4 yr old dd with repeat UTI's, looking for 'alternative' view

[walkinthewoods]

My nearly 5 yr old has suffered from repeat urine infections for over a yar (poss. longer). Sh is under the care of the hosp and was on long term preventative anti biotics and I took her off early Dec (on instructions of paed).

She has had 2 scans and nothign seems amiss. The paed dosn;t seem to think it's a problem. She was on AB's for over 6 months and only had 1 or 2 infections but as soon as I took her off AB's she got an infection with blood in urine (took her to gp's as hosp really unhelpful and yet anothr course of AB's). She has again got an infection with blood in urine along with thrush (quite common with her). She was getting an infection roughly every 6 wks before long term AB's

I am just so reluctant for her to have yet more AB's, I'm sure that it can't be good in the long run. I am now researching alternative stuff. I do belive that in som cases this can be helpful (from previous exprience). Problem is, I can't find anything relating to childrns health. I have read that cranberry is good but with th juice you would have to drink around 16 glasses for it to be effective so it's recommmed you tak the tablets. Problem is, is that this is all directdd at adult problems so I don;t know what dose is right.

There are some other tips, like bicarb of soda in water on the onset to neutralise the acid (or somthing!) but she won';t drink this, can I put this in sweetened water or somehting or will this negat th effct.

I am so confused about whcih way to go and am so worried. I don;t want her to get a complex and I don;t want her put on AB's blindly if thre is another answer. I hav rad so mucxh bad pr4ess about ovr prescribed AB's.

Any imput is gratefully received and BTW DD picked off my 'E' key so its a real pain typing (why couln;t she pick off the Z key?)

Have you looked in holland and barrett? they've always been really helpful when i've been there

have you tried a homeopath?

I know some people are sceptical but my dd had a huge number of warts in October last year and homeopath had totally cleared them by Xmas, as she said she would - I posted on here about it.

worth a try anyway?

DD2 was just the same and had lots of bouts of cystitis when she was little.

One of my friends who is a homeopath recommended a remedy called "Cantharis" (homeopathic tablets)which seems to work very well (you can get it from any good health food shop)

I assume you have tried cranberry. DD always finds it helps tremendously.

I've tried cranberry juice but she wouldn't drink it. I've read thsat you would have to drink about 16 glasses. Currently she has a proboitic yogurt drink with cranberry (but the cranberry bit is only 6% so I reakon it dosnt make any differnce.

I have been thinking of a homeopath actually. A friend of mines dd was troubled with realy bad teething and she swore by homeopathy. How do you research a good homeopath (hav moved away from friend above)

have you done all the other things (I assume you would have done but just in case...)

• cotton knickers
• NO soap or bubble bath in the bath
• teaching to wipe front to back and religiously checking she's doing this
• checking the washing powder isn't irritating her (try something like filetti or non-bio if you are using bio. Everyone is different so only worth trying if you think this might be a problem).

tbh, if the paeds think she should go back on the anaphylactic antibs, I probably would go with it because it's far better than getting damaged kidneys tbh.

Fox
Yes I do all of those (aprt from washing powder-hadn't thought of that) plus now I put antiseptic disinfctant in the bath. I wipe her bum myself just to make sure. However she has started holding her poo back again without telling anyone (another ishoo).

I wouldn't withdraw her from conventional mdicine but want to try something else as its obvious it doesn't seem to be working.

Lula
Thanks for your input, haven't got time to go on thed website just yet (kids crating havoc at bedtime) but am really intrsted to look at it/go on th eboards, thanks

I would highly recommend going to see a medical herbalist if you are looking for an alternative view. You can find one at www.nimh.org.uk

If you don't fancy going to see someone a few things I would recommend from my (limited) knowledge of herbal medicine would be a course of vitamin C and Echinacea to try and strenghten her immune system. Herbs that are specifically good for UTI's are Uva Ursi (which really sorted me out when I had recurrent UTI's) and Yarrow. But i'm not sure what the doseage would be for a child. I buy some herbal remedies from Neals Yard (www.nealsyardremedies.com) who have a customer service number you could phone to ask whether those herbs would be suitable to give to a child or they might be able to recommend something else.

In my herbalist book it says to avoid sugar and sweetners as they aggrevate UTI's (not so easy to avoid sugar with a 5 yr old I know!)

I can understand you not wanting to give anti-b's - I hate it when my dd has to have them. I hope you get things sorted soon.

someone on here (when dd was going through this sort of thing) told me that constipation seems to play a role in these UTIs.

does she have a problem with that?
(they are no fun UTIs are they )

She has a problem with pooing sometimes. It's not constipation per se I don't think, more that she doesn't want to go for some reason. Sh started school in sept and I don't think she likes going at school. Its been worse recently but I think its due to the fact that we moved just before xmas and xmas mucks them up too (ds had startd to wet himself again after bing potty trained for over 6 months, he hasn't done it for the last week)

When she has held back on poo before, I have had to bribe her with sweets (I know, not goood with all that sugar!) It worked well. Potty training was a bit of an ordeal (she had AWFUL terrible two's) I think her UTI's started not long after potty training.

I always am calm with her when I find she's messd herself. She will often tell me she's done it (but not all the time)

Homeopathy?

I was very sceptical. But dd had repeated ear infections in toddlerhood and I was fed up with her being on ABs all the time

I've no idea if it was effective or she just grew out of them, but she's only had a couple since and hasn't needed ABs for them... they've cleared up on their own

It won't do any harm, anyway?

I am leaning towards homeopathy and have found one nearby who looks perfect. I will shop around though. Can't believe how expensive it is though. Initial cons. for children is £45 (£65 for an adult!) and subsequent appts £25. And I thought it was cheaper up North (moved from South 3 years ago)

I was also thinking about Echinacea and almost bought som the other day but it didn't ahve anything on it about childrens doseage.

Does anyone know the name of the MNer who is a herbalist (or alternative therapist?)

If she has been on repeated anti-biotics she needs some pro biotics but not the ones in the yogurts/drink as they are shit.

Get Bio care if you can. They come as tablets or a powder you can out in drinks.

hi walkinthewoods.

my son used to get uti's all the time when he was about 2 1/2 until he was almost 5. his was very much related to constipation though.

he didn't have to take a constant antibiotic though...

my frinds mum was a homeopathic doctor...the consultations were expensive, but very thorough, and she then didn't charge for what she prescribed..it was included in the price of the consultation.

my nephew was really sucessfully treated for severe excema by her.

another friend has huge sucess for various problems with a chinese herbalist.

hth, and hope your little girl gets better soon.x

Thanks evreyone for the tips, it really is much appriciated.
Pag, thanks for that, those yogurt drinks I thought were good but I'll have a gander around. I was always a little concerned with the sugar content and from what I've learnt, sugar is not good for this complaint. Lots to research
Corn, thanks I'll make sure the tablets are included before I commit, hadn't thought about it.