Recurrent uti in child

[Losingthewill01]

Hi my DD has been suffering from recurrent Uti’s since she was 5. She is now 10. She used to be on low dose daily antibiotics for 6 months when she was 5 after she developed a kidney infection and was hospitalised. Since then she keeps getting urine infections I would say a few times a year up until this past year when she seems to be getting one every month or so. She gets one starts antibiotics and it goes away and within 2 weeks she will get another one.
Does anyone else experience this amount? She has had all the tests on tubes reflux kidneys etc when she was 5 and we are due to have ultra sound next week.
I am at my wits end with it all as she seems to get one so often now with no apparent reason. She only drinks water, knows how to wipe properly etc. I’m just not sure why she keeps getting them.......due to covid it’s impossible to get a hospital referral now. But we have seen urologists before and there is nothing new they tell us. Just want to know if others have the same issue? And do you always start antibiotics or will they go away without them??. Thanks.

I think you need to read this medical paper sci-hub.se/10.1586/14787210.2015.991717 there isn't a consensus between the right course of action.
However it needs to be clear it is of no fault of her. It is like blaming someone for getting a headache .

This heavy antibiotics usage could however aggravate the cycle of recurrent UTI. It has now been shown that the microbiome is linked to them
sci-hub.se/10.1007/s10096-018-3322-7
and
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6893017/

(there are actually plenty more, but this is a good start)

My suggestion is that you start a course of probiotics but you must also change the way she eats, because just taking a pill of probiotics is like sending a rocket of human to Mars, unless you send food as well, they will die very quickly.
You should remove heavily processed food (all the processed snacks, crips, ...) , avoid very fatty food with refined grains, if you have these.

You should have prebiotc food every day (asparagus, onions, leeks, chicory, ...) , a high volume and variety of vegetables, swapping cereal breakfast for rolled oats, ....
Talk to your GP about removing processed food for 3 months and cooking from scratch using whole food (so making your own chicken schnitzel instead of processed one for example) and having a lot of vegetables, legumes and fruit.

Changing to a healthy diet is tremendously difficult with children, but your DD has the best motivation ever, getting rid of UTI. The cha age should be done for the whole family and not only her.
Try for 3 months, @Losingthewill01 nothing to lose, much to gain.

In the meantime, if she has synthetic or coloured underwear, swap to 100% white cotton ones. Actually I would try to eliminate all skin contact with synthetic material, so buy tights with a cotton crotch. If you are home from school, and no school uniforms, use plain cotton bottom (100%).

But I would seriously consider a 3 month change of diet combined with a strong probiotics

Agree with @Cormoran above. Constant antibiotics can cause symptoms of a UTI but caused by yeast overgrowth which is because the antibiotics kill the good bacteria, giving yeast a chance to over grow and wreck the natural biome of the urethra. This is a potential culprit to recurrent UTIs- Candida overgrowth not recurring bacterial infections.

So eating a diet with probiotics- yogurts with live cultures (and no sugar), cottage cheese and fewer simple carbohydrates (processed cereals, high sugar breads, crackers, etc) is good especially for anyone but also especially needed when on antibiotics to recolonise the good bacteria being killed off along with the bad and to prevent Candida overgrowth.

Agree especially with ensuring she is wearing 100% cotton pants. You can also get cotton and elastane school tights. Avoid polyester and nylon. The same with pyjamas- cotton bottoms. In addition, avoid any scented or oiled loo roll. Avoid bubble baths or harsh shower gels down there.

Make sure drinking lots of water. Her urine should be watery, with only a slight tinge of yellow. Ban washing hair in the bath, as well as bubble bath, as sitting in water with shampoo in it is worse than bubble bath. Check she isn't constipated, and actively treat any constipation. Make sure she's sitting on the toilet, not hovering, and taking enough time to empty her bladder properly.

It sounds to me as if your daughter might have a chronic embedded bladder infection which might need long term antibiotic treatment.
Have a look at www.cutic.co.uk

when you say she has had all the tests, have they ruled out vesicourethral reflux. My youngest was diagnosed with this in her first year and had had 3 procedures to try and reduce infections but unfortunately her kidneys have suffered along the way. Same advice as others though... drink lots, wee often and try and encourage a double void where she tries to pee again after a minute or so. I feel your pain and worry.

My daughter had this. They could see something on the scan though and thought it was duplex kidney. She had surgery and it turned out she had a cystic growth which was removed and she has been right as rain ever since. Apparently what she had is v rare though so no idea if this is helpful but further investigation is needed I think.

Hi was this ever sorted for you? I'm currently in the same position with my 7 year old! Xx

Sorry to restart this old thread but just wondering if there was a resolution to this for your daughter. Going through something very similar with my daughter.