4yr old with pain in vagina at night

[Unicorn34]

Not sure if anyone has experienced this but my granddaughter sometimes wakes up with a pain in her vaginal area, holding it and crying in pain. My daughter has looked closely at that area and can see nothing - no soreness, spots, discharge or smell. It has happened about 3 times now in the last 6 months and, after settling with calpol and cuddles, she will return to sleep and have no after effects in the morning. It happened again last night after she had been asleep for about 3 hours.

My daughter has requested a medical check with the GP but I just wondered if anyone could shed any light. It sounds like a cramping of the muscles - is this possible in a nearly 4 yr old? (I put 4 as she will be in 3 weeks).

Many thanks

Could be threadworms.

Worms. Get a pack of ovex and dose the family unit.

I would third the idea of threadworms.

Threadworms I think too

Another one for threadworm. This is exactly how it used to affect my DDs at that age. Whole family take Ovex asap, wash bedding towels and nightwear. It can take a day or two to work so if she wakes up tonight try getting in the bath then using a good plug of vaseline or sudocrem around the vagina.

I'd love to think this is it, but she wakes up suddenly and screams, holding herself and crying. She is very hard to console. On other normal nights she wakes, but is easy to lay down again after a cuddle or moves into my daughter's bed.

Really? That's not something I thought I would hear in a reply. I will ask my daughter to buy some Ovex. Thank you

I will pass this on, thank you

Going to the chemist this afternoon to buy Ovex. She is happy to give it a go although she's not seen any threadworms.

I’m not convinced on the threadworm theory.

If she hasn’t seen any worms, the little girl doesn’t have any itching and this situation has only happened 3x in six months, I wouldn’t think of that being a possible cause.

Impossible to know for sure, but I wonder if it’s some kind of spasm-like pain. They can be veeeery sore, definitely enough to wake you up and leave a 4YO crying.

GP is a good idea, for assessment.

Exactly what my dd experienced with threadworms too, no sign of actual worms or itchy bottom in the daytime.

My daughter did this exactly the same way at that age, for a year or two. My conclusion in the end was that she didn't recognise the feeling of a very full bladder when she was half-asleep. Since she's been able to get up and take herself to the toilet it has never happened again. I don't think it can have been threadworms as several years have passed now and presumably she'd be completely infested without ever having any treatment? But the episodes were infrequent enough that if we had attempted any treatment, it would have seemed to have worked.

Thank you. I also feel it could be a muscle spasm, and its a pretty sensitive area too. My daughter has the Ovex and it won't harm them to have the doses but will Google in a bit more depth about muscle spasms.

It sounds like what my child has - search proctologia. It can last up to half an hour and is excruciatingly painful but does pass. Mine still gets this and it can be at the front or the back but is better at coping with it now

Absolutely threadworms. I’ve had the same thing with my DD6.

I had this from age 6-12, every night horrible pain in my vagina. It was threadworms. I kept the worms a secret for 6 years and also the pains. Just realised now they must have been linked as the pain stopped a couple of days after I took a tablet.

Absolutely threadworm. My 11year old just had last night. Slight sting having a wee. Put sudacream and she was insistent still stinging, took another look and saw the gross worm.
other daughter had this several times. Hard to stop infestation without banning all cuddly toys and washing sheets and towels everyday for 2-3 weeks.
repeat treatment at 2 weeks helps.
in France they deworm kids every term

Threadworms or urine infection. Children don’t see difference between vagina or bladder urine area

Worms

Threadworm!!!

Thanks everyone. Over bought, bed changed, Sudocrem on her bottom tonight. Fingers crossed for a better sleep.

Threadworms can present exactly like this in little girls. Treating with Ovex is correct. If no improvement then book a GP appointment.

DD gets this too, I had it as a child too. Well, I am guessing DD has what I had, she’s 3 and obviously doesn’t have the vocab. But she sobs ‘my vulva hurts’ which is so sad! It stings IME. Treat for worms anyway, we did but it continues. No soap, Vaseline as a barrier cream, good hygiene, calpol.

Anyway. Not worms in our cases. Just one of those things. I follow the advice here
https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/vulvovaginitis-in-children-information-for-parents-and-carers/

Edit - I’d imagine worms would come out every night?? The issue DD has (and I had as a child) is maybe once a month.