Friederike in Persia Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Dd8 just got her first bladder infection and I don't have easy access to antibiotics. Is there anything else I can do apart from having her drink as much as she possibly can? This might be a stupid question, but are they infectious? I've just had one, did I pass it on to her? Thanks a lot for any advice! Friederike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Dd8 just got her first bladder infection and I don't have easy access to antibiotics. Is there anything else I can do apart from having her drink as much as she possibly can?This might be a stupid question, but are they infectious? I've just had one, did I pass it on to her? Thanks a lot for any advice! Friederike Increase the acidity of her urine via berries, citrus, etc, cranberries or unsweetened cranberry juice (mix with water -- it's strong!) if you can get it to change the lining of the bladder, drink lots, no sugar, and eating plain yogurt can't hurt. Cotton underwear. Remind her to wipe front to back, then drop the tissue. Take especial care, though, because if the infection moves up into the kidneys, that's a bad, bad thing. Permanent kidney damage can result and can be life-threatening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 There was a recent thread about this. See if you can search the boards for it. Have her take an alka seltzer. If you don't have that, mix some baking soda in water and have her drink it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 (edited) There was a recent thread about this. See if you can search the boards for it. Have her take an alka seltzer. If you don't have that, mix some baking soda in water and have her drink it. I probably wouldn't give aspirin (which is a main ingredient in Alka-Seltzer) to a child, though. Reye's syndrome is a pretty horrible side effect that I wouldn't risk. Edited March 5, 2009 by Pam "SFSOM" in TN Forgot to add why I mentioned aspirin in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friederike in Persia Posted March 5, 2009 Author Share Posted March 5, 2009 This is the dd, who doesn't like drinking at all and when she has to, she always chooses plain tap water (no tempting her with juice or anything of the sort). But it's hurting enough right now for her to drink and I'll try and get the soda and some of the juice down her, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 This is the dd, who doesn't like drinking at all and when she has to, she always chooses plain tap water (no tempting her with juice or anything of the sort). But it's hurting enough right now for her to drink and I'll try and get the soda and some of the juice down her, too. Friederike, I don't like to contradict the previous poster, but I really would not give her baking soda. It will make the urine alkaline and pretty much give the bacteria a nice petri dish environment. It will stop the burning, but only because the body has naturally raised her acid levels to try to kill the invaders and the urine isn't feeling all that good coming out. I just wouldn't. But YMMV. ETA: And I meant to say in my previous post, Alka-Seltzer is mostly aspirin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy in Indy Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 If you can get antibiotics for her, I'd really do that. Just this morning I woke up with a bladder infection...again. Not fun at all. But really, after the **first** dose of antibiotics, some of the problem abates. Lots of water to flush the infection out of her system. Cranberry juice is always recommended (but I can't stand the stuff so I take cranberry tablets instead). I hope your dd feels better soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 If you can get antibiotics for her, I'd really do that. Just this morning I woke up with a bladder infection...again. Not fun at all. But really, after the **first** dose of antibiotics, some of the problem abates. Lots of water to flush the infection out of her system. Cranberry juice is always recommended (but I can't stand the stuff so I take cranberry tablets instead). I hope your dd feels better soon. I really would, too. I'd go to considerable inconvenience to do so, in fact. I'd do the acidic stuff and liquids and yogurts in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Friederike, I don't like to contradict the previous poster, but I really would not give her baking soda. It will make the urine alkaline and pretty much give the bacteria a nice petri dish environment. It will stop the burning, but only because the body has naturally raised her acid levels to try to kill the invaders and the urine isn't feeling all that good coming out. I just wouldn't. But YMMV. ETA: And I meant to say in my previous post, Alka-Seltzer is mostly aspirin. I was going to say the same thing. It really matters what is causing the discomfort. If it is actually bacteria then Pam is right, baking soda is bad. It will conteract any acid that you are giving her to fight the bacteria. Now if the discomfort is being caused by anything other than bacteria (IC for instance) then baking soda is just the ticket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Quote: Originally Posted by Pam "SFSOM" in TN Friederike, I don't like to contradict the previous poster, but I really would not give her baking soda. It will make the urine alkaline and pretty much give the bacteria a nice petri dish environment. It will stop the burning, but only because the body has naturally raised her acid levels to try to kill the invaders and the urine isn't feeling all that good coming