Why does a child have cloudy urine and how to treat it?

Cloudy urine may occur periodically in childhood. Some parents begin to look for the cause of such changes in the body. They are afraid of possible pathologies of the kidneys and bladder. If they are not treated on time, health problems will remain for life. But in most cases, after consulting a pediatrician, concerns disappear. Turbidity and urine sediment are not always pathological.

Why does my 2 year old have cloudy urine?

Before the age of 2-3 years, cloudiness in the urine is considered normal in most cases, since in the first years of life physiological changes occur in the child’s body that affect the color and quality of urine. But this sign may indicate certain disorders and diseases:

With the development of inflammatory processes in the body, a loss of salts is observed, which settle in the urine, which is why it becomes cloudy.
In infectious diseases, pathogens negatively affect the functioning of internal organs, including the organs of the genitourinary system. The result is an increase in the level of red and white blood cells in the blood, which also makes the urine cloudy.
If the urine is cloudy, and urination is accompanied by cutting pain that appears in the lower abdomen, this may be a sign of appendicitis.
If the urine is not only cloudy, but also has a sweetish odor, this is a clear sign of diabetes.
Usually, cloudiness in the urine is temporary, but if the color and appearance of the urine does not change for several days, we can talk about inflammatory processes in the kidneys, bladder or ducts (urethritis or cystitis). Such diseases can occur both as a result of infection and hypothermia.
Often, the urinary fluid may become cloudy after a child has been treated with antibiotics.
In such cases, a large amount of salts falls out, and the kidneys cannot cope with the task of cleansing the body of them, so some of these deposits do not dissolve, but are simply excreted from the body along with urine. But the reason may also be that the kidneys themselves are unstable and cannot cope with even minimal amounts of salts. In such cases, additional kidney treatment is required, after which the color and consistency of the urine should return to normal.

Read our article about why urine smells like ammonia.

The appearance of cloudy urine in children of different ages

Cloudy urine in a 2-year-old child is a fairly common phenomenon, which can be caused by the presence of a large amount of salts in the body.
As a rule, at this age, children most often eat various vegetable purees, just vegetables and fruits, and also drink fairly concentrated juices.

Cloudy urine or a white sediment in a child's urine may indicate the presence of an infection, which causes an increase in the white blood cell count. In this case, consulting a specialist and prescribing appropriate treatment is simply necessary.

Most often, at the age of 3 years, the child already eats with everyone else at the common table. The diet already contains adult food, despite the fact that the child’s body is still quite fragile, which means a metabolic disorder occurs. Urine may become cloudy or have sediment. As a result of complications, stones may appear in the kidneys or bladder.

At the age of 5 years, it is important to ensure that the child receives a sufficient amount of necessary fluid, preferably clean water. It is worth significantly limiting the presence of junk food and processed foods in the diet, paying attention to the temperature, the behavior of the child himself, as well as how often urination occurs.

The most alarming sign of the disease is loss of appetite.

Cloudy urine in an infant

In infants, cloudiness of the urinary fluid is mainly due to the high content of salts in it, and most often this is not a symptom of some disease, but a sign that the diet is not in order.

In addition, in newborns such a violation of the composition and color of the liquid is not a pathology : this is a normal process, since the increased content of ammonium urate crystals and urates is explained by tissue development processes.

In the case of infants, a change in the color of urine can be an alarming signal, since if the cause is an increased content of leukocytes, we can talk about diseases of the urinary system and kidneys.

In most cases, if such diseases are diagnosed in a timely manner, they can be easily treated with antibiotics.

Despite the fact that most of these drugs are not used to treat newborns, there are mild antibiotics that have minimal harmful effects on the child's body.

The problem is that many types of pathogenic microorganisms develop resistance to such drugs or show it initially, so at the end of the course of treatment it is necessary to re-take a urine test and, if necessary, repeat the treatment according to the same regimen or change the antibiotic.

What do white flakes in urine mean?

After being born into the world, the baby’s body begins to adapt to life outside the mother’s womb, its internal organs learn to function correctly. Therefore, urine with flakes may be normal at first. This may also be caused by an excessive amount of protein food entering the body. Since the child is not able to wash himself well before collecting the analysis, epithelium from the surface of the skin may get into the urine analysis. Therefore, parents should monitor the test collection process and thoroughly wash the child themselves.

