Your child will be prescribed antibiotics, medicines that kill bacteria. Early treatment can reduce the likelihood of your child becoming unwell and needing to be admitted to hospital.
Antibiotics are normally given by mouth, as liquid medicine, tablets or capsules.
Your child will normally need to take the medicine for a set number of days, depending on their symptoms when they first see the doctor. This is usually between three and 10 days.
Children who are treated for UTIs with antibiotics usually get better. In most children the UTI does not come back, and there are no long-term problems.
Medicines for Children | General information about antibiotics
Changing antibiotics
Your doctor will want to start the antibiotic treatment straight away. However, it may take a few days to get the results of the urine test, which will find out which bacteria are causing the infection. After getting the results of the urine culture, your doctor may want to give your child a different antibiotic if they think it will work better.
How long will it take for my child to get better?
Your child should start to feel better 1 or 2 days after starting treatment with antibiotics. They should continue taking the antibiotics until the course is completed, even if they feel better.
When they start to feel better, they can go to school or nursery. You cannot catch UTIs, so your child will not be infectious.
If your child does not start to get better after 1 or 2 days, contact your doctor for advice.
Other medicines
You can give your child paracetamol to help with the pain and reduce any fever – including when they are taking antibiotics. Make sure you follow the instructions given with the medicine.
If you know that your child has a problem with their kidneys, or if they have asthma, do not give ibuprofen unless your doctor has told you to.
Medicines for Children | Paracetamol for mild-to-moderate pain
Drinking fluids
Your child should drink plenty of water and other fluids such as juice. This will help make sure they do not become dehydrated (not enough water in the body).
Antibiotics to prevent future UTIs
Some children may benefit from a very small amount of antibiotic to be taken every night. This is called a prophylactic antibiotic – prophylactic means preventing. Taking a small dose of prophylactic antibiotic will help to prevent further infections.
Your doctor may prescribe this to your child if they have:
- recurrent UTIs
- structural problems of the urinary system –including vesicoureteric reflux (VUR)
- other problems weeing, such as not being able to empty the bladder
Contact your doctor if you think your child has a UTI while taking prophylactic antibiotic. Do not increase the dose of the antibiotic or give your child another antibiotic without advice from your doctor or pharmacist.
Where will my child be treated?
Most children with UTIs can be treated by their family doctor, or general practitioner (GP).
Referral to specialist services
Depending on the results of the tests or whether your child has recurrent UTIs (that keep coming back), your doctor may refer your child to a paediatrician, a children’s doctor, or a paediatric nephrologist, a doctor who treats children with kidney problems.
Hospital treatment
A few children need to go to the hospital for treatment. This is especially the case for:
- all babies under 3 months with a suspected UTI
- children with, or at risk of, a kidney infection (pyelonephritis).
Kidney infection
In a few children, the infection can travel to the kidneys (pyelonephritis). This may cause damage to the kidneys.
Kidney damage
A very small number of children with UTIs that are recurrent (keep coming back) or are caused by structural problems in the urinary system develop scars and long-term damage to the kidneys.
In serious cases, this can lead to:
- chronic kidney disease (CKD) – when the kidneys stop working as well as they should – this usually happens slowly, often over many years
- acute kidney injury (AKI) – when the kidneys stop working as well as they should over a short period of time
These children will need to go back to the hospital clinic for follow-up appointments and specialist care.
Follow up
Your child will need to go to follow up appointments if they have:
- recurrent UTIs
- structural problems in their urinary system, such as reflux or a bladder that does not empty properly
- abnormal results on the imaging tests – some children may need surgery to treat these problems.
At these appointments, your child may have:
- their height and weight checked
- a physical examination
- urine tests to check for blood, protein and other substances in the urine
- blood tests to check for the amount of protein and other substances in the blood, and measure the kidney function
- their blood pressure measured.
About the future
Children who are treated for UTIs with antibiotics usually get better. In most children the UTI does not keep coming back, and there is very little risk of long-term problems.
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