Baby boy pee problems?

[Mumoftwoboys123]

Hi everyone,

I had a baby boy in the summer and have never seen him actually pee. He has wet nappies, and often when I remove his nappy there will be a slight trickle of urine / a few wet drops on his skin, but he’s never actually done a full pee that most baby boys do! With my first you could guarantee he’d pee every time I changed his nappy so just wondering if you all think this is normal or not?
He had a urine infection at 2 weeks old, but no other symptoms since - he’s now 4 months old. I didn’t want to bother the doctors just saying I’ve never seen him pee, but what do you all think? Have you come across this before?
Any help would be really appreciated!

I'd ring the health visitor

My DS never pee’d during nappy changes, had wet nappies but never did a wee whilst being changed. In fact I only ever saw him pee a couple of times in bath as older baby and then when potty training as a toddler. I’ve always thought this was normal but I’m about to have DS2 so maybe I’m in for a shock 😂

I wouldn't worry as long as you're happy with the number of wet nappies he has. Just be grateful you don't have to clean up a wee mess as it goes everywhere!

My sons rarely peed during nappy changes. I wouldn’t worry.

I've never seen my son pee except in bathtub. Even I was concerned for a bit but brushed off as he always did have wet nappies.

Please book a GP appointment quickly. My DS had PUV (posterior urethral valves) and the hospital failed to diagnose it until it was nearly too late (complicated backstory with change of hospitals despite symptoms for him being present in utero). He started off with an infection, was ‘all clear’ and then a few months later had recurring infections that caused serious damage. Make sure they test and rule out this or similar problems and be very clear he has a poor stream. It’s a crucial problem to sort fast as it can mean not enough urine escapes and, therefore, it backs up into the urinary system.

If he has PUV, treatment is simple and (when treated quickly) it’s common to recover very well. Fingers crossed they’ll rule it out, but please check and push for tests quickly. They cannot do tests during infections, which can delay diagnosis if he develops another infection and it recurs. It’s not something to panic about with treatment, so sorry if this post sounds a bit serious, but lack of treatment can be very dangerous.

Just to clarify, it’s the v young urine infection that flagged this for me. If he’d been clear of those it wouldn’t be as concerning.

Hey there.
Id says if there are enough wet nappies a day and your little one is drinking well there is nothinng to worry about. My baby never peed when the nappy was open.
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My son never wee'd when I change his nappy. He is nearly 5 now and I can confirm it works as it should lol

Thanks everyone. Sounds like we might just be lucky then 🤞

Thank you! I’ll get him booked in asap!

Thanks for your help @ChaosAndCrumbs this is the thing it’s just ever a tiny dribble just seems odd following the infection. I’ll see what GP says!

Why?

Neither of my sons peed when I changed them. It's not something to worry about. He's having wet nappies that's all that matters. It's a good thing it means you don't have to change his/ your pee covered clothes!

@Mumoftwoboys123 I’m so relieved you’ve said that! I think it’s definitely best to get it checked and, fingers crossed, it turns out to be nothing, but in the case it is something, it will save a lot of heartache. Mine had wet nappies (though progressively reduced them throughout the year) and had early infection (appeared as a normal infection) alongside finally reducing fluid intake and having recurrent severe infections (pseudomonas). Without the early infection, the wet nappies could mean you were missing it, but the early infection flags it up as something to rule out. Really hope the GP can refer for checks quickly and all goes well. xxx

@ChaosAndCrumbs thanks for suggesting the GP. We went today and thankfully nothing too serious but have been referred for an urgent circumcision as it’s an issue with tight skin not allowing the flow to pass which would lead to more problems down the line x

@Mumoftwoboys123 So pleased it’s been investigated further 😊 Hope the circumcision goes well, my DS was circumcised too (reduces risk of further infection in boys prone in infection). Lovely to hear it’s being sorted quickly for your little one!

Hi Chaos, sorry to highjack the thread but my son also has PUV (again diagnosed after an infection at 3 weeks old). He's now 1 and after various procedures seems to be doing well but I'm really keen to hear about how your sons recovery went as I haven't spoken to many people who have gone through it. Did everything resolve for you?

@Lndnew, totally understandable, sorry to hear your ds has gone through it too. My ds’ situation is a bit complex because he was missed for so long despite issues being found in utero (nearly a year before first op with majority of that year being sepsis infections). He had two procedures and has been pretty much infection free since. However, he had lots of issues with urgency around potty training and beyond due to bladder scarring. He also still has relatively significant kidney damage. The function overall is thankfully good enough not to be medically serious, but he’s on a low salt and sugar diet to maintain health due to significant hydronephrosis on both sides. Otherwise though, he’s doing really well and to look at him, you’d see a very normal child.

Our doctor explained some children grow up to have no real issues, some experience some issues with urgency and bladder control due to hormonal changes in teens (they said always seek help if this affects school attendance/is emotionally difficult for them as it tends to be easily treatable), some have kidney complications or lowered function when older (but it’s quite rare and also tends to be those with significant issues already).

We had some issues around prophylaxis antibiotics causing sickness, but the antibiotics were changed and the sickness then quickly resolved. He’s now been able to stop the antibiotics all together!

Id think your lovely little one should have less complications in the future, as it sounds like it was diagnosed and treated quickly. Most of the time, after PUV there’s likely to be follow up yearly to check all is still going well. It’s crucial to prevent and treat any infections immediately as they can cause further damage, but otherwise they often go to very healthy happy lives in the future.

