> I am aware that an undiagnosed UTI in a newborn could be the cause of poor
> weight gain, however in order to make this diagnosis, is a urine specimen
> obtained from a pediatric urine collection bag sufficient ( clean
> technique, no stool present) or must you obtain a catheter
> specimen? I work
> a a lactation consultant at our local hospital here in Prince Edward
> Island, Canada.Thanks for any comments.

My experience as the mother of a child with frequent UTI's is that sometimes
a non-catheterized clean catch is enough to make a diagnosis, but sometimes
a catheterized specimen is necessary.  My daughter never gets a truly clean
catch and what seems to happen is the UA will come back positive and the
culture will grow mixed flora and her bug of choice, a stubborn E. coli.
There is enough of the E. coli to be sure even with the mixed flora.  If her
culture is questionable we will repeat it.  She has often had a negative UA
with a positive culture.  She is now almost 6 and has provided probably over
100 urine samples.

One time, her culture was growing something her urologist said was unusual
for a child her age (she was 4 at the time, I think) and I did opt for a
catheterized specimen at that time.  When she was a baby (this started
around 12-15 months of age) and was obviously symptomatic and was unable to
void, we did have her catheterized.  I tried to avoid it whenever possible
because it made it very difficult for her to urinate for hours afterward.

I would think (in my non-medical opinion) that you could try the bag first,
especially in a non-symptomatic child, and see what the culture grew.  You
could always do the cath later if the UA/culture results warranted it, but I
would really hesitate to do it as a first resort since I've seen how
difficult it is for my Abby to urinate after a cath.

She could say "no catheter" at 18 months old.  :-(

Kathy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathy Koch, BSEd, IBCLC
LLL Leader, AAPL
mailto:[log in to unmask]
"Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they
miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when
raking leaves. ~Marcelene Cox ~