UTI In 18 Month Old That Won't Respond to Antibiotics

Updated on June 02, 2009
S.C. asks from Katy, TX
17 answers

Hi ladies!

My 18 month old daughter has had a urinary tract infection for a couple of weeks. The doctor has prescribed multiple antibiotics which have been given to her exactly as directed and none have made the infection go away. Both her bladder and kidneys have been tested and both are functioning normally and show no indications of damage. Has anyone had any experience with a urinary tract infection that is not responding to antibiotics? If so, what finally worked? Any suggestions? Please help!

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So What Happened?

Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for all your help! After reading all the posts, we changed all my daughters pampers, soaps, etc to "sensitive" brand and pushed her to drink more water and cranberry juice. We also purchased the D-Mannose for her and have that ready in case she needs it. The doctor also gave her another course of antibiotics and an antibiotic shot. At last, the infection has cleared. Hooray! As a precaution, we took her to a urologist yesterday and the urologist indicated that her bladder is a little large for her age which may have contributed to the infection not going away. They gave us a medication to help keep her system clean and if the infection does not re-occur in the next two months, they will consider the problem solved. Thank you so much for all your help!

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L.C.

answers from McAllen on

Sounds like what it causing the UTI is still present. My daughter has had the same and despite repeated attempts to antibiotics, it persisted. What I finally discovered is that soaps, detergents, even baby wipies can cause UTI and even yeast infections in children. It is not that hte antibiotics are not working, rather that you are reinfecting her so to speak. Try unscented and sensitive wipies, the mildest soaps, and we found All Free and Clear to work better on her clothes than the baby detergents that are heavily perfumed. Some kiddos are very sensitive... its nothting that you are doing wrong... just do a little detective work and you'll most likely see a HUGe difference!

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J.T.

answers from Victoria on

May I suggest only giving her water and milk. No juice or soda. It seems to help me when I have had one.

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J.H.

answers from San Antonio on

I have had two uti and cured them both with a natural remedy that I bought on line. It was just a recipe for a day of liquids and garlic and alkaselter and all sorts of wierd things!! I am not suggesting this for your daughter but just that maybe search out natural things that might help that ar eage appropriate. Or if she has problems when she is older with it, it would definitly be something to look into so antibiotics are not used so often. Many girls with chronic problems raved about it and they were right! go nature. I wa amazed. good luck

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A.T.

answers from Houston on

Hi S.! I'm sorry your little one is having problems with UTIs. My daughter had her first UTI at 4 months and was diagnosed with a birth defect affecting her ureters which led to recurrent UTIs that required surgery to correct. It sounds like your doctor already looked for any physical reasons that could be leading to the UTIs...but an ultrasound was how we started, followed by a VCUG which looks for reflux. Your child can still have problems with reflux even if she had a normal VCUG, so you may want to repeat this test. First and foremost though, I would ask if her urine was cultured or did the doctor just say she had a UTI based on a quick urine test? A culture should tell the doctor exactly what antibiotics should help fight the bacteria found. Otherwise, they could be treating her with antibiotics that the bacteria are resistant to. Not sure if you are giving her baths, but we had to eliminate tub baths and switch to showers, or shallow water tub baths where my daughter stood and we just used the cup method to rinse her because bath water can make her more susceptible to infection. Hope this helps--there are a lot of resources online and many good pediatric urologists here in Houston so I hope they can help you get this resolved quickly! Best Wishes!

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D.S.

answers from Killeen on

Hello,

My 6 year old has repeated UTI's. She did not have them when she was young, but this school year they have been frequent. I finally spoke with a woman PA in depth about the infection. She determined that the usual dose of 5 to 7 days has not been long enough. She put her on a 10 day cycle of antibiotics. I am sorry I can't remember the name. One of the antibiotics she was on really tasted terrible. I had difficulty getting her to swallow it without gagging. The new one worked on 10 day dosing. We also send a 16 oz. water bottle to school with her. For some reason, she will not slow down long enough to drink fluids. She has been told to finish it during her school day. She complies. Also, when she has an infection we put her on Azo and use Wal-Mart brand Oatmeal bath pouches. The oatmeal bath gets up into the urethra just enough to reduce the swelling. That is what we were told and they seem to relieve the discomfort. I wish your little one the best.

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A.E.

answers from Austin on

My daughter has also had UTIs since she was 11 months old. A few of her UTIs have taken 2 - 3 rounds of antibotics to clear it up (ie, 3 rounds of 10 day antibotics - 30 days total). She has also been tested and her bladder & kidneys are functioning normally. One of the only signs for my daughter is that her BM is also backed up (not sure if it is related). Besides antibotics, we also give her Cranberry juice and CRAISINS (cranberries that are dried like raisins). This helps her BM issue as well as the UTI. Good luck finding the cause of your daughters problem. I've taken my daughter to the urologist, the gastrologist, and nephrologist with no success in determining the root cause of her problem.

A.

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C.B.

answers from Austin on

Cranberry juice will provide some relief for the pain she she urinates and it kills the bacteria that causes the UTI. I seem to get them as part of my PMS package every month, Hooray! THe cranberry juice has relieved that entirely. It is high in Vitamin C too. My kids and I drink Ocean Spray Cran-Apple or Cran-Grape, it is not as tart as the straight Cranberry. CB

K.N.

answers from Austin on

Just thinking out loud...

