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How Can Women Prevent Urinary Tract Infections?

• Women should urinate directly after sexual intercourse.
• Carefully wipe from front to back after urinating or having a bowel movement.
• Drink lots of water (at least eight glasses a day).
• Drink cranberry juice or any citrus juice.
• Use a form of contraception other than a diaphragm and/or spermicidal jelly.
• Use vaginal estrogen cream in women past menopause.
• Young girls should avoid bubble baths, which does not cause infections but can irritate the urinary tract.

Women who consistently develop a urinary tract infection after sexual intercourse may be advised to take a single dose of antibiotic after sex. Women who have very frequent urinary tract infections may benefit from taking a dose of antibiotic once a day, or three times weekly (called a prophylactic dose). Pregnant women who have required treatment for two bladder infections during pregnancy should be treated with prophylactic antibiotics until two weeks after delivery.