Urinary tract infection in children

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Urinary tract infection in children

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the second most common bacterial infection in children. Symptoms of a UTI depend on the child's age. Newborns and children younger than 2 who have a UTI often only have a fever or have symptoms that do not seem to be specific to the urinary tract . Symptoms may include:

Frequent or infrequent urination.
Strong or foul-smelling urine.
Urine that is dark or blood-streaked. Note: It is very common for newborns to pass some pink urine within the first 10 days of life. This is caused by crystals that appear in the urine of newborns. During the first 10 days of life, girls may have pink urine from a small amount of normal vaginal bleeding. Parents will notice a pink color to the urine in the diaper in both cases.
Lack of interest in food or refusing to eat.
Diarrhea or vomiting.
Fever.
Squirming and irritability.
Diaper rash that doesn't go away.

As the child gets older, symptoms of UTI usually are more clearly related to the urinary tract:

Fever
Burning with urination (dysuria)
Frequent need to urinate (frequency) without being able to pass much urine
A strong desire to urinate (urgency)
Strong or foul-smelling urine
Abdominal pain
Pain in the back, just below the rib cage, on one side of the body (flank pain)
Discharge from the vagina
Blood in the urine. Your child's urine may be red, brown, or pink. If no other urinary symptoms are present, a slight change in urine color could be caused by eating beets or other red foods.
Sudden, new daytime wetting after a child has been toilet trained

Call a health professional if your child has symptoms of a UTI. An untreated UTI can cause scarring of the urinary tract. Prompt treatment can prevent the development of serious complications.

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Author	Jan Nissl, RN, BS
Editor	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA
Associate Editor	Tracy Landauer
Primary Medical Reviewer	Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics
Specialist Medical Reviewer	Peter Anderson, MD, FRCS(C) - Pediatric Urology
Last Updated	April 30, 2007

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Last updated:	April 30, 2007
Author:	Jan Nissl, RN, BS
Reviewed By:	Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics, Peter Anderson, MD, FRCS(C) - Pediatric Urology
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Tracy Landauer

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