However, if parents detect an unnatural color, odor or impurities in their child’s urine, it is necessary to contact the clinic in order to avoid the development of diseases that are more difficult to cure in a child than in an adult due to the vulnerability of the child’s body. In a healthy child, urine has a transparent or yellowish color, does not have a strong odor and is completely homogeneous, since all organic and inorganic impurities in it have completely dissolved. If there is any pathology, the following substances may be found in excrement:

Presence of sediment and flakes

In the morning, a child's urine may become cloudy for several reasons:

increased physical activity the day before;
change in body temperature;
drinking disorders (excessive or insufficient fluid intake);
hypothermia;
injuries to the lower abdomen.

But the urinary fluid may not only be cloudy, but also contain clearly noticeable sediments.

Such sedimentary discharge can be of three types, and in each case the precipitation indicates certain problems :

Organic sediments in the urine indicate severe diseases of the genitourinary system, and the sediments themselves are, in this case, epithelial cells.
Crystalline sediments are a sign of a high concentration of salts in the urine, which can indicate both age-related changes and the presence of kidney stones. Only an examination can find out what exactly caused this change in urinary fluid.
The most problematic type of sediment is flocculent , and sometimes purulent discharge may be observed in the urine, and the liquid itself may have an unpleasant odor. In such cases, the child may feel sharp pain during urination.

This is a clear sign of inflammatory processes that can be caused by infectious pathogens or develop during the progression of sexually transmitted diseases (which is extremely rare in children).

If sediment is observed in the cloudy urine of very young children (up to two years old), this does not always indicate pathologies or serious disorders.

Most likely, such changes in urinary fluid occur against the background of changes in diet and this phenomenon will pass over time.

But if there is any doubt that this is the case, you need to show the baby to the pediatrician.

Causes of sediment in urine

Normally, the urine of a healthy person is yellow, the shade of which varies from pale straw to intense yellow. It is transparent, without sediment, impurities, pus, blood, mucus, and does not smell of anything sharp or unpleasant. If a precipitate forms in it, this indicates the presence of various pathologies. However, under certain conditions, the urine becomes cloudy and sediment appears in it even in a healthy person.

The following reasons contribute to this:

Contact with oxygen.

The transparency of urine is due to the complete dissolution of all its components. Slight cloudiness is due to long-term storage of urine, and over time, a precipitate of salts will form in it. If you collect urine in a container and leave it for a while, it becomes cloudy due to precipitated salts. In fresh urine, the salts are completely dissolved and cannot be seen. When urine comes into contact with oxygen or at low temperatures, it precipitates. Therefore, urine for analysis is collected in the morning, immediately before delivery.

Biological features.

In newborn children, sediment is constantly present in the urine in the first days of life, but over time it will quickly become transparent. If this happens occasionally and then your urine becomes clear again, there is nothing to worry about. Urine with sediment appears in the first morning portion, since during the night the baby’s fluid balance is disturbed, which naturally affects the urine.

Changing your diet.

In children under one year of age, sediment in the urine may appear when the diet is changed, for example, when complementary foods are introduced. The main task for parents is to monitor the baby’s urine and his general condition. If the sediment continues to fall for several days, the baby loses appetite, is capricious, then you should definitely consult a pediatrician for advice.

Other reasons.

Sediment in a child’s urine may appear for a number of other reasons and may not indicate the presence of pathologies. The composition of urine, its color and transparency, and specific density are influenced by many factors: food consumed, amount of liquid drunk, physical activity, taking certain medications, elevated temperature.

What to do?

If parents notice cloudiness in the urinary fluid from time to time and the change goes away within a day or two, there are no signs of concern, but you need to pay attention to the child’s diet .

It is necessary to contact a pediatrician if the cloudy color persists for several days and is accompanied by additional symptoms (pain, increased body temperature, difficulty urinating, or, conversely, too frequent urges).

In such cases, the issue is most likely kidney disease, which must be treated in the initial stages to avoid serious consequences.