Help! Urine sample from a toddler??

[Kes]

Help! My little girl is poorly and the GP wants a urine sample, she's 20 months, I've not even thought about potty training her and she's and very mobile. Any ideas how on earth I do this short of stripping her naked and chasing her with a paper cup?

K

[nicolemodesti]

Can you squeeze urine from nappy? Not sure just a stab in the dark here!!!!

[Ko]

cotton wool in nappy and then squeeze it out from the cotton wool? that's how they do it in the hospital for newborns. good luck

[Kes]

ah thanks Ko I'll try that, had thought about squeezing the nappy but don't think I'd get enough out and I guess the stuff that would come off the nappy might interfere with the multistick.

Thanks!

K

[madmum]

Oh dear this is a very tricky job i just had to hold a pot ready and I put babies hand in warm water(good old Uni trick) this then makes baby want to pee.

good luck

xxx

[Kes]

right nappy stuffed with cotton wool, poor girl's walking like John Wayne!

madmum - does that really work then? I'd always assumed it was an urban myth!

Thanks, again for the tips

K

[BellendenBear]

My surgery provide little bags which stick onto the skin over their bits and catch the wee. Cotton wool sounds like a good idea though.

[charlottep]

With my toddler I was told that it couldn't be taken from the nappy or anything else, it had to be a direct sample otherwise it would be contaminated and that would impact on the results. I did the running around with the sample thingy, which was a very painful exercise.

Good luck!

[ClareC]

We took nappy off and waited...... Ages!! Managed to get a sample eventually!! The bags come unstuck, we had no success....

[buggie]

Best chance of an uncontaminated sample is as ClareC describes.

Cotton wool in nappy is likely to be contaminated after contact around the anus, and similar happens with the urine bags (although as a last resort these are better than cotton wool so worth requesting from GP). Is also worth asking GP if they do the urine pots that come with a funnel as they make it slightly easier.

Know it is annoying as it does take time, ?if she's unwell will she sit on your lap and watch cebeebies or a favourite dvd = strip her off from the waist down and sit her on your lap (towel on your lap so you don't get soggy) and keep the pot between her legs (don't have it on the side as you won't have time to grab it when she starts weeing!).

Know it's difficult but is easier (and less stressful) to do it at home rather than in A&E!

[ClareC]

We used one of the pampers bed pads on the lap and swapped between her sitting with me and her dad, with the other at the ready with the sample pot (with funnel). We also gave her lots to drink for the duration - my partner was the lucky recipient when she eventually went - the pad was good but he still got splashed ;-)

Good luck, it really isnt the easiest of tasks and takes a lot of time and patience unfortunately, no easy solution.

[budur]

put her on the potty right after she woke up in the morning or after an afternoon nap, or after you came home from a walk or got out of the car, these are the usual times when they do a wee. if she doesn't do a pee right after waking up wait 5-10 min and try again. if you don't have a potty just sit on a chair and hold her over a big bowl. this is how i started putting mine on the loo/potty and it worked just fine. good luck.