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Not me, I hasten to add, but my four year old son.

Over the last few months, he's been complaining (or, rather, screaming) that it stings to wee. Now, the first time it happened it WAS a UTI and he had a terrible fever and backpain, he was given antibiotics, had a kidney scan etc and it cleared up.

He's had this pain three or four times since - every time I take him to the GP he is given antibiotics on the 'offchance' that it is a bacterial UTI. EVERY bloody time I've phoned for the results (take 3 days, so he's already halfway through the course) they have been negative, meaning that he's had antibiotics for no good reason. Poor lamb, between his old chap and his dodgy ears has had more ABs in his life than I've had in mine, and I've got 33 years on him.

The kidney and bladder scans came back fine, so no congential issues such as blockages. However, GP did notice that my son's foreskin is quite tight - we have been instructed to show him how to 'play' with it....(as if 4 year old boys need any encouragement) but if it's still tight in 6 months he'll be in for the 'job'. Apart from the stingy wee, he has no fever and is fine in himself; the wee is not cloudy or smelly and he doesn't need to wee more often that normal.

I'm thinking it might be a yeast infection, which can be exacerbated by this tight foreskin - called Balanitus. Of course, antibiotics themselves can lead to yeast infections. We're being scrupulous about hygiene, not using harsh soaps or bubble baths, putting salt in the bath water and cutting down on the amount of yeast products he has. We've tried tipping diluted cranberry juice down him, and plenty of water, but it takes an age - he obviously associates drinking with needing a (painful) wee.

Any other suggestions? Are there any teas, lotions or potions I can try? Even over-the-counter stuff (I've been reading up on Canesten HC cream as a last resort) that are safe for the most sensitive parts of a 4 year old boy?

As you can see, I'm very wary of going back to the GP......(even though he's gorgeous )

Many thanks xx

Olive leaf extract may help - you can make it with a slow cooker but it is very bitter so a proprietary encapsulated one may be better for him. It is normally sold as an antiviral, but is strongly implicated as an antifungal and a host of other things

Eating cauliflower can relieve burning urine

Awwww, bless him, poor little boy, I am so sorry for him. does it look sore? sudocreme?

In addition to reducing yeast products I would also reduce sugar (including fruit sugars) for a few weeks and increase his intake of natural yoghurt (to eat). I had problems with candida in my bowel and went on a major diet but I doubt that would be appropriate for a wee one. Maybe introduce the probiotic drinks? But I think natural yoghurt is probably as good! Barley water can help neutralise his wee a bit if it's maybe acidity that's causing the problem.
If anything else pops into my head I'll post again.

Wow, thank you everyone for your suggestions. Fifi, I've rather stupidly been reducing the 'obvious' sugars, but didn't think about fruit - which he does eat an awful lot of; so I'll take steps to reduce the amount he's eating.
I had a look at the probiotic drinks yesterday - they seem to contain an awful lot of sugar, so I left them there and bought some live organic yoghurt instead, I'm hoping that will help.

I'm going to try all these tips, they're brilliant - thank you so much.

Helsbells, this sounds awful but I don't know if it looks sore - I don't know what it's supposed to look like, but OH says yes, it does look a little bit sore. Now to find the Sudocrem.....I know I've got some somewhere!

My mum reckons putting bicarbinate of soda in the bath relieves cystitis so that might be worth a try?? I hope you find something that helps him soon, that sounds really sore.

thyme tea is great for urinine infections - natural anti - viral etc etc ... do google though as i dont know about using it on children only myself and it works well.

live yoghurt for yeast infections etc is all i can suggest

Jane always made lemon barley to flush the system out, hope everything gets better

Awww, thank you so much for all your help. Russ, I don't suppose you have a recipe for lemon barley water, do you? I know you can buy the Robinsons stuff, but it seems to have so much sugar / other crap in it....

