When a baby arrives from the womb to the outside world, there are so many sights, sounds and sensations to adjust to. Babies are so sensitive to their bodies, the environment and everything around them. Oral thrush in babies can make this delicate time hard for both babies AND their moms.
Yeast cells are resilient little creatures; without the right approach, it can be frustrating and difficult to treat oral thrush in babies. Between changing diapers, waking up a night, feeding your baby and so many other responsibilities in caring for a newborn - oral thrush can seem downright overwhelming.
If you suspect your baby has thrush, take note of some of the most common symptoms of oral thrush in babies:
*creamy, cottage-cheese like overgrowth in baby's mouth (tongue, gums, inside the cheeks, etc.)
*baby is more fussy or irritable than normal
*difficulty feeding or nursing
*loss of appetite
*yeast diaper rash (a yeast diaper rash is usually an angry, red rash with a very distinct border - it's also more persistent than a normal diaper rash.)
*Mom has symptoms of yeast (may be vaginal yeast, breastfeeding thrush, etc.)
The warm, sweet environment of your baby's mouth makes a perfect environment for the yeast cells to grow, invade and develop into oral thrush. Whether you're breastfeeding or bottle feeding, there's plenty of sugar for the yeast to eat - either as lactose in breastmilk or the added sugars that are used in formula.
However, all babies have warm, sugar-rich mouths - so why do some babies get thrush and others don't? One of the most common factors is the use of antibiotics during labor and delivery. Antibiotic use has become extremely common; unfortunately antibiotics make both mom and baby much more susceptible to yeast overgrowth. Moms may also pass yeast onto baby during the delivery. Premature birth and use of steroids are other risk factors.
If you take your baby to the pediatrician, most likely you'll be given a prescription for Diflucan, Nystatin or another anti-fungal drug. Personally, I don't recommend the use of these drugs for oral thrush in babies - for three main reasons:
1.) I've seen even severe, persistent cases of thrush be cured with completely natural and harmless methods
2.) Why unnecessarily expose babies to drugs with potentially harmful side effects?
3.) The drugs do nothing to restores your child's immunity to yeast; the thrush can just grow right back - or grow invisibly, where you can't see it.
Even many common home remedies for oral thrush in babies really need to be looked at carefully for safety - for example, the popular thrush home remedy, gentian violet, is a known carcinogen. I recently came across a news report that the FDA had cracked down on seafood imports from China due to the presence of three contaminants - including gentian violet. I personally would not use gentian violet in my child's mouth.
I've also seen products advertised for oral thrush in babies that use other questionable ingredients as well. For example, I'd steer clear of anything with colloidal silver, tea tree oil or oregano oil. These remedies are just not appropriate for a baby, for reasons too detailed to cover here.
I've been it the natural health industry for 15 years, so I was really surprised when I confronted thrush at how hard it was to find a truly safe and effective remedy for oral thrush in babies. After a lot of research and collaborating with other health professionals, I was able to develop a highly effective and completely safe approach to treat infant thrush quickly - and permanently.
The key to curing oral thrush in babies lies in killing the yeast with completely safe, truly non-toxic remedies while simultaneously restoring your baby's natural yeast defenses. This approach not only gets rid of the thrush, it also results in a healthier, happier baby who is more resistant to ANY kind of infection - fungal, bacterial, or viral.