out. I just wouldn't. But YMMV. ETA: And I meant to say in my previous post, Alka-Seltzer is mostly aspirin. I was going to say the same thing. It really matters what is causing the discomfort. If it is actually bacteria then Pam is right, baking soda is bad. It will conteract any acid that you are giving her to fight the bacteria. Now if the discomfort is being caused by anything other than bacteria (IC for instance) then baking soda is just the ticket. Friederike...I don't mean to hijack your thread! Pam and Kids...help me understand this! I know I should, but perhaps I'm sleep deprived. (The head nurse at a pediatric unit gave me this advice when I had the beginnings of (what I thought then) was a UTI. So I took the alka seltzer and poof! All symptoms immediately disappeared. The only other thing I did was drink mass quantities of water.) So...what we *want* to do is drink acidic juice, but baking soda makes the urine alkaline while raising the body's acid level? Is this right? Explain this like I'm 5, ok? I just can't get it.:confused: Kids...what is IC? Is it intersticial cystitis? Could I have had that instead of a true UTI? A friend has IC and it's not a fleeting problem for her, though. Although the alka seltzer worked wonders for me, I sure don't want to be passing dangerous information, ya know? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Quote:Originally Posted by Pam "SFSOM" in TN Friederike, I don't like to contradict the previous poster, but I really would not give her baking soda. It will make the urine alkaline and pretty much give the bacteria a nice petri dish environment. It will stop the burning, but only because the body has naturally raised her acid levels to try to kill the invaders and the urine isn't feeling all that good coming out. I just wouldn't. But YMMV. ETA: And I meant to say in my previous post, Alka-Seltzer is mostly aspirin. I was going to say the same thing. It really matters what is causing the discomfort. If it is actually bacteria then Pam is right, baking soda is bad. It will conteract any acid that you are giving her to fight the bacteria. Now if the discomfort is being caused by anything other than bacteria (IC for instance) then baking soda is just the ticket. Friederike...I don't mean to hijack your thread! Pam and Kids...help me understand this! I know I should, but perhaps I'm sleep deprived. (The head nurse at a pediatric unit gave me this advice when I had the beginnings of (what I thought then) was a UTI. So I took the alka seltzer and poof! All symptoms immediately disappeared. The only other thing I did was drink mass quantities of water.) So...what we *want* to do is drink acidic juice, but baking soda makes the urine alkaline while raising the body's acid level? Is this right? Explain this like I'm 5, ok? I just can't get it.:confused: Kids...what is IC? Is it intersticial cystitis? Could I have had that instead of a true UTI? A friend has IC and it's not a fleeting problem for her, though. Although the alka seltzer worked wonders for me, I sure don't want to be passing dangerous information, ya know? Thanks! No, the body raises the urine's acidity (drops the pH) slightly to try to kill off the bacteria. The baking soda lowers the acidity (raises the pH). You want to avoid that. And any baking soda you ingest will just compete with whatever you've put in to try to make your urine even MORE acidic like berries, cranberries, etc. (And cranberries actually seem to make the lining of the bladder inhospitable to the bacteria so that it can't adhere and thus gets flushed out, so they have a secondary mechanism at work there.) The main thing the Alka-Seltzer did for you was to reduce pain and inflammation. You do feel better, and that was a good thing to do for comfort. It would have been just as beneficial to you to take straight aspirin, though. It didn't actually do anything to the bacteria. The water no doubt helped you flush your system out good, so that was a great thing to do, antibiotics or not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Quote: Pam and Kids...help me understand this! I know I should, but perhaps I'm sleep deprived. (The head nurse at a pediatric unit gave me this advice when I had the beginnings of (what I thought then) was a UTI. So I took the alka seltzer and poof! All symptoms immediately disappeared. The only other thing I did was drink mass quantities of water.) So...what we *want* to do is drink acidic juice, but baking soda makes the urine alkaline while raising the body's acid level? Is this right? Explain this like I'm 5, ok? I just can't get it.:confused: Kids...what is IC? Is it intersticial cystitis? Could I have had that instead of a true UTI? A friend has IC and it's not a fleeting problem for her, though. Thanks! I think that Pam explained the first part well so I'll just skip it unless you need more info. Yes, IC is intersticial cystitis. It's not a fleeting problem and I have never heard of a person having only a single episode. I have heard of people getting acidic urine for other reasons (not exactly sure what these might be) in which case the baking soda would work for them as well. Generally speaking though, most people have a bacterial infection so they need to increase the acidity of their urine as Pam explained. I also occassionaly get a bacterial infection so I never know what it is that I need to do to resolve the problem until I get a culture. If it's bacteria I need an anti-biotic and if it is an IC flare up then baking soda will help. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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