Help with Thrush!

My children never got thrush. But my best friends did and she used Gentian Violet when the prescription meds were not helping.
I hope you find something to help!

I had this problem with both daughters! The first time my doctor made us do the Nystatin without any luck. It just became a way of life and adventually cleared up on its own. My second daughter was on antibiotics for the first year of her life and with that came thrush, but this time the doctor gave her Diflucan (something like that). It was given to her in the doctor's office and was gone!

Hey S. ~ My son and I both had that. I am so sorry you are having to deal with it! What worked for us is swabbing his mouth with a water/baking soda mix. I think it is 1 c water to 1 tsp of baking soda. It has been a few years. It cleared his mouth up within days. I hope that helps.

J. S.

My twins had it. We used Gentian Violet. I've pasted some instructions below. It is REALLY messy but it totally helped. If you're nursing, it could be that you also have it in/on your breast/nipples. The Gentian Violet should work for that too. You can buy it at the pharmacy without a prescription.

"1) About 10 ml (two teaspoons) of gentian violet is more than enough for an entire treatment.

2) Many mothers prefer doing the treatment just before bed so that they can keep their nipples exposed and not worry about staining their clothing. The baby should be undressed to his diaper, and the mother should be uncovered from the waist up. Gentian violet is messy.

3) Dip a clean ear swab (Q-tip) into the gentian violet.

4) Put the purple end of the ear swab into the baby's mouth and let him suck on the swab for a few seconds. The gentian violet usually spreads around the mouth quickly. If it does not, paint the inside of the mouth to cover as much of the inside of the cheeks and tongue as possible.

5) Put the baby to the breast. In this way, both the baby's mouth and your nipple are treated.

6) If, at the end of the feeding, you have a baby with a purple mouth, and two purple nipples, there is nothing more to do. If only one nipple is purple, paint the other one with the ear swab and the gentian violet. In this way, the treatment is finished in one go.

7) Repeat the treatment each day for three or four days, up to a week (see handout Candida Protocol for how long 6) If, at the end of the feeding, you have a baby with a purple mouth, and two purple nipples, there is nothing more to do. If only one nipple is purple, paint the other one with the ear swab and the gentian violet. In this way, the treatment is finished in one go.

7) Repeat the treatment each day for three or four days, up to a week (see handout Candida Protocol for how long to use gentian violet).

8) There is often some relief within hours of the first treatment, and the pain is usually gone or virtually gone by the third day. If it is not, it is unlikely that Candida was the problem, though it seems Candida albicans is starting to show some resistance to gentian violet, as it already has to other antifungal agents. Of course, there may be more than one cause of nipple pain, but after three days the contribution to your pain caused by Candida albicans should be gone. However, if your pain is virtually gone after three or four days, but not completely, you can use gentian violet a few more days if necessary.

9) All artificial nipples that the baby uses should be boiled daily during the treatment, or well covered with gentian violet. Consider stopping artificial nipples."

Good luck!!

yup! I used Gensing Violet (SP) I bought it at CVS... or they have it at walgreens I think too! poor baby, they say it hurts their throats! try that it worked in about 3 days.... just prepare for a big mess.. but it doesn't stain... I'm breast feeding so my bra's were purple for a week! lol good luck!

Oh boy am I sorry to say I feel your pain!! I went through 3 bottles of that, uh let's just say stuff to no avail. I think the yeast has grown immune to it or something. I also had it and went through treatment as well including a systemic one fluconozole! I will not go into great detail I will just say that after 2 months of battling it, both my daughter and I, I found the miracle stuff! My cousin told me about it. It is called Jarro-dophilus. You can get it at Henry's and I am sure other healthfood stores. All it is is a combination of like 7 types of the naturally occuring "good bacteria" that is in our bodies. I had thrush as well so I put it on my nipples and I gave it to my daughter as directed on the bottle. Within a couple of days it started to go away. I never got it back after I started taking this stuff. I took it systemically as well. Hope it works for you. It is a bit pricey, I think $24.00 or so, but I would pay it 100 times over. I think I had spent $200.00 in copays for the other ones in the other two months anyway.

culturelle acidophilus worked for me when nystatin didn't. sold at henry's. It's safe for infants and it totally worked. You can open a capsule into the bottle you feed him. It is about $25, but worth it.

