Bad Wipe

Hi K.,

Oh the woes of potty training! First of all, congrats on the poo on the potty. That's a good step. Secondly, it might be a good idea to invest in flushable wet wipes. You can get them at the grocery store and teach her how to judge when she's all clean.

While fecal matter in the vagina is not good news, it cannot cause a kindey infection. Bacteria has to enter the urethra first. This is a very small passage and close to the bladder. If a child develops a bladder infection, she'll have a fever and she'll feel the need to pee often. She might not pee even though she has the urge and when she does, it will hurt. The bacteria has to travel past the bladder into the kindney in order for a kindey infection to develop. By this time she would likely have a high fever and general malaise. Her back might hurt and it will hurt to pee. Kidney infections are nothing to mess around with. If you suspect this or a bladder infection give her some serious liquids to drink so that she can flush the tract often. Take her to the doctor quickly. She will need antibiotics at that point.

The urinary tract is a sterile environment and it keeps itself so by flushing itself out ever few hours. Make sure she is drinking a LOT of liquids and peeing often. That's the best defense against a Urinary Tract Infection. Also, teach her to wipe from front to back (hard with a child's short reach, but necessary) not back to front.
About the left-over fecal matter, it might be a good idea to wash her in the shower after a poop. I know she might resist, but it is better to force that on her than to pay hundreds of dollars in medical bills if a bladder/ kidney infection does come up.

Generally it is E. Coli bacteria that is found in the feces that causes these infections. The terrible thing is that this bacteria can double its population every twenty minutes so frequent urination and copious amounts of liquids are necessary to combat it.

I think, though, that teaching her to wipe from front to back, giving her plenty of liquids and imposing the shower -after-you-poo rule is a sufficient to keep her healthy. Also, consider showering instead of bathing. Swimming around in E.Coli isn't sanitary. In addition to not being something we want in our urinary tracts, it is also something we do not want to get in a cut or enter our blood stream or entering the mouth. It is fine in the recutm, but no where else.

Good luck with the potty training and congrats on the potty pooing!

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If you are worried, call your pediatrician and ask. They would prefer you be a little paranoid than too embarrassed to call them.

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I think it's pretty reasonable to assume she has a urinary tract infection. I would go to the pedi just to be sure.

Definitely teach her the importance of wiping front to back. That is one of the best ways to keep that from happening.

Good luck!

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Hi K.,
What a little independent little miss lol
well, your pedi is correct- little girls are very vulnerable to such infections- One of my girls had the same issue- and here is what you should look for- some puffyness around the eyes, and some puffyness in the fingers......excessive thirst- and frequent little trips to the bathroom. If she should get one of these infections the treatment is not pleasant- so here is what I did with my little girl-(she is now 51) I simply told her in a way that she really believed me- that if she did notlet mommy be really sure she was clean that she could get really sick and not play outside. (playing outside was key to her) so, after she had "bathed herself) she would let mommy check just to be sure she would not get sick.........
good luck and blessings

Same as my daughter!!

She has UTI last week and needs to be on antibotic for 10 days. Have her get urine sample and send to the lab. They'll tell you on phone or in person and give her medicine right away.. Cranberry juice and squirt bottle of water while urine is help!! We have to teach our daughters how to wipe in right ways. It's not easy how to help her how to wipe with poops!

If she has back or tummy pain, that'll be her kidney instead of UTI.

Bless her and hope she gets well soon!!

My Dr. tells us to apply a light amount of Lamisil (not extra strength) when our daughters complain of itching vagina due to bubble baths etc. Works well.

Yes, Lamisil for athletes feet.

If she develops an infection, it will begin as a UTI (a urinary tract infection) most likely. if this is left untreated, it can develop into a kidney infection. Usually the beginning signs to a UTI are an odor to the urine when she urinates as well as pain during urination or frequent feeling like she needs to go, but then can't.
I suggest talking with her about what happened (ie: the fecal matter from inexperienced wiping) and letting her know the possibility of an infection and ask her to let you know if any of those symptoms occur. in addition to her independence, she also sounds very bright. it is amazing how much these kids do understand.

L.
A 54 yr old mom of two grown kids. Married 32 yrs.

With my granddaughter, I found flushable wipes at Wal-Mart that I have in each bathroom. I told her that these were for her back bottom to keep it clean. She loves using the moist towelette, because it is much easier to clean up her bottom. I also told her that they can be used on her front bottom if it needed it, too. She does not over use them, she lets me know when she needs some more, and reminds me to take some with us when we go on trips.
She loves being able to take care of her business all by herself.
She also will tell me when her urine is yellow and that she needs to drink more water. I also remind her that she also needs to use the bathroom frequently and not hold it for a long time.

Try squirting/rinsing her with a vinegar rinse. Vinegar and water. That will help as well. Or have her take a long bath with vinegar in the bathwater.

I'd say that over reacting is not what you are doing but I put my foot down with my son and he has to let someone wipe him after he poops and I use flushable wet wipes on him. I do not like to see him running around scratching his crack so he has to let me wipe... maybe just future advice you can take or leave

My daughter used to be very prone to bladder infections. With her she would start running a high fever, and vomiting. I on the other hand used to get UTI's and with that came frequent urges to use the bathroom with little or nothing coming out. When there was something it would be painful. If your daughter has a bad rash though, it will likely burn anyway when it hits that sensitive area.

