UTI

I swear my poor child! Kye rarely gets sick and he’s never had the common kid things like ear infections…yet he’s had unexplainable rashes, random huge bug bites, and now a UTI. Yes, a urinary tract infection in a 2 year old boy.

Kye has been fully potty trained for quite some time now and since Brittlynn was born he’s excelled even more with the potty (most kids regress, not Kye!). He now goes completely on his own. He’ll pull down his pants, go on his little potty (and hold down his junk so he doesn’t spray it everywhere), then pull up his pants, dump the little potty in the toilet, flush it, and put the potty back. Pretty dang impressive. It’s made my life easier because when I’m nursing and he has to go potty he can just go and doesn’t have to hold it until I’m done. All I have to do it make sure I leave the bathroom light on throughout the day for him!

While Kye hasn’t had potty issues, he hasn’t been without his own ways of acting out since he’s had to welcome a new sibling into the world. The issues we’ve been having are with sleep. He started finding excuses not to go to bed and would cry out once he was in bed with different things he “needed” such as: fix my blanket, pick up my Smyrna (his bear), etc. We worked hard to get that stuff under control and would punish him for yelling and screaming (He will NOT get out of his bed thank the Lord! He just yells to us). Then it happened where he had to go potty but didn’t want to yell out since we told him he couldn’t and he had an accident. After that we told him the only time to yell is when you  have to go potty.

So, naturally, Kye started to “have” to go potty allllll the time. He’d cry out “I need to go potty!” and one of us would rush in there to tell him he was allowed to get out of bed and go. We both felt like he was just saying he had to go potty as an excuse to get out of bed, however, each time he went he would actually go potty. There was always tee-tee in the potty and often times poop too! You can’t really punish a kid for saying he has to go to the bathroom then literally going to the bathroom!

The past few days he’s started to go potty more and more and more. Like we’d tuck him in to bed and he’d go 5 more times before actually going to sleep. Yesterday Mom brought him home from school and said he was acting sleepy yet he’d had a great nights sleep the night before. She felt his head and said he was hot. Then he refused to eat any lunch. I took his temperature before nap and is was 100 degrees. I immediately assumed, as I always do, that it was teething. The kid will be three in less than two months yet STILL doesn’t have all his molars. He’s been cranky lately and very whiney. That combined with low appetite and fever usually means he’s getting some teeth. I gave him motrin and put him down for his nap.

When he woke up he had broken his fever and was acting fine. He did his roomtime then we watched a movie while I nursed Brittlynn. During the movie he went to the potty like six or more times. I realized then that something was up. It’s one thing to want to go potty when you are supposed to be asleep or when you want attention, but why would he use that excuse when he was watching a movie and was watching it with me? It didn’t make sense and right away I thought he might have a UTI.

I looked it up and found out that only 2% of boys ever get a UTI. It’s not common at all for young boys and if left untreated it can cause major kidney issues. His symptoms were all listed as symptoms of a UTI. We asked him if it hurt to go potty and he said no but we decided to continue to watch him. Last night after we tucked him in for bed he went to the potty over five more times. Since Wednesday is a CRAZY busy day for us both, we decided to take him to the doctor this morning.

I, of course, assumed I’d be taking him but the more Zach and I talked the more it made sense for him to take him and I would stay home with Brittlynn. It was the first time I haven’t been with Kye at the dr and I was so upset not to be there with him! I know the more children we have, the more of those type things I’ll have to let go of so I have to deal with it but it still made me sad and I was worried sick the whole time they were gone. On top of just wishing I could be there with him, I was nervous for how Zach would handle the situation. Zach is an AWESOME daddy but he’s also a man. And men tend to want their boys to be tough and rough and don’t tend to cuddle them too much. I read that Kye might have to have a CATHETER put in and I started crying thinking of Kye being upset and Zach doing the typical guy thing and patting him on the shoulder or something and saying “be tough” to him. I called Zach and cried to him a little and expressed my concerns and asked him to be overly nice to Kye for me.

Thankfully I got a text soon saying they didn’t have to do a catheter! It was so sweet of Zach to text me right away and let me know that! Kye went potty in a cup for them to test it. They were at Winnersville Walk-In and saw my favorite person (who has asked not to be named haha) and he said that it does look like a UTI but since they are so rare among boys that it could become serious very easily. It typically means there is another issue (what kind of issue? no clue!) and that is easily leads to something else. He also said Kye had an elevated heart rate, glossy eyes and his throat didn’t look so great either. I’m not really sure if he thinks Kye is sick too or just sick or what? (Let’s not forget, Daddy took him so I don’t know all the info) He prescribed amoxicillin but said if he’s not better in three days that we need to go back up there.I’m not overly concerned because while Kye has the symptoms of a UTI he doesn’t have all of them and I’m pretty sure we caught it early. It doesn’t hurt him to go potty, his tee-tee isn’t cloudy looking, it doesn’t have a strange smell (Zach checked for me!), and he hasn’t complained of any pain in his stomach or back.