I just started my daughter (3yo) on some Cipro (5%) antibiotics for an UTI. Last night I read the medicine handout which says that I need to avoid giving her a multivitamin, or any product that contains calcium, iron, and/or magnesium (for 2 hours before dosage and 6 hours after--like all the time?!) because **it interferes with the antibiotics ability to work**. (I interpret that to mean it interferes with absorption in the intestines?)

Now, formula is all iron and multivitamin fortified... Baby food and cereals are also commonly fortified. Not sure if the handout is also recommending that my daughter avoid naturally high calcium/iron foods or if it just means man-made supplements...? (I guess I'll have to make another paranoid call to the pharmacy.)

It sounds like re-infection is a possible scenario in your situation. However, since your daughter's infection keeps reoccurring, you might want to investigate whether her diet is interfering with the medicine or her body's ability to absorb it.

Best of luck with it!

Post-Edit:

I found this, with seems to say that dairy foods are also guilty of interfering with absorption.
http://www.drug3k.com/drug/ciprofloxacin-Hcl-13768.htm
- Take Ciprofloxacin Hcl 2 hours before or 6 hours after taking any products containing magnesium, aluminum, or calcium. (Examples include quinapril, didanosine, vitamins/minerals, and antacids).
- Dairy products (e.g., milk, yogurt), calcium-enriched juice, sucralfate, bismuth subsalicylate, iron, and zinc are also included.

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A.N.

answers from Houston on

Make sure she drinks plenty of fluids and LOTS of water. Also, try giving her a shower instead of letting her sit in bath water. What I recently had to do was purchase a removable shower head so that my daughter can still sit in the bathtub, but we don't run water in there. Just use the shower head to wash her and get her out.. Of course bubble baths for little girls are a no-no.. Have you changed soaps or detergents or anything like that? I just recently went through a 2 month long ordeal with my daughter having these infections, she had 3 of them back to back! She will be 6 years old in a week and this was her first episode with them.. Good Luck to you and your princess.. =)

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S.C.

answers from College Station on

I have heard many cases like this and the only thing that has worked is cranberry juice or extract and lots of water.
Alot of the times those antibotics just make the body immuned and doctors just want to make money off it so that way you will keep coming back. I recommend the old fashion remedy mother nature.
If you get the extract you wont have to worry about sugar or artificial flavors she would only need 1 tsp twice a day and you can mix that in anything there is no strong taste and its in expensive you can find it in the homepatheic section of a grocery store or natural health store or I recommend www.herb-pharm.com there is a link for learning about the herbs and what they do.

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L.I.

answers from Austin on

I personally had a UTI that would not go away for a WHOLE YEAR! I lost count of the number of antibiotics I had taken. At the end of the year I had a 3 month course of antibiotics, still it did not go away.

Eventually I saw a naturopath and took a more holistic view of my health. I discovered I needed to change my diet. The infection was gone within a week and did not return. My diet included too much protein; protein and sugar both feed the bacteria.

Try a naturopath. To relieve her discomfort you can give her cranberry, but tablets not juice (unless you find a sugar free juice).

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E.S.

answers from Houston on

Well, I was going to tell you to have her kidneys and bladder tested but it seems like you are on top of this. Are they cathing her or is she going in a bag. My daughter has kidney problems and her specialist said to make sure and always cath her because other bacteria could be getting in there from her skin or other things. I would just keep in contact with her doc. He night end up referring her to a nepherologist (sp) That is where my daughter goes. Good luck.

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T.S.

answers from Houston on

I always treat my own UTI's with cranberry (juice or pills; juice might work better for a little one) and probiotic capsules. Whenever my kids are on antibiotics or have upset tummies I open the capsules and give them the contents of the probiotics. They love that because they are sweet! And it really helps. Also, make sure to give her lots of water. Antibiotics may just be making the situation worse.

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H.B.

answers from Corpus Christi on

Lots & lots of water. And I know this sounds weird, but take her to a chiropractor. Obviously a reputable one. I had chronic bladder infections my whole life, as well as fertility issues. After seeing my chiropractor for a month, I got pregnant. I know have a 16 month old & still have not had any bladder infections!!
Good luck & God Bless!
H. B

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S.J.

answers from Austin on

I've had alot of really bad UTI's and the only thing that worked for me was cranberry juice. Or cranberry pills. Sounds strange I know but it really helps. Good luck. Poor little thing they are so painful.

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L.L.

answers from Houston on

Hello:

As an adult I get bladder infections several times a year and got really tired of taking antibiotics because they end up causing yeast infections. I found a supplement that can be purchased in either capsule or powder form. It's called D-Mannose. Here's some info, but you use any search engine to get more details. If you're interested, I buy mine from iherb.com. Good luck!

D-mannose is a simple sugar. It is close to a glucose type sugar but not exactly like one. Unlike a glucose sugar this simple sugar moves through the urinary tract so slowly that the body (more closely Pancreas) does not recognize it as a sugar even though it is. Because of this it is sent to the bladder for evacuation. D-mannose is actually made within the body although in such small amounts that it passes through the body in urine. In larger concentrations it can help the body clean itself of bad bacteria that find their way into the system.

D-mannose works on the principle of strength in numbers and weight. The bad bacterium is sticky and sticks to the wall of the urinary tract. The d-mannose does the same thing except that it sticks to the bad bacterium, and is even stickier then the bad bacterium. As the d-mannose continues to stick to the bad bacterium it pulls it off the wall. From there everything is just carried away during voiding

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L.F.

answers from Houston on

Contact me. I can get you some helpful information!

www.yourhealthyalternatives.com

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