Essentially, he’s now a boy with a Lego obsession who manages his diet really well with encouragement and has a check up and a couple of scans a year. We might see the urgency get a bit worse in puberty, but currently they’re well under control. Really hope after the procedures, your little one flourishes and stays well 😊

Thank you so much for responding to me! It's so lovely and reassuring to hear your little boy is doing so well.

I've been so worried about my DS's future. We did also have some challenges with diagnosis (3 visits to A&E and lots of 'is this your first child' questions before being admitted with a kidney infection). The PUV also didn't show on his scans initially so wasn't ablated until 6 months. We are lucky in that he only has some kidney scaring on one side and function is only slightly impacted. He is also having some bladder challenges with the bladder not fully emptying and some breakthrough UTIs which we are hoping he grows out of. Not loving the daily antibiotics here either. Have you noticed any adverse effects from the antibiotics? It's one thing we have been wondering about but obviously the consequences of not having them at this stage are not worth it.

The doctors have been wonderful and reassuring about treatment options as well but it's so helpful to hear from someone that is going through it.

Our DS is such a happy boy as well and developing really well so we are hoping he will deal any potential challenges as well as your DS has.

The first time I changed DS's nappy, he did a big wee right in my eye. I was really careful after that! I'd definitely get your DS checked.

@Lndnew, oh those ‘is this your first baby’ comments! I’m sorry to hear how challenging it was. Don’t be afraid to seek some counselling about it. I know it really traumatised me (along with some other events that happened regarding doctors during my pregnancy) and it took me 6y to be ready to go through it again. Not because of my lovely ds and the pregnancy/birth or anything itself, but just an overwhelming fear of the medical system and how much I’d had to fight.

I asked a lot about the antibiotics too. Parents in general are often told with healthy babies that doctors overprescribe antibiotics and they aren’t a good idea to be one all the time etc. However, with PUV babies, it really is best and the safer option to protect them from further damage.

We found Co-Amoxiclav caused sickness several times a week, so I kept a diary and the doctor then changed this back to trimethoprim. It was originally changed due to a trimethoprim resistant infection, so the right choice at the time, but long term didn’t work out as the sickness meant time off nursery (Toddler) etc. as you could never be sure what was a bug and what was antibiotic until after.

I also asked why they didn’t use the type of antibiotic prophylaxis that they used to treat the type of infections he got (pseudomonas infections). They explained it was purely to prevent the most common types of infections being added into the mix and causing damage on top of the PUV effects.

It took my DS until he was about 6/7y to stop antibiotics daily. We did notice he caught everything going round and couldn’t be certain it was the antibiotics, but gave him a high pre and probiotic diet for gut health to help boost immunity in case. We carried this on a good while after stopping antibiotics to give him the best chance of immunity through diet and he no longer catches everything. The doctors thought it was probably the antibiotics, but also said that some children just do catch everything going without them.

Ds definitely took longer to potty train, but I just made it something he could do in his own time and he was able to manage before school. I also bought him ‘training pants’ so if he didn’t quite make it in time, he’d have something absorbent on. He was always very private, so I had a little zippy bag for him with fresh pants and wipes and a wet bag, so if he had an accident at school or didn’t make it in time, he could change himself quietly and not have to be embarrassed by asking for anything. He practiced sorting himself at home, so he was confident he could do it. One other thing one doctor mentioned is to treat any constipation very quickly as it can push on the scarring.

I definitely think it can be much better as they grow and your ds will take it all in his stride. I’ve found that by about 7y, ds didn’t have so many toilet issues and so now we’re just crossing our fingers as we approach the teens!

Neither of mine peed during nappy changes all that stuff about putting a muslin over them etc just never applied! Both potty trained fairly early so don't know if thats related but it wasn't due to to any problem. Get a check up if you're concerned but wet nappies show he is weeing just not in public!

My son had wet nappies up until the most severe point of his PUV, but it turned out it was less than his peers. That was something I wasn’t aware of, having not weighed and changed multiple young boys nappies. With an early urine infection, it is always better to seek help if you believe there is any chance they may have a poor stream as there are often underlying issues that can be very serious.

The OP has since said that her ds is now booked for urgent medical circumcision due to a tight foreskin, which will have contributed to early urine infection.

I'm so sorry to hear about what you went through. It definitely is traumatising isn't it. I've also had some therapy around medical anxiety. It's tough because part of what they advise for the worry is to avoid 'reassurance seeking' but if I hadn't asked for a 2nd (actually 3rd and 4th opinion) then I dread to think what the outcome would have been. The worry is reducing as he grows but I'm sure it will always be there. I hope your experience 2nd time around was much more positive.

We are on nitrofurantoin (also changed from trimethoprim after a resistant infection) and he luckily seems ok with it at the moment. We also seem to catch everything going over here which doesn't help with the worry! Always a concern of is this illness or an infection. Trying to get lots of pre and pro biotics into him and still bfing in the hope that helps his gut a little as well.

So reassuring to hear that you managed with the potty training before school as that's definitely been on my mind as well. Your approach sounds so supportive and considerate and I will be using the clean-up kit idea.

I really hope your DS continues to thrive and sails through puberty. We have heard that DS will need to live a healthy life (no smoking, sensible diet etc) which I'm hoping isn't going to be too difficult for him to stick to during the teenage years!