Itchy vulva, 5 year old

[ThePoliceOfficer]

For the past few weeks 5 yr old dd has been itching her vagina. I’ve checked her out and there is nothing obvious, no redness or bumps. Looks completely normal to me so I’m stumped. Any ideas? I don’t really want to take her to the gp if I can avoid it

Treat her for worms

Thrush? Sensitive to bubble bath/body wash? Could talk to a chemist.

Change her soap to Simple / unscented. We had this. A popular wash often causes this according to my GP

Check for threadworms (tiny tiny - like little snips of cotton threads if you've not had the pleasure before now). In girls they can live in the vagina and urethra. They come out at night and lay eggs on the outside.

If so Ovex from pharmacy, but antihistamines and barrier creams to get comfortable overnight.

Worms 😳

She is partial to a bath bomb but always has a different one so if one did irritate her I’d have thought it would have faded by now

Sweaty from the heat?

My DD had this
It was threadworms.....

Normally worms, treat the whole family

This is a classic symptom of threadworm in girls. Totally normal and treated in 1 dose of medicine but remember to take another dose exactly 2 weeks later or they will return. School and nursery settings at that age it is inevitable. Ovex from the pharmacist or order online from Superdrug.

Yep Ovex the whole family and repeat two weeks later. Strip beds and clean too. Hygiene method procedures in addition.

I bet this is it.

And threadworms more common that nits. 1 in 4 primary aged school children have it at any time but schools rarely get notified by parents to send the letters out. So much ignorance on it.

Right, I’ve just checked her while she’s sleeping and I couldn’t see anything but most of you are saying worms…can I just treat her for it without confirmation or do I need to go through gp?

I've seen worms inside the vulva folds causing irritation. They are often more active at night. Would she let you check with a torch?

Is she washing off any soap from a bath?

Any change in washing powder?

Any change in her underwear- new brand, nylon?

No change in washing powder or underwear. I just assumed she wasn’t wiping herself properly after going to the loo!

Check her just before you go bed and use a torch.

But yes treat regardless. I used to worm my darlings at 6 mth intervals as precaution following my daughter having 18mths of thrush. I educated the doctor once I realised it had been worms the entire time.

sounds like worms worms worms (with a ring of fire)

And get the tablets not liquid. Liquid is grim.

Yep this is how we know when DD has worms (happened 3 or 4 times now 😩) seems it's insanely itchy so she wakes up in the night really distressed. Ovex for the whole family- don't forget the second dose two weeks later. Stick all the bedding on a hot wash, and remind her to wash her hands well- although DD has always been great at hand washing so she must just be unlucky.

Worms, yes. Just buy Ovex tablets from any chemist/pharmacy. You don't need to go through your doctor.

Any changes in urination? Frequency, complaining of pain, accidents, fever?

Check her bottom again tonight. They come out at night. But aren’t always visible. Sometimes there is a slight bulge around the bottom area.

Reported.

It’s not always worms. That age of girls are prone to vulvovaginitis (sore vulva - can be thrush, may not be) - often because they don’t always wipe properly and they get sore either from bits of faecal bacteria getting into the vulva and causing a bit of irritation to the skin, or just from the same kind of vulva and vagus know imbalances that adult women get, especially if it’s hot. You can always Ovex as well to cover all your bases (as it were 😂)

If no worms try a bit of canesten in the vulva; I’d that doesn’t work, I found Sudocrem often sorted it out. Ask if it’s sore or prickly inside the vagina (could be thrush); or if the skin is sore outside and on the perineum (try Sudocrem as could be skin irritation).

Either way, ditch the bath bombs or scented bubble bath - my DD got terrible soreness each time she used one, didn’t matter what it was - it’s the stuff they use for fragrance that sets it off, so try unscented Simple bath or just plain water for a few days.

It’s most common in 5-8 year old girls. Some NHS info here:

www.enherts-tr.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2019/10/Vulvovaginitis-Young-girls-Final-10.2016.pdf

@Fearnecuptea

Reported.

I guess it’s fair enough to report, but this is a very common condition indeed in girls that age, and so there’s no reason why it should be a strange question.

*vaginal not vagus! Fat typing fingers 🤦‍♀️