Causes of Painful Urination in Children

Does your child experience pain or burning sensation during pee? Here we discuss some of the common painful urination causes. When a child experiences any of these symptoms, it could indicate a urinary tract infection (UTI) or an injury in the genital areas or stones, which are small masses of minerals in the urinary tract.  Urinary tract comprises of bladder, kidneys, urethra and ureters.

UTI’s are one of the most common painful urination causes. Research shows that by the time children are 5 years of age, about 8% of girls and about 1-2% of boys have had at least one UTI. A child with infection experiences the pain because bacteria grow in bladder and irritates the bladder walls. Urinary tract infections are more common in girls because girls have shorter urethra, which makes it easy for bacteria to travel to the bladder. Skin irritation around vagina or urethra is also one of the common painful urination causes in girls.

You may also notice your child urinating more frequently than usual to placate the pain. However, in most cases the child will pass only small amount of urine as the bladder may not have collected a large amount of urine, since your child last urinated.

Symptoms of UTIs differ according to age. Babies or very young children may not show symptoms that are specific to urinary tract.  Fever without cough or running nose, vomiting, and diarrhea could signal a urinary tract infection. As children grow older, the symptoms change and are most reflected in painful urination.

What you should do?

• Call your doctor and share the details. In case of a very small child or baby, you might want to mention irritability or a diaper rash that doesn’t get better or goes way
• Follow the treatment plan rigidly
• Ensure good water and other fluid in-take such as cranberry juice
• Discuss your child’s progress with the doctor in few days

How you can prevent it?

• UTIs can result in the frequent need to urinate, even if the bladder is not full, and they can cause bedwetting in young children.
• Buy a bedwetting alarm that help stop nighttime bedwetting in children.
• Change soiled diapers and clothing at regular intervals
• Get waterproof mattress pads to prevent your costly mattress from dirty stain spots.
• Keep genital area clean by washing with mild soap and water
• Inculcate the habit of taking bathroom breaks
• In case of girls teach wiping front to back