Not sure if you have them or not, but after the rash is gone you could teach her to wipe front to back with the flushable toilet wipes. Huggies makes some good ones, and so does Charmin and Kleenex. The cheaper brands will work, however they are not as soft as the others.

Prayers for you that she is better soon!

Hi K.,
You have received good advice all ready. I just wanted to share with you what I use to do with my daughter (now 7).
I would wash her body including her private parts first. After washing her whole body then I would let her sit and wash her hair. In her 7 yrs my daughter has never had a urinary tract infection. Just wanted to share this with you and hopefully it will help you with her baths.

Regarding your daughter I would have her urine tested. You want to make sure she is okay. Having a urinary tract infection is no fun. I have had several and they are painful.

I have had TONS of kidney infections, If she complains of back pain, I would take her in.

Hi K. - back in the old days we used Arm & Hammer Baking Soda in a shallow clear bath and the results were almost immediate. There is something soothing about this and it eliminates any issues with taking medicine, if you prefer to be homeopathic in using remedies.

My daughter was quick to let me know if she had any "irritation" there and would welcome a quick warm bath w/baking soda because it helped so much so quickly.

This is not the only solution to all of your questions, but it is a quick fix to help while you determine how serious the episode is and you can call your doc.

good luck and i'm happy she's moving forward on her own too...

now is the time to start explaining to her how to wipe from front to back and every time so her tee tee won't hurt. and don't worry about the infections. yes, they can happen the symptoms are when 1. she sais it hurts to pee.(encourage her to drink more) 2. she goes to the bathroom frequently like every 5 minutes. 3. she starts having more accidents (because she has to pee and can't hold it.)

a kidney infection is when she starts to complain of low back pain(encourage her to drink more)with all three symptoms above. of course take her to the doctor. they will ask you to help her pee in a cup and they will do a urine dip and culture, and antibiotics.

Hi K.,
I guess your best option is to explain to your daughter to wipe from front to back, and support her in her quest to take care of herself. Just remind her of the incident you explained as a result of not wiping front to back.
Another option is to invest in a bidet, a type of toilet apparatus that squirts clean water up there as part of the flushing process. I think this is European. We had one in our rental house in South America, and I always felt so clean !
My daughter got a kidney infection when she was 5, and I never connected it with this, but I'll bet it was the same scenario. Her doctor just said she had to take showers only from then. We had no more problems !
Take care and enjoy your daughter as they grow up fast. My daugher just had a daughter at age 25! Good luck to you!

Grandmama K.

I didn't get a chance to read all the responses so forgive me if I am repeating anything. You may want to give her some watered down cranberry juice or even apple juice, that should help flush out her system and keep the PH balance in her bladder to prevent any UTI or bladder infections (which are more common than kidney infections).

You may also want to get some moist wipes, they make them specifically for use on the potty. They are not baby wipes, you don't want her to feel like a baby lol. She can use these when she needs extra cleansing and I believe they are flushable, you should be able to find them near the diapers or toilet paper. This may help to prevent future issues.

Just keep an eye on her. If she complains that it burns when she urinates you may want to bring her in to see her pediatrician, otherwise she will probably be fine!

just a side note she should be wiping front to back. or even blotting the front and wiping the back away from her front. Hope she gets better soon. Great going mom I know other moms that still wiped there 5 yr old!!!

Make it a priority to give her a short bath each night (and I'd use a minimal amount of soap or none at all some of the time so that you're not inflaming the private area with detergents...use safe soap, not J&J stuff). IME, peds don't correctly test for UTIs and most of the girls diagnosed with them do NOT have them. You can do the research on this, plus several peds told me this. When you do urine tests at the peds office in the future you need to make sure that they tell you the proper way to do it (and even then you have to take it with a grain of salt due to likelihood of contamination). The general protocol is to give you the cup for your child to pee in (with no wipes or detailed instruction/steps), collect the cup and put a pee stick in it, and if it's not exactly a particular result then tell the patient the kid's got a UTI and prescribe antibiotics. End of story. This happened to us probably six times, and then we moved to another state and had a detailed hospital-based dye-injected test run on her because I was seriously fearing that she had an infection. (My SIL has kidney problems because of untreated uti and she never knew it, plus her mother never took her to the doctor ever growing up--the girl didn't know anything was wrong, no hurting. It was found severely damaged while in her twenties. So I felt obligated to put my daughter through the test because that wasn't as bad as having permanent damage from a lifetime of uti's.) But my daughter was perfectly healthy, and that's when my ped figured out that all the times she had been diagn. with infections needing antibiotics, the specimens were probably contaminated due to improper collecting procedures on my part (it's not rocket science, but I was a first-time mom and didn't know everything about it and got no help from the office staff in the past!) So peds will err on the side of prescribing an antibiotic usually, instead of doing another pee stick test. But I'm not suggesting that a pee stick test is worthless if it's done right. But the accuracy of a dye test is unsurpassed, although it shouldn't be used unless the child has a history kind of like what we went through. I think the fecal matter you found at the opening of the vagina isn't going to do anything unless it happens multiple times and doesn't get rinsed off AND it gets pushed UP into the urinary tract (which is very unlikely if you're giving her a rinse/bath each night for those "just in case" days). Best wishes. You're a great mom!