Thrush is the worst! We battled a bad case for 3 months when my daughter was born. The only thing that ended up working for us, was stopping breastfeeding. I guess we were giving it back and forth. Also, boiling everything that comes in contact with her mouth...pacis, toys, bottles, nipples and all breast pump parts is necessary. We tried Nystatin, Diflucan, and even Gentian Violet (which I do think actually helped a bit). The drugs didn't even touch it and I felt awful loading my baby up on anti fungals. Make sure to wash all your bras and burp cloths on hot in vinegar. I would say no to the vinegar in her mouth. I tried it on my nipples and it didn't work at all. Thrush has become resistant to our drugs in the last few years making it hard to get rid of. My doc said it is not really a problem for the baby, but more annoying and painful to mom (if you are breastfeeding of course). It should resolve itself once the babies immune system gets stronger. Also try Culterelle once a day in your diet...they say you can give it directly to baby in her bottle as well. The good bacterias will fight off the yeast and keep them at bay. Good luck...I know how frustrating it is! Once ours went away, we never got it back....thank goodness.

My little girl gets thrush a lot. Nystatin usually works. It is very contagious....I caught it from carrying 1 of her bottles to the kitchen by my teeth (my hands were full!) Make sure every single thing your son puts into his mouth gets washed. He may just be giving it back to himself by re-using a pacifier or bottle or something!?!

i would try probiotics for babies. colic help.com has some. my daughter had a recurring yeast infection and lotrimin did nothing. since it was a vaginal one, i was able to put yogurt on it and it cleared up in 2 days, and didnt return. maybe getting some acidophilus in her mouth would help.

Hi S.,

My daughter developed thrush too when she was a week old.. and she was on Nystatin and it didnt seem to help.. but then i started cleaning her mouth with a clean damp wash cloth..I would suggest u to clean her mouth and try and scrub her mouth with a damp cotton wash cloth before giving her the medicine and also after each feeding.. Keeping the mouth clean helps alot...

hope tht helps..

Gentian violet is what i found works best. You can buy it over the counter. My oldest son's doctor told me about it when he had gotten thrush almost ten years ago (when he was a baby). My youngest son had also gotten it when he was a baby and his doctor (different doctor) pescribed something and after two rounds i ended up going out to buy the gentian violet again. All you do is dip the end of a Qtip into it and rub it on your baby's cheeks, gums and tounge with it. It will turn your baby's mouth purple so make sure baby has a bib and a t-shirt that you dont mind getting stained.

Go to a health food store & get powdered acidolphius--I'm not sure of the spelling, but it is the benefical bacteria in yogurt. Mix it with a little water & spoon it into your baby's mouth. If you are nursing, rub a little on your nipples after each feeding. One of my girls had thrush so bad her mouth was coated with a white carpet of it. Also if you are nursing, cut your cow milk consumption WAY down & start eating a lot of yogurt. If your baby is on only formula, you may need to switch brands, maybe do a little research on line for one with the benefical bacteria.

We went through 2 or 3 bottles of the Nystatin, it NEVER cleared up until I did the acidolphious powder.

try giving good probiotics, and check out this info. mercury is another concern that often goes hand-in-hand with yeast (my children have had this problem).

http://www.yeastinfectionadvisor.com/yeastinfectioninchil...

If you are nursing, then both you and your son need to be on medication for Thrush at the same time. Otherwise, he will pass it to your breast and then you will pass it back to him. The medication for you is the Lotrimin, which is the same as athletes foot and you apply the cream topically to your breast and wipe it off before you feed him. If you are not nursing, it's possible that it might be on his bottle nipples and they need to be sterilized. I hope that helps.

From what I understand they should be treating both of you for the thrush infection. Because if your son has it in his mouth and you breastfeed your breast could have the infection too. So you are cross contaminating each other.

I would definitely contact your local lactation consultant as they would more knowlegdeable about these issues than a regular doctor, pediatrician or even your OBGYN. Most hospitals will offer a free LC consultation if you gave birth there or will have free lactation support groups that you can go to, meet other breastfeeding moms and talk to an LC who is leading the group. I know that all of the LC's associated with our hospital also teach classes at our local Babies R Us stores so you could check that out too and go there and ask them questions.

