Therefore, it is recommended that the baby urine bag be used only for collecting urine samples general urine tests (however, doctors are increasingly advising parents not to use urine bags for babies at all).
Urine culture
How to collect urine from an infant for culture, what should you pay attention to? In such a situation, we must collect urine a sterile urine container purchased at a pharmacy.
In infants and small children, this method of collecting a urine sample is not easy, but only correctly collected urine will allow obtaining reliable laboratory test results, which are often the basis for initiating treatment in the child, e.g. administering antibiotics.
What to do before collecting urine from an infant?
- Hygiene and accessories:
Before collecting urine from a child, the parent should thoroughly wash and disinfect their hands and prepare all the necessary accessories, including: octenidine liquid, disposable towels, sterile urine container or baby urine bag.
- Washing your baby:
If we want to collect urine correctly from a 1,5-year-old child or infant, the area around the urethral opening should be thoroughly washed before collecting the sample. For this purpose, we use warm water, and it is recommended to use a disposable paper towel to dry the skin.
When washing and wiping your child, remember to perform all movements from front to back, which will prevent the transfer of bacteria from the anus to the urethra.
- We disinfect the urethral area:
After drying the child's skin, we spray the area around the urethral opening with a disinfectant with octenidine - in boys we gently (not forcefully!) pull back the foreskin, in girls we spread the labia. Now your baby is ready for a urine sample to be collected.
Urine collection in an infant into a special bag: how stick a urine bag on a girl, and what about the boy?
If we collect urine for a general examination, we can use a special urine bag for babies. Just in case, it is best to buy 2-3 sterile urine bags at the pharmacy, remembering that we buy others for a girl and a boy. When gluing the bag, remember not to touch its interior or the adhesive with your fingers.
How to glue a urine bag: for a girl and for a boy?
In an infant, after thoroughly washing, drying and disinfecting the perineal skin, we stick the bag around the labia majora so that the urethral opening is exactly in the opening of the bag.
Now that we know how to glue a urine bag to a girl, it's time for instructions for boys. Stick the bag to the skin so that the child's penis should be inside the bag.
After attaching the bag, we can put a diaper on the baby, regularly checking when it is filled with urine. We gently peel off the bag without touching the adhesive, wrap it up and seal the mouth of the bag, placing it in the urine container described above.
If we want to collect urine from an infant for a general examination, we do not pour the urine from the bag into a container because this increases the risk of sample contamination.
How to collect urine into a sterile container in an infant, and how in a 1,5-year-old child?
We give the baby something to drink or put it to the breast. Babies usually start urinating about 20-30 minutes after eating. Some parents recommend turning on the tap or finding a recording of the sound of the stream on the Internet, which sometimes encourages the toddler to "pee". You can also use your fingertips to massage the baby's belly and lumbar area alternately.
How to collect urine from a 1,5-year-old child?
Alternatives sometimes include placing an undressed toddler on a cold floor for a moment, e.g. on the tiles in the bathroom. Chill often causes children reflex urination.
If we want to collect urine from an active 1,5-year-old child or infant, it is worth involving two people. You should thoroughly wash, dry and disinfect your hands, as well as the child's crotch area, and leave the child undressed from the waist down. In the bathroom, e.g. in the shower or bathtub, we place a chair on which the adult sits, holding the child with his back to him and supporting the child's slightly spread legs with both hands. Another person entertains the toddler and always has a closed, sterile container for urine at hand.