He’s not going to school tomorrow and we’re taking it easy around here today, but honestly he’s acting fine. He was excited to get to go to the dr (he LOVES the fish tank there) and I let him have a movie day but he has barely sat still to watch one. When he’s sick, the kid won’t move from the tv so I really don’t think he’s sick, I think it’s just the UTI. I’m not really sure what caused him to have this, and the dr didn’t tell Zach what it could have been caused by. You’d think it’d be from being dirty or something? But he gets a bath every night, we wipe him very well after poops, he changes underwear daily, plus it’s winter so he isn’t even getting sweaty! The only thing I read that makes sense to have caused it is that toddlers will sometimes be in such a hurry to go play that they don’t fully empty their bladders. Since we’ve been letting Kye go potty on his own maybe he’s not making sure to get it all out? That older tee-tee can cause issues and can create the urinary tract infection.

He slept solid for his nap and woke up when he had an accident. But I figure getting the tee-tee out is a good thing right? Would the more he go help him to get better? I’ve never had a UTI myself so I know nothing about them! I’m loading him up on water to hopefully flush it all out! While I’m not too concerned that this will get worse, since it is such a rare thing could you please say a quick prayer for him? Hopefully within the three days time he’ll be 100% back to normal and this will just be another strange thing to add to his list! If you have any tips at helping to get this thing gone and to prevent it from happening to him again (Is it like a yeast infection where if you get them you’re more prone to get them again???) I’d appreciate it!

8 Comments

  1. Keenerfamily
    January 24, 2012 / 9:23 pm

    I've never had one nor my kids, I've read that cranberry juice helps. I bet it has everything to do with him rushing and not e,prying his bladder and nothing to do with cleaniness. Hugs.

  2. Keenerfamily
    January 24, 2012 / 9:24 pm

    I couldn't post this before, but there are 3 year molars too. I found out there seven a set of molars that come in around age 10.

  3. Andrea McCormick
    January 24, 2012 / 9:39 pm

    Do you use bubble bath?Ive read that tends to be a major issue with infants and toddlers, mostly girls tho..

  4. Chelley
    January 24, 2012 / 9:47 pm

    About 8 years ago, I got a UTI and it was MISERABLE! I feel so bad for Kye, because they are painful. I had never had one before that, but after my first one I started getting them 3 to 4 times a year. Of course, the doc would prescribe me an antibiotic and tell me to drink ONLY water for 2 weeks. They would clear right up, but then I'd get another in 3 or so months. Because they were so painful – and because I personally HATE putting antibiotics in my body – I did a ton of research on natural ways to prevent them. I found that drinking cranberry juice regularly, or even taking a cranberry supplement (you can buy it in pill and capsule form) can help prevent UTIs. I think cranberry juice is pretty nasty, but cran-grape works as well and tastes much better. So, about 4 years ago, I started taking a daily cranberry supplement (I prefer the capsule form), and if I even felt AT ALL like I had a UTI coming on, I would start drinking cran-grape juice (I would have to be somewhat careful with this because too much fruit juice gives me diarrhea).  I had one UTI not long after I began taking supplements, and it cleared up in like a day with an antibiotic and cran-grape juice. I have not had one since then, and I am sure it's because I take a cranberry supplement every day. I would ask Kye's pediatrician if it would appropriate for him to drink/take cranberry because like I said above, UTIs are so painful. Breaks my heart for him :-(.

  5. ks201183
    January 24, 2012 / 10:31 pm

    yeah, I would definitely start him on cranberry juice- but make sure that it says cranberry JUICE and not JUICE COCKTAIL… most of them that you find are cocktails, which have a lot of added sugars and that is no bueno. My daughter suffered with them for a while when she was little, and like someone mentioned, I believe they were partially due to bubble baths.

  6. MeganRay
    January 25, 2012 / 1:57 am

    Poor kid! I too, have had a UTI and those are no fun. Good for you for being aware that everything wasn't as it should be with him. So many times parents ignore the little symptoms and things do get worse.

  7. Alex
    January 27, 2012 / 1:07 pm

    Hey there I'm a nurse and we often got patients with UTIs… Cranberry can help to prevent an UTI and it helps during healing process. In general fruit juices or fruit teas help because the fruit acid makes it difficult for bacteria to increase… So you can also give other fruit juices or fruit teas… Cranberry builds a protection against bacteria so they cannot clinch to the epithelial layer of the urethra… That helps especially to prevent a second UTI… The most important thing is to drink enough water/tea – to ensure the kidneys' function. If he develops pain, hot-water-bottles may release the pain and helps to go to the toilet… Hope that may help a bit (my English is horrible)… Hope that your boy will get well soon 🙂

  8. Alex
    January 27, 2012 / 1:10 pm

    Cranberry juice or compote is great 🙂 But you can drink any other fruit juice – it just has to be acid… That can support the healing process but if it's a real bacterial caused UTI the only way to really get rid of them, antibiotics is the only secured way that they are gone…

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