HELP!!what is the alternative to catheter called?

[txgal]

I know somewhere there is the name of the bag that can be used instead of a catheter to get a sterile sample. I think my Ds may have a UTI and want to be prepared when we go to the doc. TIA

[Nathan1097]

Its called a UA bag, I believe. I've seen them in the ped's office.

[DocsNemesis]

Yep, its called a UA bag. Generally my office does the bag first, cultures it, if an infection seems to be present, they have you come back in and then cath them to get a sterile sample. My ped is very cautious with antibiotics, so she wants to know exactly what it is they are dealing with. My son has never been cathed but my youngest dd has had it done twice and while she did cry, I think it was mainly from being held down, since she was crying as soon as I lay her down and her crying didnt increase at all during the procedure. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped crying (both times it went like this). Definately do the UA bag first!!

[kldliam]

Cath'ing

I was cath'd as a child. It was quite horrible. Extremely painful and terrifying. In retrospect I felt like i was raped. I always urge parents to get a urine sample via baggie. I would never consent to having my child cath'd, but that is due to my personal expierence.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

The first time my dd was cathed to check for a UTI because of a very high white blood cell count with fever and no other symptoms it didnt seem to hurt her at all. Altho I know from experiance when it passes the little flap in there (dont know the name of it but it is what holds the urine in and releases it). It feels like a pinching sensation. The second time she had it done was during the VCUG to check for reflux. That time the one doing it hurt her. : I know this because as she was inserting the cathiter about a inch or 2 in she pushed harder you could see her make a effort. And my dd's cry's went from a "normal" cry to a "pain" cry. I think you all know what I mean by that. It left her with a very real fear of any Dr/Nurse looking under her diaper or even acting like they were going to. So I 100% think the bag is the way to go.

[txgal]

We are back from the doc. We still don't know what the problem is. We tried putting a bag on and he went in it, but not enough for a sample. So now we are home with a cup, hoping to collect a sample at some point. He isn't running a fever, and otherwise seems fine until he starts to pee and then it is obviously painful. His penis/foreskin are not red or irritated looking, but the doc thinks he may just have some kind of irritation. We recently switched to pull-ups so that could be it. Our doc doesn't like to give anitbiotics unless we know for sure that is going to help so hopefully I can get him to pee in a cup soon. Thanks for the help.

[orangebird]

As long as they don't need a culture a UA bag will do. (actually for a culture I think a suprapubic tap is preferable, but that's just me). Or even what we do to collect urine sometimes is put some cotton balls in the diaper by where they will pee, and as long as the diaper isn't contaminated with poo, put the soaked urine balls in a 10cc syringe, put the plunger back in and squeeze the urine into your specimin cup. Make sense? But it sounds like maybe they want a culture? Ouch. You really shouldn't have to retract the foreskin to put a cath in, just pull open the top and find the hole. When I say pull, I don't mean pull pull, just kinda move aside more like. I hope that made sense.

[txgal]

Thankfully it looks like we won't need a specimen after all. Good thing since I wasn't able to get one. He hasn't complained since we got home as long as he makes it to the potty. I think he may be trying to potty learn and was just getting really frustrated when he started to go in his diaper and screaming mad instead of hurt. The first time he said it hurt was when he woke up in the morning, Dh thinks he may have just had an erection that was uncomfortable and he needed to pee. I may have put the word hurt in his head by asking "Are you hurting?" Still keeping an eye on him, though. Thanks for the help.