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?

Is there any redness? Is she sore it itchy?
DD had something similar for several years (she's 6 now & we haven't had an episode for months). But she would say her vagina was burning/stinging. Sometimes it was very red & sore.
Tried various things - wasn't thrush, or worms, or irritation from her knickers. Hadn't changed washing products or bathing products. Would use sudocream etc but that didn't stop the stinging.
In the end came across this: vulvovaginitis which sounded similar so started giving her baths with a little white wine vinegar in & that helped. Made sure she used minimal bathing products & now she showers mostly rather than has a bath. It has reduced the frequency of the episodes. More info here: www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Vulvovaginitis/

@MrsBasset I would probably worm anyway as the pain can be intermittent. You could also have a look at vulvovaginitis and maybe consider going with a non-bio washing powder if you aren’t already, It’s horrible when they are in pain, so my spympathies!

My DD used to get like this when she had thread worms. I'd give her the ovex even if I'd not seen the evidence of them and she'd be fine again.

Another person suggesting ovex, give two doses two weeks apart. It's safe and non invasive. If this doesn't resolve the situation then back to the gp

@APurpleSquirrel Thanks for sharing. This sounds most likely. Have bought non bio washing powder and will try and get her out of pull up from this evening. Got the large bed washing bed wetting pads.

But will also try worming treatments. I don’t think is that but can’t hurt to be cautious.

I would think vulvovaginitis would be obvious when examining the area though. My DD is only 2 but she had it once and all her vulval area was very visibly red and sore.

Could it just be wind? My DD occasionally complains about pain in her "bum" and grabs her crotch. ( She also knows the word for vulva ). This often coincides with her having visible bloating and/or complaining of tummy pain. We have concluded it is wind/trapped wind but she just struggles to articulate exactly where the pain is etc. (Fwiw my DH is a HCP in a paediatrics too.) The only thing is your DD waking in the night which doesn't happen to mine and I can't see why wind pain would suddenly be caused at night, but perhaps possible? Does she ever complain of stomach pain too or seem bloated?

Another vote for worms even if you can't see any. Sounds identical to how my daughter was with worms when she was little. Never once complained of itchy bum but would wake screaming with painful vagina. I looked a lot of times before I ever saw a worm.

Worms, especially at that age.

My DD had this. Exactly as you describe. Was intermittent. Crying one night a couple of hours after going to bed, really sore and distressed, then fine for weeks.

It was worms. The "pain" only occurred when they left the anus and ended up irritating around her vulva which obviously doesn't happen all the time. Took us months to work it out. We had checked with torches and everything when one night we checked during an episode and saw the culprit. Treated with Ovex and problem solved.

My DD does this and we've found it to be one of two things. Sometimes she's sensitive to the bath stuff that we use so we just give her baths with baby wash and that seems to have stopped it. The other thing that it sometimes is is UTI. She has a kidney condition so she is prone to them. Typically she has no symptoms during the day and only random pain in the night.

Another vote for worms. When mine were small I'd give the whole family a regular dose of Ovex once every 6 months.

Agree also to try non-biological washing powder and review soaps/shampoo/ bubble baths as well.

Hope you get to the bottom (see what I did there ) of this soon.

@mrsbasset she would go weeks with nothing then be screaming in pain again

Right, Opex has been consumed! And second size ready for 2 weeks time. I feel itchy all over now 🙁 Full on blitz of bedding and surfaces tmrw and non bio only for daughters clothes and bedding.

Another vote for worms here! Hope that the Ovex helps.

Hi! I was just discussing this with my friend, trying to explain what my daughter used to go through when she was from 2 till around 7ish.

She would wake up, screaming in agony. Sweating and saying her private parts hurt.

I checked for worms everytime, treated her for worms aswel. she had swabs, bloods ect even a scan and nothing was found.

She would have these episodes a few times a month, usually several days in a row and majority of the time they happened early hours of the morning but twice they happened during the day and she couldnt walk.

I used a similar group back then to try to find similar cases and I only found a handful. One girl in particular explained hers disappeared when she was around 9 or 10 I think which wasn't very reassuring at the time but gave me hope that it wouldn't last forever.

The only thing I can suggest is keeping painkillers Handy, a cool cloth and staying by her side until it passes. My daughter wouldn't allow to touch her so I would sometimes sit and talk to her or even distract her with a film untill she forgot and fell asleep.

I'm so sorry you're both going through this, it's a terrible thing to go though and something doctors don't seem to have any idea about.
Although it seems rare you're not alone and I pray it doesn't last too much longer.

My DD has this when she has a urine infection. Always in pain at night and not particularly in the day time. If she hasn't already she needs urine checking.

My four year old does this (and says vulva) but stops instantly if she wees. She’ll protest for hours that she doesn’t need to wee but it always works. I suspect she just never has the feeling of a really full bladder during the day so it feels weird.

They can get thrush too but that'd more likely if she was had been in a swimming pool.
No bubble baths, or bath bombs, fizzes,etc. Only use baby products in the bath

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