4 Year Old with Bladder Infection?

I wouldn't give her 100% cranberry juice. You would need to do maybe half juice and half water so it is not so strong. Push her to drink a lot of water as this will help too. She does need to see a Dr. as soon as you can get her in. Unfortunately bladder infections can cause worse infections in us females such as Kidney infections. They will only put her on antibiotic if it is necessary. Good Luck!!

M.,

STOP! the cranberry juice. The little ones can't handle it, this is a help for adults not children.

You need to get her to the pediatrician immediately for antibiotics. Is she running a fever yet? You need to get her on antibiotics today, and pick up tylenol and motrin to have on hand. She may develop a fever even after you start her on the antibiotics. Give her tons of water, or gatorade would be better if she'll drink it.

Unfortunately I've dealt with many UTI infections with my 3 1/2 yr old daughter. The doctor's finally diagonosed her with bladder reflux a year ago and she now takes a low dose of antibiotic daily.

UTI infections aren't something to mess with. The kidneys are still developing and can be scared if the infections get too bad. And the cranberry juice is too concentrated for the kidneys at the young ages as well.

Kind Regards,
TRUDI

Hi M.,
Yes, antibiotics are necessary for bladder infections. Especially being so young. I would try and continue the cranberry juice, however, I would get hold of your doctor. A child's bladder is not something you should deal with, with out, a repeating episode where you know what you have done, and it has worked, until then, work with your doctor for her sake, and yours. Take care and Good Luck I will be praying for her.

I am so amazed by how strong you are. Congratulation in your births of your children, Do you home school also, or are you thinking about it when they are of age? Curious, I think it is awesome, your strength.

I get them all the time and the best thing that I have ever done is to take vitamin C. For and adult you take 2000 mg a day, but for a four year old I think that you should start with only ###-###-#### mg. It is a great thing to use because you cannot overdose on it. And since your body can't absorb that much vitamin C it flushes the extra out in your urine, making the urine so acidic that the bacteria can't live there. This is also good because vitamin C is not expensive. You could also try going to a health food store and getting D-mannose ( not sure if that's spelled right). It is the simple sugar found in cranberries that get rid of the bacteria but it is very expensive.

Talk to your pediatrician, you don't want this to become a kidney infection.
SarahMM

not sure what to say about the pain

but sugar is a culprit too -- it throws our ph out of whack and lets bladder infections and candida go crazy

I hate antibotics most of the time -- try grapefruit extract and/or colloidial silver -- talk to your health food store about them

I found that when I got a bad bladder infection when I was pregnant, If I sort of "sprayed" (or poured, i guess) warm water over myself when I went to the washroom, it eased the discomfort. Not entirely, of course, but it did make going to the washroom a little less terrifying. I know the pain is on the inside, but the warm water just made it feel... ok. And yogurt, of course, lots and lots of yogurt. Once the burning isn't SOO bad, you should try giving her some green tea. It's pretty good cold, so she should take to it. Good luck

Cranberry juice is good to help with the pain and to help ward off future infections, but once you have one, you need medication to get rid of it. This is something you want to stop as quickly as possible since they can spread and become very bad. Take her into the doctors.

Absolutely she needs antibiotics! My daughter had a UTI (stupid me, used bubble bath ONE time and bingo, she got one)and we took her right in to the doc ASAP. We were told that if we hadn't brought her in it it could have gone to her kidneys. Besides, who wants to listen to their child in that much pain? My daughter would SCREAM every time she peed. It broke my heart! Anyway, the medicine was just some liquid stuff we had to give her for 10 days, it wasn't that big of a deal, and then took her back in for a check up to make sure it was gone. Thankfully, she hasn't gotten another one. (Mom learned her lesson with the bubble bath... :) ) Hope she feels better soon.

Never try and cure this type of infection on your own at her age. Take her in, give them a urine sample to rule it out or confirm. At that age antibiotics are probably essential in clearing up. It is important you take her in to see her Dr.

If she has a bladder infection, antibiotics are necessary as otherwise it can lead to a kidney infection. You will need to take her to the dr. for a urine sample to be tested.

If she is prone to bladder infections, drinking cranberry juice is great as a preventiive measure but not as a cure for an existing infection.

