Guidelines on UTIs in children

The guideline provides advice on which symptoms to look out for in children of different ages, and it advises on how parents can help reduce the chance of their child developing a further episode of UTI. Clear recommendations on when to consider UTI, collecting urine samples and appropriate diagnosis procedures for UTI in children at different ages are given, along with effective treatments and the type of follow-up care that may be needed.

The guideline highlights signs that a child may have a UTI including general symptoms such as: fever, vomiting, tiredness and irritability, and specific signs such as: pain when passing urine, needing to pass urine more frequently, wetting, abdominal pain and unpleasant smelling urine. Infants and children presenting with unexplained fever of 38°C or higher should have a urine sample tested within 24 hours.

For example, infants younger than 3 months with suspected UTI should be referred immediately to a paediatric specialist, and treated with intravenous antibiotics in line with the NICE guideline on feverish illness in children.