Thrush - Irvine, CA

My son and I both had thrush when he was about 3 months old. What a pain! We tried several things along with the Doctor before we got rid of it. For my son, the only thing that worked for the thrust in his mouth was diflucan - first they started him with nystatin but it did not help. For the diaper rash, you can use over the counter anit-fungal cream such as that sold for athletes foot. It works well. For me, I used a nystatin cream that did not really help too much. I started taking Grapefruit Seed Extract pills (can get them at Mothers or other health food store). Be sure to get Grapefruit Seed not Grape Seed. Grapefruit Seed is a natural antifungal. I was skeptical about these pills but after I ran out and stopped taking them the thrush returned. Good luck!

I used gentian violet with my second born when he was 10-12 weeks old for a second round of thrush. The first round we used nystatin (sp?) that was given to us by the dr. The nystatin is "ediable" but is tough on the liver so isn't good for long term use. And it took about a week to get the yeast cleared up completely. Then it came back with a verengce a couple weeks later, so then I went looking for the GV. With the GV the thrush would clear up within 24-36 hours and was gone for as long as 3 weeks.

-Be very aware that this stuff with stain EVERYTHING purple! Clothes, skin (for a time), diapers, bottle nipples, cups, counter tops, ect.

If you can, try to buy it mixed with water. All I could find was alcohol, but because we were desperate i used it anyways. I bought two bottles at different times and the price varied from about $5 and about $2, much less then the prescription nystatin (co-pay for us is $10) and comes in a tiny brown bottle. I had better luck finding it in the "mom and pop" pharmacy stores rather then the big drug stores. Couldn't even find it in the health food stores either, but it wouldn't hurt to call around. Mother's may have finally taken up carrying it.

I used a q-tip and simply applied it to my nipples, let it dry and then let baby nurse. Because the stuff I found was alcohol based (and didn't say what kind of alcohol) I would dunk a q-tip in the container and then let it dry out so the alcohol evaporated. Once dry I would let ds's saliva reactivate it and smeared it all over his lips, tongue, and inner cheeks - espically when he had "cottonmouth", when the thrush was real bad.

And because at the time I was tandum nursing at the time, my first born (2yo at the time) got "treated" as well. She liked the nystatin because of its high sugar content - which incidently probably doesn't help the thrush/yeast infection any since yeast thrives in sugar- she did absolutely hate the taste of the GV. She actually would refuse to nurse if I had coated my nipples with it. LOL. The GV didn't seem to bother the baby though.

But i would highly recommend you try it, espically if your having trouble with getting rid of it. And incidently as long as you use a q-tip instead of the applicator in the bottle you could use it to clear up a yeasty diaper rash too. And for yeast based dia[er rash, our pedi at the time and told me that i could use lotrimin (athletes foot cream) or what ever you can find for "jock itch". Its all the same thing - yeast.

best wishes, that stuff is misrable. And make sure you treat your nipples, you can get a yeast based mastitis if it gets bad enough. If that happens ask for the prescription pill version for yeast infections - it will be enough to treat both you AND baby because it does transfer through the breast milk in small doses, before completely metabolized by mom.

Wanted to add: for the rash, use aquaphor, it will keep the moisture off the babys skin and should help a bit. You can also try cloth diapers and laying her on a towel or prefold with out a diaper to air out several times a day.
Hi Sarah
so sorry to hear you two have thrush. It sucks. It's an overgrowth of yeast (Candida) and it's hard to get rid of. You and baby are more suseptable to it if either of you were treated during labor or shortly after with antibiotics. In my case I spiked a slight fever during labor and ended up with an unscheduled csection. I was on 3 different iv antibiotics for 24 hrs.
We got thrush several times.

Here are a few things you can do:
go to wholefoods or henrys (even Mothers Market) and buy some live coulture acidolophis. This will help rebalance your bodys natural yeast (also found in yogurt). You can open the capsules and put a bit on a wet finger and let baby suck your finger so she gets some too.

If you'd rather go a natural approach you can try the violet in conjuction with grapefruit seed extract. I believe askdrsears.com has a how-to of sorts on this method.

The doctor will start treatment with nystatin, it's safe to use but contains sugar (so babies will eat it) and since yeast thrive on sugar I have never heard of it actually working very well for anyone.
DO NOT put the liquid nystatin on your breasts! Some peds say to do this, don't do it. Because of the sugar it will only make things worse. Call your OB/GYN and tell them the baby has thrush, they will prescribe a nystatin cream for you which is safe for baby too so no need to wipe off before feedings.
If all else fails the surefire way to get it gone is for both of you to take Dyflucan (flucanazole), it's an oral med that fights the infection from within.

Make sure you wash everything the baby puts in her mouth, everything you wear, all sheets, etc that your milk comes in contact with. You can very easisly pass the infection back and forth.

The best thing for you is to keep your nipples exposed to air as much as possible. Go topless at home if you can and avoid moisture. If you are using breast pads change them often and don't let your nipples soak in a warm (yeast friendly) environment.
You can try cutting out sugary foods from your diet until it is gone, that can help sometimes too.