Urine Infections in Toddlers

[Hollyoaks]

Hi, my dd who is 1.7 years old was quite ill back in June, for over a week she had severe lethargy and vomiting. I took her to the out of hours gp who asked for a urine sample and gave her dioralite in the mean time. We submitted the sample the next day and went to our gp two days later as she was no better. He dismissed me as a neurotic mother and told me that the urine sample would show nothing and would probably be contaminated from her nappy. Anyway, her symptoms improved in a few more days but about a week later another gp from our surgery rang to say she had had a massive e.coli uti and needed antibiotics straight away.

She got the antibiotics but was also referred to a consultant as apparently its unusual for young children to get uti's? She said they may also scan her kidneys to check for damage to them caused by the infection.

Well, dd's hospital appointment is for today and I'm nervous that the gp's dithering in getting her antibiotics may have caused some damage. Am I worrying too much? Would dd not have displayed other symptoms since then of urinary problems? I'm just being neurotic aren't I.

[foxinsocks]

it's pretty standard practice to refer them for these scans once they've had a few UTIs under the age of 5 (they may do it after one now, my children are far older so things are likely to have changed)

dd had one of these scans (can't remember her age, about 2/3 I think)

it's to check there's no structural problem that might be causing the UTIs and check the kidneys for scarring. No hospital appointment for children is nice and this scan isn't that great as you have to try and get them to lie still (!) but I saw it as an opportunity to rule out anything serious or something that could be treated.

[Hollyoaks]

Thanks foxinsocks, I'm really nervous about it, especially trying to keep her still. There's no chance

[foxinsocks]

oh I know the nurses will be used to it, believe me!

good luck. They may not do the scan today but just have a chat! Hope all goes well

[Hollyoaks]

Oh right, I was wondering about that because I'm assuming there may be restrictions on fluids or food before and nothing has been mentioned about that.

Thanks again for the help.

[weegiemum]

One of the reasons that they refer is that there may well have been other infections which were "silent" - you know, didn't cause any symptoms. This is really common in kids. They are looking for any kidney damage (which is usually caused by repeated infections rather than one big nasty one) and to see if there could be a reason for infections.

The most common reason is a little weakness in the valve where the urine empties from the kidney into the bladder, which causes "reflux" - urine to travel back up again, which can cause infections.

(I know all this as I developed this myself as an adult!!).

Usually they just do "watchful waiting", but might put your dd on to a low dose antibiotic to prevent infection. Most children totally grow out of this by age 4-5, the valve just gets bigger and stronger and starts to work properly.

Hope all goes well for you and dd today.

[Hollyoaks]

Thanks weegiemum, I'm terrified about this one big e.coli infection having done loads of damage, I just imagine it lurked about for a while before making her ill. I'm just grateful its being checked out in case there have been other silent infections.

Thanks for the well wishes and the information.

[Romanarama]

Hollyoaks my ds had a massive ecoli uti when he was 3 wks old. He had all the scans (the kidney scan was 6 months after the infection though - don't know why) and had no damage.

[Hollyoaks]

Romanarama, thanks thats really reassuring to know. I've got a real thing about it being e.coli, but I'm sure it will be fine.

[foxinsocks]

ecoli the most common cause of urine infection in kids I believe (that's what they told me) so it sounds more worrying than it is (i.e. it's not like the big ecoli infection people get from ingesting contaminated meat)

this is quite useful

my dd had several infections and she has never had a kidney issue as far as I know. So fingers crossed for your dd.

[Hollyoaks]

Thanks again foxinsocks . My ds lost her baby at 28 weeks because of an e.coli infection which is probably why its a scary bacteria to me and dh, thanks for the reassurance though. Appointment at 3 so we'll see how we get on.

[Hollyoaks]

DD had her appointment and it went very well. She needs to have an ultrasound scan of her kidneys (which I thought they were doing today) and that will decide whether she needs a more invasive test in which they inject radioactive dye and image her kidneys in some way. So, provided she gets no more uti's she should be fine.

Thanks again for all of the advice

[weegiemum]

Glad to hear it went well!

Like someone said , e.coli is actually a very common UTI bug - its endemic in most people's guts, therefor there int he "general area".

Hoping the ultrasound is OK, as I had the dye test as an adult and it wasn't pleasant. But the likelihood is that your dd shoudl be OK.

[foxinsocks]

glad it went ok! good luck for the scan

[Hollyoaks]

Thanks for the reassurance as well leonie. I do feel much less worried now I've seen the consultant. Didn't realise how common it was.

[Hollyoaks]

Just thought I would let you all know that dd had her ultrasound scan and everything seemed fine. Got a second appointment with the consultant in December but provided she has no further uti's she should be discharged with no further tests.

Thanks for all the advice given, it was really reassuring.