Introduction Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common in young children. Urine sample collection is required to diagnose or exclude UTI; however, current collection methods for pre-continent children all have limitations and guidelines vary. Clean catch urine (CCU) collection is a common and favoured non-invasive collection method, despite its high contamination rates and time-consuming nature. This study aims to establish whether gentle suprapubic cutaneous stimulation with cold fluid-soaked gauze can improve the rate of voiding for CCU within 5 min in young pre-continent children.

Methods and analysis This study is a randomised controlled trial of 354 infants (aged 1–12 months) who require urine sample collection, conducted in a single emergency department in a tertiary paediatric hospital in Melbourne, Australia. After standard urogenital cleaning, patients will be randomised to either a novel technique of suprapubic cutaneous stimulation using cold saline-soaked gauze in circular motions or no stimulation. The study period is 5 min, after which care is determined by the treating clinician if a urine sample has not been collected. Primary outcome: whether the child voids within 5 min (yes/no). Secondary outcomes: parental and clinician satisfaction with the method, success in catching a urine sample if the child voids, and sample contamination rates. This trial will allow the definitive assessment of this novel technique, gentle suprapubic cutaneous stimulation with cold saline-soaked gauze, and its utility to hasten non-invasive urine collection in infants.

Ethics and dissemination The study has hospital ethics approval and is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry—ACTRN12615000754549. The results of the study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Trial registration number ACTRN12615000754549; Pre-results.