Certainly the risk of taking low-dose antibiotics is much less than the risk of recurrent kidney infections. The other method of preventing urinary tract infections is surgical correction of the reflux. In most cases, this is not necessary, because the reflux will go away on its own. The third method of preventing infections involves improving the way that your child voids. Often there are accidents or urgency when voiding occurs.
Constipation is almost always present to some degree.
It turns out that treating the voiding dysfunction will often dramatically reduce the incidence of urinary infections. The tendency for reflux to cure itself is the basis for current treatment. Not all reflux will go away, and it is useful to predict the likelihood of this occurring. The higher the grade, the less likely that the reflux will go away. Also, reflux that occurs into both kidneys appears to be less likely to go away than reflux occurring on only one side.