Vaginal itching at night

[Mumanddone]

My 4 year old suffers from an itchy vagina at night times. She never complains in the day but we often find her itching down below in her sleep, just before bed or just after waking. Creams relieve it, but never solve the issue. We’ve been to the GP about this twice now and nothing seems to be an underlying cause ie: worms etc. It’s not red and doesn’t seem irritated. We are hoping to get her night trained over Easter (she’s been potty trained for two years) in case it’s the nappy irritating her at night but I’d be interested to hear if anyone has ever had this and what you did to manage it.

Have you completed a course of treatment for worms just in case?

Have you actually looked for worms, using a torch, after 11pm when she is asleep? That is when you will see them if they are there.
Presumably you don't use soap, bubble bath and are very careful with washing powder etc. Check that your washing powder ingredients haven't changed (bitter experience).

Sounds like worms to me, they come out at night. My eldest got these because she was a thumb sucker and carpets in primary classrooms are disgusting.

Have you tried treating for this to see if it helps?

Worms.

Thanks all. Will take a good look tonight and see if we can see anything. I used to suffer from worms so badly when younger. She had stool samples from GP but I suppose if it was a daytime poo it may not have showed anything.

Ovex the worms.
but also if she isn’t so great at wiping (which my daughter has a tendency to skip at school) the skin can be sore at night.
after a wash I apply some emmolient which helps.

Treat for worms just in case, the whole family. If not, sudocrem?

Worms - I had an itchy vagina as a child and it was always worms. Poor thing. Get on the treatment asap don’t bother looking for them just treat it

Agree with others suggestions RE worms. Double check, but it not usually a stool sample to check for regular worms, usually a dry anal swab or a bit of sellotape stuck to the area then examined under the microscope. Gross I know, I have to look at those as part of my job!

Treat for worms & change the brand of pull ups would be my advice.

Have you tried using a PH natural body wash or something like Femfresh to help? Just a thought to see if that might help

Sounds like threadworms. Get some treatment from the chemist

Oh! Interesting! Is it routinely done in the UK? My GP seems to be unaware… we are trying to investigate constant threadworm reinfection at the moment.

There is no harm in treatment. Just try and see if it goes away. The earlier you do it the better. Worms are highly contagious

No need to go searching for worms , just treat . If she improves then you know she had them.

treat the whole family
get her to wear knickers at night, after a wash, cut her finger nails

Why does it need investigating? If your child is at primary school, sitting on the carpets and then at any time their fingers go in their mouth can guarantee it will keep reinfected them with worms.

Just treat with ovex regularly, until this phase of life passes. For my DD she stopped getting worms, when she stopped sucking her thumb (which coincided with her starting to lose her baby teeth)

She has worms every 6 weeks. I’m worried there is a source of reinfection in the family. Maybe it’s her baby sister who is not treated or maybe treatment is not fully working for one of us.

Is she in primary school? My DD had them constantly, so we just took to doing a monthly ovex treatment.

You also need to remember to boil washing bedding, underwear and PJs and clean the mattress regularly as well.

yes, we have a separate laundry basket for bedding and underwear. I wash it on hot with extra rinse.
when did it finish for you?

Not until she stopped thumb sucking, so Yr 3 in primary but the worst period was in reception and Yr 1 when they spent more time sat on carpets at school.

The eggs are in the carpets at school unfortunately, gets on their hands then they put fingers in mouths and don't wash hands properly when using the loos.

I just had to keep repeating to myself that this too shall pass! But it was tough going at the time. I remember my daughter sleeping with cold packs between her legs for relief.

Mine is not a thumb sucker or a nail biter. But I guess it doesn’t make any difference if school provides fruits as snacks every day and doesn’t encourage kids to wash their hands

Yeah, it'll pass as they get older. We begged our school to clean the carpets more often but they never did.

I stopped all dairy for my daughter. That stopped it. If it’s not worms then maybe try that. After a while I introduced Greek yoghurt (with added home puréed fruit for sweetness) and cheese, which was fine. But she couldn’t have milk, cream or icecream without getting thrush like symptoms (that really came to the fore of a night time).

Our school even refused to send the leaflet to other parents