We've done the yoghurt, the bicarb in the bath, washing his bits with salted water and drying it thoroughly after each wee; cut down on the yeast AND the sugars, including fruit, and he says it still stings, but not as badly...he's not screeching anymore, just sort of grumbling. Having real trouble getting him to drink,though - he drunk 2 glasses of water over the whole day today, which isn't good. Wondering whether the VERY diluted sugar-free squash in plentiful amounts, though more acidic and full of s^ite, would be more beneficial for flushing out than just two glasses of water.

It's been a week now, still no sign of a fever or any pain in the back, side or lower abdomen, still no smell or cloudiness in his urine; I'm pretty sure it's nothing sinister (i.e. some awful bacterial UTI that could wreck his insides - last time it was an UTI he got a terrible fever within 24 hours and was really suffering, and the test later showed positive for e Coli, which terrified me until the GP pointed out the proximity of backside and willy!); but I do feel a bit awful for not taking him to the doctor. At what point do you take that leap of faith that you can treat them the 'old fashioned' way and not resort to the higher knowledge of the doctors?

All good advice above but one other thing to consider - cut out citrus fruits (apart from a little lemon juice in the barley water). Orange juice particularly can be quite irritating to the bladder because it is so acidic.

Barley water is really simple - just boil some pot barley (or pearl barley if you can't get the whole grain) in lots of water. Strain, add juice of a lemon and honey to taste. Let it go cold otherwise it's not that nice (well I don't like it ) and you've got dinner half made as well - you can chuck the cooked barley in a stew or if you cooked enough use it as a grain instead of rice.

Oh and cranberry juice is good for bladder problems too - don't know if that's already been mentioned

Thanks Maggie same as Janes

You're all legends, thank you so much!

Cranberry is awesome for reducing acidity. Amazingly wonderful.

Everyone's already said lower sugars and such. The other thing -- when I was a child, I had a similar issue (only for girly anatomy). Firstly, he may be scratching that area in his sleep. I never itched during the day, but at night... well, apparently it will itch at night and not in the day in some cases, because the skin is taught, which causes an unconscious scratching reaction. And of course, it would hurt the next day (I remember having similar weeing issues). So make sure he's not doing that. Sudocreme should work for that (or Aqueous Creme, in a pinch, believe it or not or so said the GP at the time). Apply two to three times a day. Also, not wearing underwear in bed seemed to help (the cloth was the main irritation during the scratching). Mind, I was in oversized t-shirts/nighties so that there was no cloth on the bottom half at all. That was half the solution until I grew out of it, in all seriousness. That and sudocreme!

Good luck!

I do think he might be scratching in his sleep, yes. I've stopped him wearing pants to bed, and am letting him run about with nothing on downstairs whenever possible but it's hard at the moment because it's so cold in our house (honest to God, our kitchen is actually, officially, colder than our fridge!) but whenever he can, he does. And it does seem to be making a difference - he is no longer yelling, and is telling me that it isn't as bad as it was, yay!

Cranberry juice we tried first of all, but it's not the most palatable stuff for a 4 year old, is it? Even watered down! I know you can get the blends with blackberry and stuff but, again, it's piled full of sugar which I'm sure probably defeats the object. Just tipping loads of water down him at the moment, reducing his fruit sugars and yeast and using bicarb in the bath, and washing and drying his wee fella after the loo and slathering on the Sudocrem.....fingers crossed, eh? Obviously if he takes a downturn I'll get help for him straight away (knowing him, he'll develop a massive fever on Christmas night and we'll be off to A&E), but I'd have thought, given past experience, that IF it was going to get bad it would have done so by now. I can't help thinking that his wee body has never been given the chance to fight off things by itself, he just gets dosed up with antibiotics at every given opportunity whether he needs them or not (he has problems with ear infections too, and his eardrum bursts, so we need to act fast whenever there is a chance of that happening as he already has quite a degree of scarring, but he's often had them when I don't think he needs them) and surely that isn't good? I thought the fashion for handing ABs out like sweets was over?