Hi K.,

You've already gotten some good advice here but I would definitely suggest the moist flushable wipes. My son is 5 and for a long time (up until recently actually) he just couldn't reach all the way to wipe himself properly so I had to help him. His arms just wouldn't stretch far enough--it's not that he wasn't capable. Even if your daughter wants to do it herself (and can't reach that well) at least the moist wipes will help clean her a bit better. We didn't have the UTI factored in with my son, but just a lot of dirty laundry. :-)

Also, my neice (8 yrs. old) woke up screaming one night recently when we were visiting complaining that her private parts were itching and burning. She could not be soothed--apparently she had been scratching her vaginal area in her sleep until it was nearly raw. I felt so bad for her! My BIL and my MIL were so puzzled and ready to take her to the ER (BIL is divorced so her mom was not there). I looked at it and it turns out it was just really irritated. She had taken a bath with some really perfumy soap my MIL had and that had caused the irritation. So, bathing your daughter in a soapy/bubbly bath will probably irritate it more--just FYI! That may be why she complained more. In this case, just a warm washcloth/water should be good to clean the area.

I would wait a day or two to see if your daughter improves and if not, definitely bring her to the doctor. Bring her favorite drink on the way since they will want a sample when you get there. My friend dealt with UTI's last year with her daughter (4 at the time) but hers was caused partly from dehydration. I think some kids are just more prone to it than others.

Good luck!

I will be happy to share my limited knowledge:

My daughter has sensitive skin and sometimes get a little red,the pediatrician recommended:
taking short baths
baking soda in the tub (5 table spoon)
no soap for a couple of days as it can exacerbate the problem.

I hope this helps
A.

One of the signs is that it will "hurt" when she has to pee or she may feel like she has to go pee alot and then doesn't.

One of the things we started doing with our daughter when she reached this stage was supplying Kazoo wipes for her poops. You can teach her about toilet paper - but you might also want to incorporate these and tell her her bottom isn't clean until these are not dirty.

I would also suggest you overseeing the process - but not participating (I understand about the independence issues) for a while. You can sit on the tub or a stool and be there to assist either with words or actions until she has it down.

If there is any question in your mind, take her to the dr. Little girls and also get yeast infections and vaginitis. Water is probably the best, most gentle thing to clean her with, so don't beat yourself up about that. Just take her in.

Also, giver cranberry juice to drink. Straight, not watered down, not in a "coctail". It can help prevent bladder infection.

Hi K.,

I don't think you are over reacting at all. It is very scary when you hear things like "kidney infection" and "high fever". The nurse is right, girls are vulnerable to infections in that area. It is ussually a urinary tract infection and with children so young, if they get a UTI they will have to follow up with testing the kidney. My daughter was about 13 months when she got a UTI (urinary tract infection/Kidney infection. The UTI was treated and the results from the kidney test showed no infection in her kidney. They take caution with the kidney b/c the UTI can cause the urine to go in the kidney, therefor causing a kidney infection. But not always does it happen that way, like in my daughter's case. I would not worry too much, just be sure to clean her very well and don't let her sit in soapy water and keep that area dry.

I hope I was able to help you a bit!

First off DON't Keep wiping and wiping and wiping. I finally learned this after the 3rd Stafh infection my 2 year old got in her Vaginal area. Her pedi. said that I was wiping her to much practically. In otherwords my baby was too clean. When I wiped so much it was causing little breaks in the skin and they got infected. THe best thing is a nice warm bath with soap bubbles and then a GOOD GOOD rinse off. There is also this brown looking diaper rash cream that is made at Kings Pharmacy in Port Arthur texas that works wonders. I used it after every diaper change no matter if it was just wet or dirty. I know all about this. BELIEVE me. She is now 4 and still hates for me to clean her in that area, so I tell her if she lets me clean her down there she can wash her own toes or belly or legs or arms. I make it a game where I clean a area and then she does. Also using a baby qtip where the tip part is bigger is a good way to clean it all out. get the qtip wet though it seems to clean better. Good luck.

Hi K.,
My 3 year old was complaining her vagina would hurt and I would take a look and sure enough she was very red, this went on for a month or so and finally I had enough, I was feeling uncomfortable of her constantly getting irritated. I took her to the ped. and they took some urine, which I thought would be impossible but after the second try my daughter peed in the cup and they sent it off for testing and at the office she noticed white cells but couldn't tell me exactly but three days later sure enough she had a urinary tract infection. She was given liquid meds which was not very tasty but with some kool-aid or rootbeer we got her to take it with no fuss (gotta do what you have too:)) anyway, take her in and get her checked, my daughter had no other signs just the redness. Her ped. recommended that she not take any bubble baths or wear wet clothing such as swimsuits for prolonged wearing. She is done with the meds and is alot better. Hope this helps!!

Blessings!