I would be sure her nutrition was not only good but great....and to be sure, I would give her supplements of thost vitamines that build resistance to infection like C, A and E....and I would have her drink 4 oz of cranberry juice every day...not the "cocktail" but real 100% juice.
Poor baby! What kind of specialist did you take her to...I hope it was a urologist.
Linda C

Have her take cranberry tablets. Or drink a daily glass of cranberry juice. I have never had a UTI but my daughter has had a few. The cranberry tablets take care of the problem for her. That and lots of water.

Some data:

Here is a link that might be useful: Cranberry and UTIs

Make sure she is wiping completely and the correct way (front to back)...I think the doctors may be right, though, she may just be one of those girls. Good luck. I hope she grows out of it.

Have her evaluated by a urologist. My DD#1 (now 33 y/o) had an infection but was asymptomatic, no symptoms except for throwing up when it got bad. We found out when she was six. She apparently had infection for years and it killed one of her kidneys. She has partial function of the remaining kidney. The infection was caused by a defect of the ureters in her bladder, the same defect her father was born with.

BTDT....DD#1's symptom was a headache. She still gets them occasionally, but we've managed to stop the frequency

1. Drink the recommended amount of water every day (Don't remembe what it is for that age)..get a bottle and fill it daily, the more she flushes her system, the better to rid of bad bacteria.

2. NEVER use dryer sheets...ever (Not just on her underwear, but ever as the residue will stay in your dryer)

3. Cotton underwear only, no nylon panties.

4. Showers, not baths.

5. Non perfume soap for her. (I think nutregina makes it)

6. OJ is good as it's acidic, helps kill the bacteria.

The cran/whatever juices, and most juices she'll drink won't help as there is too much sugar in them. Counteracts the cranberry effect, but without the sugar it's too bitter for most kids.

I'm kinda surprised the Dr. hasn't put her on a low dose antibiotic for a couple of months to keep it gone, but then maybe they don't do that anymore (DD#1 is 24). If I think of more things we did I'll post.

NEVER EVER give bubble baths (Especially Mr. Bubble, it's the worse for some reason)

Vickey-MN

I'm not 100% sure, but a doctor friend told me that the sugar does NOT counter act the cranberry effect...it's just not as good as the unsweetened because of the calories/dental problems it can cause.

If you think she'd take a sweetened cranberry version, I'd ask you doctor about it. If she doesn't have a weight problem, diabetes, etc...it may be ok to go with a little of the sweetened stuff. Just be sure to try to get as close to 100% cran. juice as possible and that it's not 90% apple or grape juice or something else.

And, be sure to run the tablets or a significant amount of juice past her doctor first. Each person has their own specific set of health problems and anything that can help solve a medical problem can, theoretically, cause it's own set of problems for some individuals too (especially in children).

It was last year that she saw a pedatric urologist. She was put on a preventive antibiotic for about 3 months. I will switch soaps to a nonperfume. I will also try the cranberry juice. A friend told me not to give her cranberry pills. She said that they are not intended for children. Even if she is just one of those girls, i wish i could make this stop. She is such a trooper about it. I worry that she will smell so bad that one day someone starts to pick on her. I will also look into vitamins for her. Thanks for your help!

Most cranberry juices have almost no cranberry in it. Make sure you look for the 100% cranberry juice. It is usually sold unsweetened and you can usually tell that it's the right stuff because it's expensive (like $8 a bottle). It is usually very concentrated so I always dilute it and then add a small amount of sweetner. I am prone to UTI's also so drinking a glass of the cranberry a day is a huge help. And like somebody else said, make sure she is wiping correctly after using the bathroom. Tight pants are no-no also.

And I bet wearing the tights is a bad idea too. Synthetic fabric down there should be avoided as well as tight outer pants or tights themselves. At bedtime, no underpants under her nightgown or pjs. Air circulation is what you want.

I've also heard to use only white cotton panties as sometimes the dyes will cause problems.

As far as I know, they recommend white cotton panties because you can wash them at high temperatures (up to 203 degrees F) to sanitize them. The color itself shouldn't cause problems.
Staying hydrated, drinking cranberry juice and keeping your bladder and kidneys warm (don't wear belly free shirts and don't sit on cold floors, walls, etc.) also helps.
I keep my fingers crossed that you can keep her from getting too many more infections.

My DD (now 22) was prone to UTIs as a child. Finally I insisted on seeing a speciallist and after various scans they determined there was a small defect in the way a tube draining from the kidneys to the bladder was formed and it tended to "backflush", causing the UTIs and potentially damaging the kidney. Most girls who have this will grow out of it at puberty as the tube lengthens and so my DD had to take a low dose antibiotic daily for a couple of years until they could see if she would outgrow it.
As it turned out she didn't so she had a couple of minor (same day) operations to correct it and while she still gets the occasional UTI it's only VERY occasional.
She had weird symptoms when she had her UTIs- headache, nausea and backache but none of the "standard" symptoms.

ok....prob not what anyone wants to hear....but if I can share something here....my DD went through the same thing at age 4...several UTI's within 2 months time...so we went through lots of tests to find nothing wrong. The next summer after we found out that her 13 year old step-brother had been touching her inappropriately, and now of course we wonder if the two events were related. Very likely because they occured while he was staying with us during the summer. She has never had another one and he doesn't come visit us anymore. Just something to think about....don't be upset with me for sharing....not saying that anything similar is possible in your case.