If you’ve had recurrent UTIs or urinary tract infections, you know how painful and what a nuisance it can be. You know the scenario – take antibiotics for a week, the symptoms improve, but then a couple of weeks later the symptoms occur again and you have to see the medical provider again!
Typically if the infections have not been occurring with a fever, then following some tips can help to prevent them from reoccurring.
- Drink lots of water. Drinking at least ½ of your body weight in ounces. So if your child is 80 lbs, then at least 40 oz water per day is recommended. Flavoring it with frozen fruit or drops can help them stay interested in water. Getting a water bottle is clear where you can see the progress (Best kid’s water bottles) can be helpful.
- Do not hold your pee! Peeing on a schedule every 2 hours with reminders to pee before you have the urge is important. Often, if we are holding or waiting until the last minute to pee, our bladder doesn’t do a great job emptying, which leads to more problems with infections.
- Double pee. Sometimes, our bladder doesn’t do a good job with emptying. We might not even feel like there is still urine in the bladder after peeing. But, oftentimes there is still some urine left after voiding. Waiting on the toilet after you finish peeing to see if there is more than can be emptied is not easy to do. Counting to 20 after or even leaving the toilet and coming back soon after can help with the success of double peeing.
- Relax while you pee. Don’t push or strain. Again, to ensure proper emptying of the bladder the pelvic floor muscles have to be relaxed to allow the bladder to fully empty. Taking some deep breaths and closing the eyes while on the toilet can help with the relaxation. For smaller kids, making sure their position on the toilet with feet and body supported with a foot stool and seat insert can help a lot. Using bubbles, pinwheel or pretending fingers are birthday candles and blowing out can help them figure out how to take deep breaths to facilitate relaxation.
- Keep the poops soft. (It’s not always the bladder’s fault. Blame the poop!) constipation is one of the biggest contributing factors to recurrence of UTIs in kids. Making sure their poops are soft daily with really good volumes so they are emptying the rectum allows the bladder to work well.
- Cranberries can be helpful for UTIs. But you would have to eat a lot of cranberries or juice to really help. D-mannose is a sugar that comes from the cranberry that can help prevent E.Coli bacteria from causing UTIs. It comes in different forms – pills, capsules and powders. Ideally taking it daily – at least 1000 mg in kids, and 2000 mg in adults can help prevent the UTIs.
- Wiping correctly – mostly this is for girls. Proper hygiene and wiping is important. Wiping front-to-back with toilet paper, never using the toilet paper more than once, and wiping until it is clean is the key. Using a bidet or sitz bottle to help with cleaning after a bowel movement can make it easier to clean the poop from the genitals.
However, if the UTIs are also associated with a fever, back pain, vomiting or nausea, then your child should be further evaluated by your medical provider. Additionally, if your child is a boy or if they had a UTI before the age of 1 year, they will need further work up by your medical provider.