4 year old daughter in pain in vagina

[MrsBasset]

Looking for advice. Periodically my daughter who is 4 will wake up in middle of night screaming and crying out that she is in pain “in her bottom” referring to her vagina.

It’s happening right now. I’ve applied Sudocreme but she’s jumping about all over the place and seems really in agony. She’s stopped screaming and crying because we’ve allowed her to watch TV. But she’s still wriggling about visibly uncomfortable.

I went to GP about it and they examined her (appointment wasn’t the day after it had happened) and they couldn’t see anything. They thought it could be in her head..?!

It’s not night terrors, she is wide awake.

It’s not thread worms, I’ve checked.
And this is happening too in frequently. Every 6-12 weeks if I had to hazard a guess. We almost forget about it and then she’ll do it randomly.

I want to advocate for her and if there is something going on down there, I want to get it resolved.

It has crossed my mind that someone might be doing something to her at nursery. Which sickens me and I’ve got not reason to think that really. Only one man there. I’m just wracking my brain.

By the morning it’s all forgotten about. So if a urine infection she would be a pain the following day too..

I have a vague recollection about this happening to me when I was younger. Maybe a young adult. Like someone sticking pins in your vagina. That was was it felt like.

Can anyone help? Has anyone been through similar? What am I not thinking of?

It really sounds like worms... when you say you've checked, have you treated? You can't always spot them so I'm told and the treatment is easily available so might be worth trying?

Aside from that how does the skin look? Is it irritated? Are there any bath products/washing powders/stain removers that you use infrequently which could account for it?

It does sound like thread worms. How have you checked?

There's no harm treating her with Ovex even if she doesn't have them. After all, you have to treat the whole family if even only one of you has them.

My daughter gets this and it’s worms. All fine during the day and when she goes to sleep, then wakes up complaining her privates are sore. At the time it helps to have a warm bath and I then slather her with sudacreme front to back to help her get back to sleep. You need a family pack of Ovex from the pharmacy and to wash all bedding and towels. Everyone sleeps in pants and pjs over the top for a few nights and morning showers. I Hoover any teddies that she cuddles in bed. Then do it all again and more ovex 2 weeks later. Depressingly she gets them a couple of times a year - joys of schoo!!

I think it sounds more like a urine infection. The doctor should have tested her urine.

Definitely treat her for threadworms. They can crawl up into vaginas and cause pain. Cured my daughters within a day or two.

I also think worms. My daughter was like this and it was worms, 3 different times 🙄🤢 I would definitely treat for worms and see if it helps

Doctor, I think.

Thanks for the replies. I’ve got down there with a torch and can’t see anything. If it were thread worms then why would she be fine and not be in pain for weeks and weeks on end?

@Viviennemary the appointment was about 2 weeks after the last time she has been crying out in pain. And she seemed fine when we went to the appointment. She isn’t in pain when she is urinating which is why I didn’t think it was a urine infection.

@trevthecat was your daughter like this every night or did she have nights with no pain?

I have had thread worms and I just don’t think it’s that. We would all have symptoms if she had them? She sleeps in our bed most nights.

Take her back to the gp.

@Llamadog I would think that if she was doing this every night. But it’s only every so often and she never complains of pain for the 6-12 weeks in between. But when she is in pain, she’s absolutely bawling. So I can’t believe it’s in her head, like GP thinks.

@CodMouth I will. I just wrote this last night because I was beside myself and didn’t know what to do.

Definitely treat for worms anyway. Giving a dose if it isn’t that won’t do any harm anyway, and if it doesn’t cure it you know you need to go back to the GP and get more help.

If she's 4 then why is she saying "bottom" when she means vagina? My 2 year old knows vulva and bottom, and which is which. It's very important when they need to describe something to you. When my daughter says "my bottom hurts" it's because she's constipated/holding a poo in, and she's confusing the feeling. Could it be that?

Doesn't sound like worms if it's intermittent and you and the doctor didn't see anything, but no harm giving her the treatment anyway. Definitely doesn't sound like UTI if it doesn't hurt to wee.

I would start bathing her in plain water (no bubbles/products at all) in case it's irritating her vagina. But I would seriously consider if she means her actual bottom, if that's what she's saying. Even if she's holding her vulva she might mean her bottom, small children get confused. That's why correct language is so important.

Definitely go back to the GP.

My DD had the same problem around that age. We never did find out a cause and have since concluded that a muscle was going into spasm. She grew out of it after a couple of years.

@Viviennemary Will do. No appointments. Got to call back on Monday at 08:00.

@mara456 She was screaming and crying in pain, and forgot the correct word for her vulva but she pointed where she was hurting, so she so definitely doesn’t mean her bottom. We do do plain baths. Thanks for schooling me on the correct language to use 😉

@Missingthesea I’m sure I used to get weird muscle spasms too. Hopefully it stops soon..

@MrsBasset Literally only trying to help... There is no need to be so rude when someone has taken the time to respond to you.

You have said this is a recurring issue, so does she say "bottom" every time then, or does she say vagina sometimes? Not a dig, just genuinely trying to solve the problem. In my experience a small child pointing somewhere can be very unreliable, especially when they're in distressed or in pain. I mentioned what the problem is when my daughter says "my bottom hurts", since your daughter is saying the same phrase, and you hadn't mentioned if you'd ruled out poo problems yet.

Frankly the fact that this is happening so intermittently (every 6-12 weeks) and causing her so much distress is very worrying, which is why I took the time to reply to you.

@mrsbasset OMG how dare your daughter call it her bottom and not her vulva she should be severely punished for that one 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Worms. Treat the whole family and see what happens.

@mara456 I didn’t think I was being rude. A bit sarcastic maybe, which I why I inserted the wink. I do appreciate you taking the time to respond and offer solutions. It just felt a little judgemental and competitive regarding my 4 year not having the correct language when your 2 year old uses the correct terms. But things can be misconstrued on the internet..