At one point they thought I had a little mastitis and so my lactation consultant recommended that I use Gentian Violet. It's all herbal and you just swab it onto your nipple right before each feeding. Then by default the inside of your sons mouth will be coated with it as he eats. But watch out, it does temporarily stain everything it comes into contact with a lovely shade of deep violet. And there are no side effects for baby. GV is a known sterilizer and bacteria fighter. They used to use it for cleaning out wounds back in the day. You can sometimes find it in the OTC pharmacy area at places like CVS or Wal Mart. And at some natural food stores. But I got mine through Ebay for like $10. Oh, and another benefit is that it is very cheap to get.

I had it for the first 3 months of my sons life... absolute torture. I am more of a natural style mom and I tried many "soft" methods... sun, apple cider vinegar, raw virgin coconut oil, and minuscule amounts of tea tree oil. Many would help but not get rid of it completely. The one that finally worked after three months of pain was Gentian Violet!!! It is messy, but worth it.

Friend
Nystatin or Nyacin wont help! Why dont you ask your doctor to prescribe a stronger intibiotic like Diflucan liquid in a lower dose for infants. I went thru the same thing with my newborn and it is not fun!:( But Diflucan helped, and in a period of three days the bacteria was gone. Also, clean your baby's mouth with a wet clean washcloth every time you feed him or her and do not reuse it after. (Probiotics) in a lower dose could help, However i think this might be to strong for your infant. In any case consult your doctor.
Well I hope this helps and good luck!

Like many have mentioned...genetian violet..worked wonders for my twins! Cleared things up right away...messy as all get out. But we have many funny baby pictures with purple mouth kids ;)

S.

All of my children got thrush. Nystatin worked on all but one. For my one son they tried the Nystatin twice and when it didn't work they gave him Diflucan. This cleared it up in less than a week. You might ask your doctor if this would work for your son as well.

Are you breast feeding or bottle feeding? If you're b/fing then you need to be treated as well. If you're bottle feeding then maybe get some new nipples and toss the old ones. I've never had to deal with this so I know I'm not much help.
I wanted to add that I've heard good things about Genitian Violet. It's a natural remedy that you can find at a whole foods store.

Hi,
My 3rd son had thrush. I had to eliminate all sugar/white flour from my diet, including fruits, and take GSE (grapefruit seed extract) daily. The GSE kills the bacteria, and then take acidophilus powder to add back positive flora. You can add breastmilk to the acidophilus until it's a paste consistency and give it to baby where ever you see the white thrush. Put it on your breasts too. Things should clear up within a week. Remember, thrush also resolves on it's own, untreated.
Good luck!
J.

My daughter had thrush as a baby and i even got it on my breasts from nursing. We used gentain violet. I think that is how you spell it. You can get it at a health food store. Be careful when you use it though because it is purple and it does stain. The thrush went away in about 5 days as i recall.
Take care
B.

get a prescription for Dyflucan (fluconazole) for both you and the baby (if you are breastfeeding you both need to be treated at the same time as you can pass it back and forth). The script for you should be a loading dose of 400mg on day one then 100-200mg per day for 14 days. The baby gets a liquid version and should be treated as long as the mother.
Wash everything you and the baby come in contact with in HOT water (you can hang your bras in the sun too which kills the candida spores.
My son and I have battled this three times. Once they get thrush it comes back really easily.
Some say that candida has become resistant to Nystatin, also the baby's liquid has sugar in it to taste good but yeast thrives on sugar! If you are also using the cream on your nipples you don't need to remove it before nursing.
Make sure you keep your nipples dry and try to expose them to air as much as possible.
You can also check out www.drjaygordon.com Dr Gordon has a great holistic way to battle thrush using geliten violet and grapefruit sead extract, we couldn't try it b/c my son is allergic to citrus but I hear it works for some. You can also see a lactation specialist, they are usually more knowledable about thrush than Drs. You may need to convince the dr to treat both of you but if you're bf'ing its the only way to truely get rid of it.
Also, take some acidolophis pills, you can even open the capsules and dip your finger in it for the baby to suck on three times a day, it won't get rid of thrush or candida overgrowth but it will help restore the balance of yeast in your bodies.
Feel free to contact me further, I've done more than my share of research on the subject.

