Urinary Infection

[chiara71]

My 1yr old dd has just had a urinary infection, she was given antibiotics and now seems fine, but I've heard recurrences are very common.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

The GP initially just dismissed her high temperature as something that 'often happens in babies and most of the times we never know what's caused it'.

I had to take her to hospital with 39.5 and shivers and blue lips, when she was finally checked properly.

Any advice from mums who've seen this before???

My ds had a urine infection at the age of 4 weeks. He was on anti biotics for 6 months, and had his kidneys scanned to check for damage, and everything was fine. He is 15 months now and hasn't had another infection, so I hope that helps!

6 months on antibiotics? Was it beca--us e_he was so young?
my dd was only given 5 days, she is due to have a scan, whenever we'll be given an appointment.....thanks

Chiara71 - my friends dd had a urinary infection aged about 1 yr - she was very poorly with it, and hospitalised for a few days due to a very erratic temperature which reached worrying heights. She was treated with antibiotics, and recovered well. she then had a second infection a few months later, much milder this time as it was caught earlier. After this more investigations were done, and she was felt to be at risk of developing further infections. She is now on Trimethoprim liquid (antibiotic) prophylactically. Not sure when this is due to end - I think she gets reviews every so often, but has been taking it for about a year now

chiara, my friend's GP thought her daughter had this a couple of weeks ago and whilst the hospital were running the tests I looked on the internet. From what I understood, urinary tract infections are not harmful if they are diagnosed (as your dd's was). However, some go undiagnosed and they can then be worrying as they may scar the kidneys. I think that if the child then goes on to develop another infection it is often more likely to be detected then as the fever, stomach ache, etc, is worse because of the scaring. It is then that a child can be put on a very mild form of antibiotics for anything up to about 4 years as they want to avoid them getting any more infections and run the risk of getting more scaring.
Therefore, if yours was diagnosed then I think the hospital obviously did their job well and so she shouldn't have any further complications. It is the undiagnosed infections that are the ones to be more worried about.
As I remember, girls are more likely to get a repeat infection but it is only in something like 5%, something like 2% of boys get re-infected. Of course you know the sypmtoms now so if you think at any time she has another infection then insist your GP do the proper investigations.

Chiara, I was told that the reason my ds was on anti biotics for so long was that infections in children under 1 are very rare and have to be taken seriously, as symptoms are often hard to detect, and only a few days of infection at my son's age could cause permanent damage to the kidneys. We were lucky, as ds was under review at the hospital for other reasons, so the infection showed up during other tests. He didn't show any obvious symptoms, so in other circumstances it may not have been detected. We had ultrasound and a test involving a special dye being pushed around his urinary tract and kidneys, and luckily got the all clear, but had to take the anti biotic for 6 months to ensure a second infection did not recur.

Dear all,

thank you for the info, very useful indeed, we received our appointment for a kidney scan (30th July!!!!), but I'll keep an eye on her, any more high temperatures without reason and I'll camp at my surgery if they don't check her!!!!!

thanks again, I feel reassured now

Sounds like it could be a UTI. Get her to drink lots and lots to flush out the infection. Cranberry juice is meant to prevent UTI in adults, so it probably works in children too. I seem to remember that it stops the bugs sticking to the lining of the bladder, thus enabling them to be flushed away more easily. Pure cranberry is quite tart, but you could mix it with apple juice.

I had my DD's urine tested because she had taken such a backward step in the potty training department. I took the sample to the doctors on Thursday morning and was told to ring on the following Tuesday or Wednesday - it was Friday before I finally got the (negative) results. I wouldn't have expected test results to take so long but it is so frustrating when you are waiting for an answer. My friend's DS has leukaemia and is regularly tested for one thing or another - his results are usually back in 48 hours.

My doctor gave me some canestan cream for DD's soreness because he said that urine infections were rare in young children and the problem was usually on the outside.

Sorry to hear about dd Batters. Does she say the pain is a stinging or burning type of pain? If so it is very probably from an infection. Drinking lots (water if possible) is the best thing for her to do, especially in this hot weather. It is very annoying to have to wait days for a result,but the problem may have resolved itself by then anyway.

