How do you get a urine sample from a toddler?

[Polyethyl]

My DD is 18mo and the doctor suspects she has a UTI. He has given me a sample bottle and wished me luck with the collection!

I have just bought a potty, which baby was fascinated by, she declared it is a hat and put it on her head, then refused to sit on it. So I have put her to bed and will try again in the morning.

Please advise me how to get that urine sample!

Oh, I've been there, done that, wipes up the spilt pee

Give lots of favourite drink.
Take nappy off.
Chase after her with collection cup in hand.
If nothing happens after 10 minutes or so, put her in the bath - that always made mine pee

Good luck!

The doctor should provide you with a stick on bag, but they are fiddly to use. Best way is quick bath and dry then sit on potty with a book and lots to drink. I also used to tape sterile bags on with micropore, you kind of stick the bag to the very top of the legs and let them run around till they wee. Also very fiddly.

You can get a urine collection kit. It's a pad that looks a bit like a sanitary towel that comes in a pack with a syringe. You put it in the nappy and then when its wet you press the syringe in and suck the urine out. Ask your GP if they have them, our childrens community nursing team do.

Thank you. Doctor didn't have any bags or pads to offer me. Is it something I could get from a big Boots or superdrug?

Have just googled the pads and they are called 'Newcastle collection kit'
They are available to buy at various online stores in packs of two but I'm not sure wether Boots etc will have them. Worth asking though if you're still having no luck. Wonder if an ordinary sanitary towel would work? They ones in the kit are quite bulky like the cheap towels you can buy. I suppose it depends on wether it needs to be sterile on collection. Any nurses out there may be able to answer that. Good luck.

Sanitary towels would soak up too much and mix it with various guff.

A swim nappy (worn in a room with a wipe clean floor!) might work, but would still be complicated with a bouncy toddler.

Stick-on bags and absorbent pads are less likely to give a non-contaminated sample than a 'clean catch' sample.
All collection aids have been removed from our Healthboard some time ago, because too many urine cultures were useless.

Nappies and sanitary pads are impossible to get any moisture out of (believe me, I've tried!), but I have got some drops out of cotton wool balls secreted inside a normal nappy. Again, huge risk of contamination.

The giving-lots-to-drink, then chase-with-sterile-container does work with patience and preferably done on easily wipable, hard flooring

Stick them on potty in front of the telly or with book or toy to amuse them.

Sorry, missed your comment about wearing the potty!

Get teddy to sit on potty and have a reward then see if your dc can be similarly bribed.

Many thanks. Baby is red hot this morning and miserable. So straight back to the doctor whether we get that sample or not. Just on the assumption that antibiotics are probably what's needed.

Oh no. Hope she's better soon.

You need to get the sample. Dr will not give antibiotics for a fever without evidence of where the infection is- so if no red ears, throat etc then need to rule out uti- and the only way of doing that is with the sample

Tried to get a sample this morning. Naked toddler spent an hour in an empty bath drinking and playing, but reresolutely not pissing.

when I begged her to piss she gave me a kiss. Which was sweet, but not what I wanted!

Back to the doctor and he gave me a prescription for a urine sample bag, but pharmacies don't stock them so I will go to king's hospital's pharmacy at lunchtime.

I sat DS on my knee and let him play with my IPad.
Our hospital have stopped using the bags because of cross contamination and because they were ineffective for girls. I remember trying one for DD but it came off all the time.
What I didn't understand about contamination, is the foil 'pudding' tins we were told to use were just on a shelf in the ward not wrapped up or anything.

Baby much worse. Still no urine sample. So we are going to A&E.

Hope you get on ok OP. Good luck.
I have used the stick on bags numerous times- you need to apply then straight after drying after a bath, and remove as soon as they wee, to avoid contamination.

And it frequently took up to 2 hours for her to pee!

I hope everything's going okay for you and dd op, praying for you

Also, if you find a successful way to get a urine sample then please do let us all know, not been in this situation yet but in already dreading it!!

Thanks for that explanation Donna that makes sense.

Polyethyl hope your DD gets better soon.

I have been there as well. UTIs are serious, but different bacteria react to different antibiotics so they must have a urine sample so they can prescribe the correct antibiotic. When DD was a baby they stuck one of these urine collection kits on her to get a sample. When she was older I sat her on a potty. Once she sat on the potty for two and a half hours before we could get a sample.

I hope she feels better soon.

hopefully A&E will have some experience in getting urine samples from toddlers.

DD is 2+8 and she will not wee on the potty - when she needs to wee if she's nappy-less, she'll demand a nappy on and cry until she pisses herself or a nappy goes on her.

Got the sample! Hurrah!
We spent over an hour watching her fanny whilst clutching a bottle. Then I received a text message, I was distracted for one second and she pissed on the floor. At which point the A&E staff gave us a bag and disinfectant wipes. The moment we got her home, wearing the bag with a nappy loosely over the top - thenshe gave us the sample. GP dipped it, we've got the antibiotics and now I'm going to courier the sample back to kings microbiology dept.

So - miserable hot baby, frustrated parents who both ended up missing work today, a wild goose chase, numerous NHS resources - but we got there in the end.

Thanks for the update. I hope they are the right antibiotics. If they are your DD will start feeling better within 24 hours.