Urinary tract infection?

Question

my daughter is 6 months and i have just found out she has a urinary tract infection, im a first time mum and this is the first time my baby has been sick so i haven't had any experiences of a sick baby before. We had to take her to hospital 4 days ago as she had a high temp. and irritable with a high pitched cry, they have put her on antibiotics for 7 days then after that once a night until she is called in for a kidney scan. She has just been miserable for the past few days and i hate seeing her like this. We had only just started solids but now i have stopped as she has no appetite,normally she would take around 40oz of milk but now she is only taking about 26oz. we had a good bedtime routine. she was sleeping 12 hours at night but now she is up every 3 hours to feed and its a battle to try and get her to bed, normally i would give her a bottle and she would soothe herself to sleep but now she screams if i leave the room and i have to use a dummy to get her off to sleep which ive never had to do before, she just wants to be close to me at night and a few times i have had to let her sleep on me. I have worked so hard to get her into a good night time routine and am worried that if i introduce these bad habits now that it may be very difficult to get things back to normal, but these sometimes are the only ways that she will go to sleep at the minute!i guess what im asking is, is it normal for a babys world to be turned upside down when their sick and will things go back to normal when shes better or are we back to square one again?

Answer 1

I'm sorry your baby is ill.  A urinary tract infection is horrible even for adults, so your little girl is going to need a lot of extra cuddles.  It's good that she's going to have a kidney scan to find out what's caused the infection.

I think it's natural for a baby or child to want to be extra close to you when feeling unwell, as they don't understand what is happening.  I don't think you should worry that this episode is going to ruin the night time routine which you've established for your daughter.  Once she's well again, things will go back to how they were before.

Please forgive me for stressing the importance of cleaning your daughter's bottom from front to back when she has soiled her nappy, to help reduce the risk of infection.

Answer 2

you sound like a fantastic mom i to have strict bedtimes but when children as young as this especially are ill all thy want is mommy so yes give her lots off t l c and when she is better im sure it will be fine xx

Answer 3

Take a deep breath.  

Babies get sick, and it's a big deal for them because everything is new.

You're an adult.  You know that humans get sick sometimes, and that we get better.

A UTI is unpleasant and there's nothing else for it but to take medicine and drink a lot of water.

Any disruption in her sleep pattern due to the discomfort will pass when she gets better.  Don't worry about the effect of putting a teddy bear or something in the crib with her; lots of children do better with some kind of comforter.  Have you tried putting a wind-up alarm clock close to her bed?

Answer 4

Sounds like your doing a good job, when babies get sick it does distrub their routine and they do want mummy a lot more than they did before.

Do you have to take a second urine specimin once she has finished her course of antibiotics?  In my experience 7-10 days after a urine infection parents are asked to do a repeat sample.

Children who have UTI's under the age of five are required to take prophalatic antibiotics once daily after the infection has been treated then they go through a series of investigations to ensure that there is no damage and that everything is working correctly.  They usually look for signs that the bladder and kidneys are functioning well and also that the tubes going form each are working as they should be.  Unfortuanlty girls are more prone to UTI's than boys its the way we rae made and if her front and back passages are close to together than she may well be more prone to them.

In my experience there are three scans that they can do an ultrasound looking at the kidneys this is usually first but from what i remember due to her age they would do all three (only what I can remember Ive not worked for a yr), a DMSA scan which is when they inject a dye and look at the kidneys size shape and position, it also looks for scarring (this can appear with frequent episodes of UTI). THe third one is when they place a catherter in and fill the bladder and look at it under x'ray, to ensure the tubes are working effectively.  In my experience most of these tests if not all come back negative in the majority of patients I have dealt with.  None of these tests are painful, including the insertaion of needle for the dye as cold spray or cream is used to numb the area first. Don't mean to frighten you but I am sure you have been given this information.

As for how she is behaving now, it is normal fora baby's world to go a little wonky after and whislt they are ill, they can be put back in their routine agagin afterwards.  As long as she is drinking don't worry to much try to push with the fluids particularly as she has UTI.