Why is my child's urine red?

If a child has any health problems, parents will be very worried. On the one hand, because children are young, they cannot describe their own physical condition; on the other hand, because children have relatively weak immunity, parents worry that the disease will leave sequelae. Pediatricians have said that we can judge some of the children's physical health conditions through their urine. So, what is the reason for the child's red urine?

A normal child's urine should be light yellow, clear and transparent, with a fresh and special smell. However, the color of urine can vary from dark to light depending on how much water you drink, how much you sweat, and your diet. Diluted urine can be almost colorless. If you drink more water or sweat less, the proportion of urochrome in the urine will be smaller, and the urine color will be lighter; if you drink less water or sweat more, the proportion of urochrome in the urine will be larger, and the urine color will appear yellow. When it is cold, urine is mostly clear, while when it is hot, urine is mostly yellow. When you consume acidic foods, your urine is generally darker in color; when you consume alkaline foods, your urine is often lighter in color. If urine is left for a long time, the urea in it will decompose into ammonia and release ammonia gas, which is often referred to as the foul odor. If there is a noticeable foul odor, it is mostly because of insufficient fluid intake and increased sweating, which can be solved by drinking more water. However, the following abnormalities cannot be ignored:

Dark yellow

If the urine of a newborn is dark yellow, you should pay attention to whether his skin is also yellow. Diseases such as neonatal hemolytic disease, infectious hepatitis, and biliary atresia can cause yellow urine. If the urine of older children is dark yellow, soy sauce colored, or strong tea colored, you must pay attention to whether you have acute hepatitis.

However, some children have yellow urine because they eat foods containing pigments such as oranges, tangerines, papayas and carrots. After taking certain medications, such as vitamin B complex, vitamin B2, berberine (berberine hydrochloride), tetracycline, atilapine, rifampicin, furazolidone, mefenamic acid, one pill, rhubarb, sulfadiazine, furazolidone, senna leaves, etc., the urine color will also turn golden or orange. These two situations are generally unrelated, and yellow urine is often short-lived and will return to normal soon after discontinuation of use.

White: When a child excretes milky white urine with a fishy smell, it may be pyuria, which is common in urinary tract infections, congenital urinary tract malformations, etc. If a child's urine is not only white in color, but also accompanied by frequent, urgent, and painful urination, it is most likely that the urethra is infected. In addition, if a child has a fever, chills, and severe lower back pain, he or she may have pyelonephritis. Other diseases that cause white urine include renal abscess and renal tuberculosis. In these cases, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible.

In cold seasons, some children's urine is not only white in color, but also a layer of white sediment can be seen in the potty. This phenomenon is because children's kidneys are not yet fully developed. If they eat foods high in phosphate, oxalate and calcium carbonate, such as spinach, amaranth, bananas, apples, oranges and persimmons, the urine will form crystals and precipitate when it encounters cold after being excreted from the body. Adding vinegar to urine or heating it can make the urine clear. However, if a child's urine is white and turbid and is accompanied by other symptoms such as swollen legs, and the urine cannot become clear after adding vinegar or heating, it may be due to filariasis or inflammation in the thoracic duct. This type of urine is called "chyluria."

If a child's urine is like meat washing water or bright red blood, and turns into soy sauce color after being left for a long time, it indicates hematuria, which is common in acute nephritis, pyelonephritis, renal tuberculosis, urinary tract stones, urinary system trauma, systemic hemorrhagic diseases, etc., you should be especially alert to childhood kidney malignant tumors (Nephroblastoma). Red urine is mostly hematuria or hemoglobinuria. If the newborn's urine has an abnormal odor or moldy smell, you should pay attention to genetic metabolic diseases such as phenylketonuria, maple syrup urine disease, and tyrosinemia.

Some normal newborns have yellow-red urine due to urate crystals. Parents do not need to worry and can just feed their children more milk. If a child's urine is abnormal, parents should make a judgment based on the child's overall condition and take the child to the hospital for relevant examinations in time to ensure a clear diagnosis and early treatment to avoid delaying the disease.