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Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) in a child: urine flowing back toward the kidneys, the grades, UTIs, the tests, antibiotics and surgery, and good habits
For parents and anyone raising a child who has been told the child has vesicoureteral reflux, or is being checked for it after a urinary tract infection (UTI). It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: what it is and its two types; the grades; how common it is and who is more likely; the signs and what it can lead to; the tests; and the treatments, from waiting while it goes away and treating UTIs quickly to a daily low-dose antibiotic, surgery or a bulking injection, and good everyday habits. It builds the questions to ask and prints a card. Nothing is saved.
Right now
- A child who is very hard to wake, struggling to breathe, or seems very ill? Call 911 now (ours).
- A child with VUR who has a fever, pain when urinating, or pain in the back or side? Call the child’s doctor the same day. NIDDK says kidney scarring is more likely when a UTI is not treated fast enough (the call is ours).
- On a daily antibiotic? Never stop it early without asking the doctor (ours).
- For you, the grown-up: thoughts of suicide, or all too much? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
More help
- Kidneys and bladder on this site: UTI in a baby or child · Hydronephrosis in newborns · Getting ready for urinary tract imaging · Kidney infection · Kidney disease in children · How the kidneys work · Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page.
- At home: Constipation in a baby or child · Bedwetting · Symptom diary · A baby or child: find the right page.
- For you: Get ready for your appointment. In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder pain, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 21, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Vesicoureteral Reflux (VUR), last reviewed in June 2018; NIDDK has no Spanish version of it. Ours: the 911 and 988 lines; calling the doctor the same day for a fever, pain when urinating, or back or side pain; never stopping an antibiotic early without asking; keeping the date of each UTI; asking about brothers and sisters, and how to prepare a child for a test; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: its section on clinical research, its references, and the other pages it links to, which we did not read. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.