Teaching and practicing good wiping methods after she goes to the bathroom are also good preventitive measures.

K.

Hi M.- I know this sounds silly, but if she has pain while urinating. Fill the tub with a few inches of water, let her sit in the tub in the water and pee. My daughter had a bad infection, and that is the only way she could do it. Her doctor suggested it. I thought it was weird, but it worked. As for the antibiotics, I agree, go to the doctor for the sulfa meds!

My 4 year old daughter got this a while back and it even made her privates red and she said she had hot pee pees. We didn't go to a doctor or anything, just gave her cranberry juice, chew able cranberry supplements, helped her wipe, and she ate yogurt. There wasn't too much we could do for the pain. It took only a day and a half and was cleared enough not to hurt. Good Luck!

Please get that child to a Dr. ASAP!!! As someone who has had multiple bladder infections, I can tell you they are absolutely miserable. Left untreated it can become pylonephritis(kidney infection)which can be bad enough to require a hospital stay and IV antibiotics. Cranberry juice does not cure a bladder infection. It can help lessen some of the symptoms though. Drs do overprescribe antibiotics but this is one thing they are absolutly necessary for!

Definitely take her to the Dr. ASAP. Never mess around with UTIs. As for comfort measures, when I was a child and had a UTI, my mom used to pour warm clean water between my legs when I was trying to pee. It kinda dilutes the wee and it helps it not burn so badly. Also gives you something to do and her something to focus on. Ask the Dr to be sure that is ok, but it helped me.

I'm sorry, but I would suggest taking her in for antibiotics. I get infections all the time, and it will get worse especially if she is already in pain. Cranberry juice will only help the symptoms. Also when I was four I had surgery on my bladder, because of frequent infections. My tubes from my kidneys to my bladder were off. Antibiotics are bad. I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of them. If you need them you need them.

you definitely need to take her to her Dr. to get a urine sample a bladder infection can develop into a kidney infection, antibiotics are necessary. Little girls are very suseptible to UTI's do to wiping from back to front, instead of front to back, also using a bubble bath in her tub can occasionally increase the chance of UTI's, if possible have her urinate even if she doesn't need to after each bath naturally cleanse the urethra. This will help keep the UTI's down and of course lot's of water.
Good luck and Hang in there!!!

Cranberry juice is helpful in preventing infections but not taking care of them. She needs medication. Otherwise the infection could spread to her kidneys. My daughter has a bladder reflux, where every time she pees, some of it shoots back up to her kidneys, so she has had several infections in the short two years she's been alive. Infections are caused by different kinds of bacteria, so she needs to have a culture to find out which bacteria is infecting her to get the right antibiotic. The most common is e coli. So by all means take her in. The doctor will give you something for pain as well.

Your daughter may need antibiotics or other medical care right away, bladder infections can be very serious. When I was a child I had many UTI's (urninary tract infections) and eventually a kidney infection. I had to be on medication and make frequent trips to the hospital (which was 1 hour away by helicopter) for medical tests and treatment unitl the infection was finally cleared up and the Dr.'s were satified that it was not going to come back. If i had not been properly diagnosed wiht the kidney infection there is a good chance that it could have killed me, or that I would need a kidney transplant. I met a family whose 15 year old daughhter was on the transplant list due to an untreated kidney infection, she had to be on dialysis until a new kidney could be found for her. I am not sure what ever happened to her. So please do not ignore your daughter's symptoms or try to treat her at home by yourself, she needs to see a Dr. and find out what is wrong before it gets much worse.

Well, if it is an infection your 4 year old will more than likely need antibiotics. Give her plenty of clear fluids and keep up on the cranberry juice. There are over the counter meds for the pain however i am not sure if she is old enough to take them. Otc meds for urinary tract infections are called azo, cysto and uristat. Good luck!

Yes, antibiotics are necessary. I see here other responses have also stated bladder infections can lead to kidney infections. My daughter had urinary reflux as an infant and I learned right then the importance of treating bladder infections. Hope she feels better soon!

