI. It was very scary. She had to have VCUG's every year. Thankfully she outgrew it! They told us she had a very remote chance of outgrowing it because of the severity and the fact that it was on both sides! Her 3 year check, it was gone!

Anyway the VCUG is not fun and at that age can be pretty traumatic. I don't think I'd do it after ONE UTI - especially with a child that age. A baby -definitely, but a toddler can get a uti by rubbing themselves, wiping wrong, holding thier pee too long....

On the other hand, undiagnosed reflux can cause a host of kidney problems. I would talk to your pediatrician, or call down to the urology department at a local children's hospital to ask them if it's truly necessary after ONE uti.

Best wishes to you both.

Hi,
My 2 yr old also had this problem. I started with doing an ultrasound. They had her drink water then did the ultrasound. We waited for her to pee, then they took more images to see if she was draining properly or if it was backing up (reflux). She had only the tiniest amount that did not drain properly on her right side, not enought to warrant any intervention. She is fine now and hasn't had another UTI. They wanted to do the VCUG, but I just couldn't do it. As it turned out, it wasn't needed. Good Luck!

My oldest daughter had 2 between ages 2 and 3 and hasn't had any since. Maybe my doctor is a crackpot, but she told me that bubble baths can cause UTIs as well as the fact that kids of this age are "exploring" themselves and could introduce bacteria that way. I would definitely demand the ultrasound before allowing the trauma of a VCUG.

Best of luck,
K.

Its not fun, My Fiancee and I just went through that 2 times with our 6 year old. She has had the VCUG 2 times, the first time she cried but the second time we were able to distract her enough so that she didn't. IF there is reflux there are a few ways of treating it...we went with the least invasive procedure...if you want more information on it let me know. I still have all the information the doctors had given us last fall. Send me an email ____@____.com!

My oldest had several UTIs between the ages of 2 and 3 years. My ped wasn't concerned, felt it was related to potty training more than anything. Her GI doctor wanted to check for reflux but we declined and went with the peds advice. It resolved itself when she stopped holding it for so long before going to the bathroom and mastered wiping.

My friend has two children who had reflux. The first was diagnosed, as an infant,after she had several UTIs. Her second child was checked right away because of the family history.

You might want to consider a second opinion or just wait to see if she has another one before putting her through such a procedure. If it is her first, I am baffled that they would come to that conclusion so quickly.

This procedure is no cake walk. My daughter had it at two at a Childrens hospital and they do have to be strapped down which I think was the worst part. She was really tramatized after. Of course after all that, the end result was keeping her on antibiotics profilactally (which in hind sight I may have preferred they do without tramatizing my child with a test). They wanted to do more testing annually to see if the reflux resolved. I declined and said once a year I would like to trial her off antibiotics to see how she does. End result- a year off antiobiotics and she has not had to go back on. Of course all cases are different. I may suggest you wait until she's had at least 3 before testing- I think one is premature.

Hi G.,
My daughter had the same problem at 8 months old, the pediatrician said that it was unusual for a girl that young to contract a UTI so we first did the ultrasound with no negative results, although she was VERY unhappy during the scan. After that we did the dredded VCUG. They didnt strap her down but I dont know how an older child would react. Then the insert the catheter into the bladder let gravity feed the bladder with the dye and then start with the xrays. She was diagnosed with a grade 2 renal reflux (5 being the worst). We are on an antibiotic, as well as a consultation with a pediatric nephroligist. The Pedi Neph said there was no need to intervene at this time. So we will follow up when the 2 year rolls around. Good luck, I too turned to other parents that I worked with about this!
C.

Hi G. My daughter is 3 and a half. Around the age of two she actually got two uti's. Her ped sent away for cultures and said that if they came back a certain way he was going to send her for an ultrasound. i have suffered myself with uti's. I would get an ultrasound first before i would allow them to do the VCUG. It is very painful and sometimes unnecesary. Good luck STeph