[JosieWales]

Anyone have experience? My friends immediately said, "It's bc he's not circumcised!" which I totally roll my eyes at.

Owen's sitter said he cried both times when he urinated this morning and said it hurt, while holding his lower abdomen.

If your son had one or got tested for one, did they use a catheter to get a sterile urine sample? Is this H-E-double-hockey-sticks on earth, as I think it will be, if they do it?

[Devora]

We have twice had urinary problems with our (uncircumcised) son. It had nothing to do with his not being circumcised. Similar to your son, our son reported pain when he urinated -- and so he tried not to urinate which led to many accidents. He also had some of the other symptoms of a UTI like waking up at night to urinate (when he normally doesn't), urinating just a little and then stopping it, etc.

His current pediatrician said (for what it may be worth) that it's very rare that a boy gets a UTI and does not run a fever. (Girls sometimes have UTIs with no fever.) He did a urine sample just in case, but it came back negative.

The most likely cause (according to our son's pediatrician) is simply that something chafed or irritated his penis. It might be a diaper/pull-up rubbing or being wet for too long. It could be an irritating soap (particularly bubble bath or a change in body or laundry soap). The first time we had a major issue with this we are 99% sure it's because we left him too wet for too long. We were in the midst of moving, living out of a hotel, etc. and there were a couple of times when we didn't change him as quickly as normal. The most recent time (a few weeks ago) we aren't sure what it was, although I suspect that it's chafing from his night time pull-ups. He'd been starting to stay dry more nights and pull-ups aren't as soft as underwear. Unfortunately, we're in an odd stage where we don't think he's ready to stay dry all night most nights so we don't want to switch to underwear yet -- but he's dry enough that the pull-up is probably chafing.

His advice: put a little bit of vaseline on the end of his penis to keep it from chafing. Check to make sure there isn't anything (like lint or dried soap) under the foreskin -- but do not forcibly retract it. Forcible retraction can cause pain and blockages. Think back to changes in clothing, diapers or soap and if something changed go back to what you used before.

How old is Owen? If you want a sample tested just in case, if you can catch urine then there's no need for a catheter. Sometimes even with babies you can get lucky and catch a bit over the toilet. There is a contraption you can tape to them to catch it in a diaper, but I hear it can be tricky to keep in place. Good timing and a quick catch is probably the easiest way.

[joepegcamp]

Josie,

My son didn't have an UTI, but his penis was infected. The doc said it happens all the time, even in un-circumcised boys. (Apparently, this problem isn't as common when they start having erections--like at the age of three. Who knew?)

My son reacted the same as yours. His little penis was red and he cried when he urinated. Two days of antibiotics later, he was happy again.

My doc also told me that had we not caught it in time, it could have led to an UTI.

I let him run around without a diaper on for a couple of minutes each day just to air things out. (That can get dicey, you know.)

Hope this helps.

[JosieWales]

Thanks to both. His penis was a little red on the end Tuesday, but sometimes it is and it's just temporary, some minor irritation--I thought this looked a little worse but was just keeping an eye on it.

Devora--he doesn't complain about his penis hurting, he holds his abdomen--which is what makes me thinks it's UTI, and possibly upper UTI (yikes).

[mevertin]

When my oldest was 5 I noticed he was going to the bathroom every 10 minutes. I thought he was just reacting to starting kindergarten and possibly holding it all day at school. He didn't complain of pain, but kept saying he "had to go."After about 3 days of snapping his jeans every 10 minutes I took him to the dr. They did a urine sample and it was negative. The dr. examined him and found some lint/fuzz in the tip of the penis. He used a tweezers to remove it, put on some bacitracin and he was fine. Hope Owen feels better soon.
Mary
mom to Bobby 11, Bridget 10, Angela 8, Eddie 4 (home from Guatemala in 2005) and Naldo 20 months (home since Feb. 08)

[JosieWales]

Update--he does not have a UTI, but just an irritated spot at the end of his penis. We're using triple abx cream on it, no big deal. That doesn't explain him saying his belly hurts, but we're keeping an eye on that.

He DOES, however, have an ear infection! Sheesh!

[JosieWales]

Originally Posted by joepegcamp

My son reacted the same as yours. His little penis was red and he cried when he urinated. Two days of antibiotics later, he was happy again.

Just topical abx?

[joepegcamp]

Nope, it was oral. Twice a day for 10 days. Forgot the name, but it was a common antibiotic. It had a bubble gum flavor that he loved. Asked for it all the time

The doc didn't do any tests on him. Looked at him and said, "yep, it's an infection." We were in and out of there in about 15 minutes.

[mayaprincess]

I am glad that he does not have a UTI!
My friend has a CIRCUMCISED 4 year old who has had several UTI's sisnce he was about a year old.

[guatparents2be]

so glad it's not a uti.

and ok i have to inquire joepegcamp...erections at 3? my kid has had them every night since he came home at 7 months. now he has them, well, whenever he can get his little hands down there.

3?

[triciabn]

Don't you love ignorance?! I mean if that is the case then I ought to call my aunt... she had a bladder infection last week... I will tell her to boil some scissors and cut off all offending parts... . heck while we are at that thread of thought... lets guage out everyones eyes... they get infected... lungs... I mean if we are going to hack off willy nilly everything that *can* get infected... there won't be much of us left.
I would up his probiotics... but truth be told ... I think if you have his pee tested the next best thing is to get the antibiotics.... and I hate and avoid them at all cost because of the terrible side effects.... GUH! but it can be combatted by giving him tons of probiotics aftwards.
I am sorry.
If you have hope that it isn't too bad... I would go over to a mothering (.com) website and check in with the forums there to see if anyone has any ideas...and lol...no one there is going to say its because he is intact.
Tricia

[DDAmasa]

But it is a medical fact that uncircumcised boys had UTIs at 10-15 times the frequency of uncircumicized boys. They are uncommon in circumcised boys and quite common in uncircumcised boys. I know of several parents, some right on this board, who chose to have their sons circumcised after repeated UTIs. I'm not saying someone should circumcise their son for this reason, but it's not ignorance to point out the factual connection between UTIs and not being circumcised.

[triciabn]

no offense but for the first 6months my daughter was home (she is 5yrs old) her middle toe and it's teeny tiny toenail kept getting infected.... that was near 6 times..Lord knows how many times that happened in Guate.. as she came here that way....
Never crossed my mind to clip her middle toe off...never once.... I just tended to it ....
and now...(home 9months)...she hasn't had it happen in a while.
My best friends daughter got persistant diaper area infections for her first 15months...she tried everything... cloth diapers, different diapers, EC... topicals...soaks.. you name it...I can call and ask but I am pretty sure she never thought to cut any of those persnickety parts off.
I have a hispanic friend of mine who got her baby's ears pierced... and they got infected... or at least one of them did.. but she plugged away and getting them healed up...she was determined to have those little gems in her lobes, lol...and knowing full well she really doesn't *need* earlobes..she never thought to cut those off...
So not to step on your toes...I mean no offense to you directly..but just to say: the arguement of "well it got infected so we clipped it off" really doesn't seem too sound to me.
Tricia

[mayaprincess]

You know, the facts here in the U.S. contradict themselves on this subject.

In Latin America, boys are usually NOT circumcised because doctors do NOT see the medical necesity for it. None of the now men in my family are circumcised and none of them have ever had a UTI. The key is to keep them clean, especially under the foreskin.

I chose to NOT circumcise Cristian, as it is my job to keep him clean. It is a very personal decision!