"Thrush in Baby's Mouth"

I've had 4 babies, all breastfed, and all of them had various degrees of thrush. You didn't say whether you are breastfeeding, but if you are, your breasts/body may be the source. You can continue to treat the baby with the nystatin but if you don't find and eliminate the source, you keep re-infecting the baby's mouth. I've never experienced it, but have been told by my pediatrician that the thrush can also appear in the genital area of baby girls because it is basically a yeast infection.
I have no medical proof, but I belive that my body naturally produces this yeast in my sweat. All it takes is for me to stay slightly damp from leaking breasts or from being overheated and I would quickly pass the yeast to the baby while nursing. So, here's my "prescription":

1. Don't just shower every day, clean your breasts every time you nurse. If your shirt or your bra gets wet with milk/ or even just damp - change clothes. I found that I simply couldn't use breast pads at all. When there was leakage, I had to change. I found some inexpensive maternity bras that were styled like a sports bra so I could have lots of them. I think they were at Motherhood Maternity??

2. If you're using pacifiers or bottles, sterilize DAILY by boiling for at least 10 minutes and then allowing to air dry. Also sterilize ANYTHING (teethers, toys) that the baby puts in its mouth. I would use a set of grill thongs to get the hot items from the boiling water because they would dry more quickly and completely when still hot.

3. The nystatin worked best for me when I would soak a q-tip with it and then rub the liquid into the white patches in the baby's mouth in addition to squirting a little medicine in the mouth. It is also important to do this directly AFTER a feeding or when there's 20-30 minutes BEFORE the next feeding. If you read the medication insert, you'll see that nystatin works by chemically bonding with the yeast and drying it out. You'll be able to see that the white patches take on a yellow tint if you're successfully coating them with the nystatin. Also, applying it directly this way - the baby has less of it to swallow. It would upset my babies' little tummies something awful.

4. Have your own doctor (or possibly the baby's pediatrician) prescribe a nystatin ointment for you to use on your nipples if you're breast feeding. Use this each time you wash after each feeding.

5. Wash your shirts and bras with the baby's things in hot water.

All of this can be a big pain and a lot of extra work, especially when you're already sleep deprived. Stick with it for a week to ten days (or for at least 3 days after all signs of the infection in the baby are gone) and it should be all over. Then you can sterilize stuff just once a week. You may find that you'll still need to wash your breasts after each feeding and keep washing your bras in hot water to keep the yeast from coming back. Congratulations on the new baby! Take care!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi M.,

I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with thrush. I've never experienced thrush but I know it can be very troublesome at trying to eliminate. I think you'll find this link and the suggestions offered helpful.
http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/yeast.shtml

NO SUGAR of ANY kind, you may need to avoid fruit for a short while. Your diet is absolutely essential if you're going to beat yeast.

Grapefruit seed extract 250 mg 3 or 4 times a day.

Coconut oil has anti fungal properties and can be used topically and ingested.

Start taking probiotics and giving them to your baby too.

Eat yogurt...no sweetened or fruit added ones.

Purchase some Gentian Violet to treat yourself and baby.(This turns everything purple)

Use a cup of vinegar in all wash loads, particularly towels, nursing bras and baby's diapers.

Sterilize any pacifiers, bottle nipples, nipple shield and pump parts daily and wash them in a vinegar solution or paint them with Gentian Violet.

Echinacea and Astragulus Root, and Vit C and B-complex vit. to boost immune function.

http://www.kellymom.com/ has excellent information and suggestions for treating and preventing thrush too. Good luck.

Peace,
J.

1 mom found this helpful

It is true that if you are breastfeeding you need to treat both the baby AND you at the same time, otherwise you could just be passing it back and forth. The violet works well. Also, you can try giving her a teeny bit of yogurt. Thrush is caused by the same thing as a yeast infection, it's just in a different part of the body. It's just that things have gotten a little off balance. I wouldn't give her a whole bunch at once, she is very young. First just try letting her have some off of your finger, then wait a day to see if anything happens reaction wise. If she doesn't have any adverse reactions, then give her a bite or two a couple of times a day. I hope you solve your problem!

M.,
We had a similar problem with thrush. It did not resolve with the nystatin. After the nystatin did not work, we were given a prescription for oral diflucan---it worked really well for us, have not had a problem with thrush since.
M.

If you're nursing, use Lotrimin cream on your breasts and use it religously along with the Nystatin--don't skip any doses or applications. My youngest had thrush from July to October--the humidity of summer makes it hard to beat! But regular treatments kept it at bay and seemed to even make it go away, but it wasn't until the weather got cooler and drier that we were finally all done with it. Good luck!

I second Janet. Check out Kellymom, she has the best information.

I've had 2 out of 5 with thrush and it doesn't go away by itself! We did end up having to use Gentian Violet with the last bout, and I have to respectfully disagree with a previous poster, Gentian Violet is NOT a homeopathic, it is a chemical- you purchase it in a 2% or 1% solution, it is not a homeopathic dose, and it DOES have side effects besides purple skin and clothing. My daughter had ulcerations in her mouth from it. But nothing else we tried and had access to worked, and we had to get my cracked nipples yeast free or breastfeeding wouldn't have been able to continue. Anyway, it's not a treatment to take lightly, follow the directions if you use it.

I hope you're able to get it cleared up soon!

acidophilus is the the 'good bacteria' found in yogurt. You can also buy it in powder, liquid or pill form. The source can be either dairy (like yogurt) or vegetarian (carrot) so be sure to read the label if this is a concern for you. If you're breastfeeding you can take it yourself otherwise you can buy a formula designed for infants (it's powdered) and put some in the bottle. It has no taste and my kids always accepted it.

Hope that helps!

M., my pediatrician prescribes a liquid form of diflucan (sorry for the spelling, I'm sure its wrong) for thrush - this is a three or four day round, once per day and typically clears it up quickly. When your baby is a little older, you can also introduce yogurt into her diet (my son started it at about 7 months of age) and that helps a great deal - unless my kids have been on prolonged antibiotics, the yogurt does the trick. I caution any use of glycerin and recommend speaking with your pediatrician prior to trying it. One thing my pediatrician told me with my first child - mommy knows her child and the doctors should trust mommy's concerns and do what they can to alleviate the concern and the condition in the child. Try to talk with your pediatrician about the diflucan before trying anything you see over the internet. Good luck!

My son had thrush as a baby. We tried the stuff the doctor prescribed, the purple stuff that another mom told me about, medicine the doctor prescribed on my breasts that had to be washed off before the baby nursed, vinegar on my breasts, etc. etc. For about two months we tried everything. I was at my wit's end. Then my mom, who is a dietician, told me to try plain yogurt. The baby could not really swallow it. I would put it in his mouth and most of it would drip out of his mouth, but some of it made it down. IT WORKED!