Danielle is so right. D-mannose is a natural wonder when it comes to getting rid of bladder infections. My husband is a paraplegic who has to use catheters to urinate, and tends to get bladder infections often. When he gets a one, we have him pop 2 d-mannose in water (it is not unpleasant) and the infection is gone, literally, overnight. I get it at our health food store. If they don't have it where you are,they are more than happy to order it for you. It isn't expensive- maybe $10 for a bottle that would last your daughter for 2 years. Three capsules in a quart of water (or juice) would probably suffice for a four-year old. Have her drink it all day long. The hurt when peeing is caused from sphincter contractions when she tries to urinate. One sure-fire remedy of yore is plain old watermelon. It flushes out the bladder lickety-split, dilutes the urine, and cleans things up. When the urine stays in the bladder, that's when the infections start. Kids love it, and you can have some fun with spitting the seeds together. Good luck. There are always alternatives!

Cranberry juice is so harsh it may only make it hurt worse. It's great for preventing, not so great once the issue has arisen. I'd get her in right away to avoid serious complications. UTIs (Urinary Tract Infection) of any sort progress very quickly. Left unchecked, she could end up with her kidneys infected, which usually has life long consequences. When I was working, the doctors' advice was always come in at the first signs, difficulty going, burning, strong odor, dark color, etc.

There are some infections you can wait out, but a bladder infection isn't one of them. It can quickly and easily spread to their kidneys and cause irreparable kidney infections. Also, the worse the infection is and the longer it goes untreated the more likely it is that your child will have chronic bladder infections. It may seem that I am blowing things out of proportion, but my daughter has struggled with bladder infections since she was 3 years old; she is turning 9 next week and still has trouble.

Here are some notes we have learned on bladder infections over the years. Cranberry juice, even 100% cranberry juice, is not potent enough to treat a bladder infection. The sugar in it actually feeds the bacteria, and ALL cranberry juice has sugar; otherwise it is too tart to drink. You have to get cranberry extract supplements like Azo to do any good. Also, the cranberry extract is not a treatment for an active infection, but it can help prevent them. Once your daughter is free of her infection I would recommend having her take cranberry pills to help keep future infections at bay. Also, a high fiber, low sugar diet really helps. It keeps her insides from being more of a breeding ground for bacteria than absolutely necessary. Many bacteria that cause bladder infections are resistant to many antibiotics so after she is treated keep a close eye on her. She may have symptoms recur after a week or two. If she does, it's the same infection and you need to get a different antibiotic. This can happen over and over again like it did with our daughter. If it recurs more than once see a pediatric uroligist; pediatricians are just not good at treating stubborn bladder infections. If they persist they will do a VCUG and see if she has a physiological problem that is causing the infections. If she does they may recommend that you put her on an antibiotic long term. I would try to avoid a long term antibiotic unless absolutely necessary. There is new research that strongly indicates that long term antibiotic use, particularly for some of the antibiotics used for bladder infections, can cause Type I diabetes. My daughter is now a type I diabetic and I am sure that is what caused her diabetes. However, there weren't really any other options when she was 4. Now a child with chronic infections can have a procedure done called Deflux that is very simple, fast, and effective. Opt for that over long term antibiotics.

I know this is way more information than you wanted, but we have a long history of this and are just getting off of another set of infections so I have it on my mind now. Good luck! Also, I don't mean to scare you about the chronic stuff; your daughter will probably be fine. I just thought I would fill you in with some of the information we have learned over the years if it does end up being a problem.

YES!! Antibiotics ARE necessary if it is indeed a bladder infection. If you try to let it run it's course on it's own, it will most likely move into her kidneys and become a kidney infection instead of (or in addition to) a bladder infection or urinary tract infection. Kidney infections are more serious and even more painful. Please take her in... Good luck.

I have never heard anyone actually confirm that cranberry juice helps. They make medicine that does, Azo, but I don't know if it can be given to children. Infections require antibiotics. I wonder why you would want to avoid them? They are not bad. The only bad thing is if they are given often for things like viruses, that antibiotics do nothing to help. The reason that it is bad is because your body can then build up a resistance to them, and they won't work properly when you really do need them.

Yes, take your little one to the doctor asap as she is probably suffering a lot.

K.

Yes. Go to the dr. immediately!