Batters - could well be a urine infection, and best to act as if it is until you get the results of the urine sample. Get her to drink lots of water to help flush out any bacteria, and no caffeinated drinks. Cranberry juice is, indeed, recommended. Some calpol, or similar, will also help if there is some abdominal tenderness/backache/discomfort associated with a urinary infection.
Just to mention also, don't think your surgery is being lazy or inefficient because the urine sampl result will not arrive until next Tuesday - there is a reason for this. Basically, with things like blood tests etc, tests are often done to look for composites within the blood ie: how many white blood cells, how much iron etc - these results can be read immediately, and thus returned quickly (as possibly in the case of PamT's friends ds). However, with tests to detect infection, such as a urine sample, the sample has to be 'cultured' in a lab - for example a sample may be applied to a petri dish to see which sort of bacteria is growing (if any). If bacteria is detected, the next job is to add an antibiotic to the dish to see which the bacteria responds to - in the case of a urine infection for example, the bacteria may be sensitive to cephradine, but resistant to trimethoprim. This is important to ensure the correct treatment is given - antibiotics should not really start to be administered until the diagnosis is made (unless the situation is serious). Quite often a 'preliminary' report will be made available within 24 hrs of the lab receiving the sample - this will just say what was found ie: white cells, pus cells etc, but will go on to say that the full report will follow in a couple of days, and it is this report which tells the GP how to treat.

Sorry to hear this Batters, as a cystitis veteran I can definitely endorse the cranberry juice approach - it will certainly not hurt her, even if what she has is not a UTI. My GP also said that lemon barley water is a palatable and helpful alternative, but just drinking plenty will help her til you get the results back.
Something that used to worry me about these infections, as I got a lot of them at one stage in my life, was whether if they were left untreated, the bacteria would travel upstream to my kidneys (don't laugh, health professionals...I didn't know about reflux etc...). The answer is of course, usually, no. So the few days wait is going to cause discomfort only, not make her actual condition worse, unless you are really unlucky. Which you won't be I am sure. Do hope she feels better soon.

Batters - no point asking for a rpt test whilst your dd is on antibiotics, as they will mask any results. Best to wait until she has finished the course she is on now (sounds like something is working!), then if she is still syptomatic after the last antibiotic, it would be worth sending off a repeat test. Hope the poor thing feels better soon

batters, hope your dd is better soon. take care.

message withdrawn

Chiara71

My ds is 18 months old and has a condition called reflux on both kidneys. This means that the valves leading out of the kidneys don't work properly, allowing bugs in the urine to pass back up into the kidneys.

She's been hospitalised twice with UTIs; the first time sounds similar to your experience - a fit, high temp. etc. The second UTI occurred only a month later - we didn't realise this was what it was as she was on preventative antibiotics, so we thought it wasn't possible. Unfortunately, though unusual, breakthrough infections are possible. Fortunately we now know this, and at the first sign of a UTI - high temp, off her food, smelly wee - we get a sample (in a urine bag or sample bottle), and get it tested.

Our GP is great - the consultant wrote to ask for immediate testing and alternative antibiotics if we got a positive result. This way, at least we can change the medication whilst we're waiting for the lab to do the cultures.

I really hope your kidney scan goes OK. Do get back in touch if you need any advice on the various tests. Most hospitals are informative these days, but some of the tests can be pretty invasive (not ultrasound ones), so it's wise to know what you'll be going through.

Our DS fortunately (miraculously!!) has no permanent scarring on the kidneys. She'll be on the medication until she's about 4 or 5, but this seems a small price to pay.

One good tip is to give them diluted cranberry juice a couple of times a day. We also give our ds an Actimel with her morning milk, and live yoghurt every day to counteract the effects of the antibiotics on her gut!

Batters, sorry to hear that she is not yet 100%. How long ago is it that she finished the last set of antibiotics? I would definitely ask for a re-test, and if it comes back positive, ask for a follow-up check. Some of the bugs that cause UTIs are very hard to eradicate, I believe. Hope she is feeling better soon.

Batters,

Once the antibiotics are finished it would be a good idea to have a specimen checked. That way if there is still an infection it is more likely to be detected. If the wrong antibiotic has been prescribed then the infection will still show up.
Should another UTI be confirmed then she should be referred for ultrasound.

It is not uncommon though for little ones to take a wee while to become dry again after a UTI so don't worry too much at this stage.
Make sure as well that she is wiping from 'front to back' after passing urine - little ones tend to do the easier oprtion of wiping back to front increasing likeliehood of getting an infection. Hope I haven't offended your intelligence by suggesting checking this out - you would be surprised at how often this is the cause.
Hope your dd is well soon.

message withdrawn

I know this is an old thread. But what I wrote might help someone somewhere. My 6yr old daughter has been having UTI's for just on 3 years now. This year alone (2016) She has had 7 different UTI's and just as many antibiotics. Dark drinks should be cut out of a diet blackcurrant orange juice etc. Although Cranberry juice is good, water is better. Fizzy pop also should be stopped. We have a specialist appointment this month. Also some nuclear testing where dye gets put in her blood system and they track it to see where and how its going through her. Actually at the time of me posting this she is on her 7th uti. It's very sad seeing your children ILL. We know when she is about to get a UTI her temp goes high and she gets a pain in the right side of her stomach.