What are the symptoms with the thrush? My son's doc said he had it b/c his tongue looked white & my nipples were a little itchy...Does your son have other symptoms?

http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/thrush.asp

Hope this helps.

Hi S., I have a 2 year old son and he never had this problem when he was little but my mom and I were talking about this on the phone the other day ( don't remember how we got on the topic) but my mom said that when my brother was little he had it really bad and they had boil the nipples to every bottle everytime they would feed him. She said that after they did that, my brothers cleared right up. I hope this helps! Take care and God Bless!

There is an over the counter product called Glyoxide that works GREAT on thrush, I just don't know if it's safe for infants. It can be found at CVS near the toothpaste or can be ordered by other pharmacies on special request. Ask your doctor/pharmacist if it would be safe. Many times the actual pharmacist (not pharm staff) knows more about medications than the doctors. Their ONLY job is to know medications and they are not influenced by drug reps or insurance companies. You may want to take a bottle to your Dr. to check out (just save the receipt if they say "No"). Another option would be to see if Highlands or a similar homeopathic makes a treatment for thrush. Highlands has been around forever, is all natural and a great, trusted brand. I feel for your little guy, thrush feels like your mouth is full of cat fur - YUCK!!Good luck!!

S.,

Go to www.kellymom.com and search "thrush" and you'll come up with tons of helpful info and options.

T.

Hi S.:

I used Gentian Violet Solution for my son. However, according to Wikipedia, it should be used sparingly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentian_violet). It is available in some pharmacies, but not all. I had to visit several before I found it. You could probably find it in a Natural Food Store.

Drawbacks: Stains everything a deep violet - permanently on clothes, but clears up after a few days on the skin. It also does not look very attractive.

Hope this helps.

N. M.

Have you looked into natural healing products. It's summer allow your little one some time in the sun, directly where the thrush is, but not for more than ten minutes at a time. Dr Sears has some good advice. Also try using cloth diapers, if your not already, they are cheaper and much better for your baby. Check out Dy-dee diaper service. http://www.dy-dee.com/. Good luck

My daughter had it and it would not go away...what ended up happening was I had it as well and did not know. I had to take a pill for seven days and my daughter had to be on the Nystatin for about a week after that until it was clear. It really did not start to go away until I was put on medication, and all in all it was about 4 weeks of Nystatin for my daughter. Good Luck.

I am not sure if anyone has already mentioned it, but I used gential violet. it's a liquid that I used on my breasts, while my daughter was still breastfeeding. Ask your pediatrician if you can use it. I recommend it to anyone.

Is your baby breastfeed? Thrush can be passed back and forth between mom and baby so liquid nystatin can be put on the breast as well as the tongue and inner cheeks to treat thrush. As it is painful as it progresses caused by yeast if this is the case there are other remedies for bottle feed babies.
Mom of 4, ten yrs breast feeding. Tandum feed 2.

Are you nursing? If so and you haven't been treated, you probably have it as well. Talk to your doctor. Otherwise, what about toys, pacifiers, etc.? They all need to be sterilized.

Hi! If you are nursing, make sure to put the nystatin on your nipples too, as it is very easy to pass back and forth between the two of you. It can also lead to regular yeast infections ...no fun, I had a chronic case after back and forth thrush with my second son. Also, it never worked for me to use the dropper to drip the medicine around. We soaked a q-tip, and rubbed it directly on the affected are in his mouth. Good luck, and hope this helps!!
E.

www.kellymom.com has great thrush advice. I/we had it on and off until I went to this site and tried some natural remedies! Good luck,
M.

My daughter had thrush really bad about the same age none of the medicines worked that the doctors gave me. i was also nursing i wanted to cry every time i fed her it hurt so bad and she refused to take a bottle. I don't know if u are nursing or not but this is what i did. i used monistat on my nipples and washed them before nursing then i got plain yogurt and wiped it around her mouth often through out the day it went away.

If you are breastfeeding, eat yogurt with the "Live Active Cultures" and take an Acidopholus supplement. I think it should get to your son through your breastmilk. But that is how I always combat yeast-type infections and if works great, without any harsh medications.

Make sure you or husband do not have a yeast infection and not re infecting him.

Are you breast feeding ? If so, are you treating yourself as well as your son ? My kids and I both had thrush when they were very young and I breastfed them so we both needed to be treated. With my son the nystatin worked but with my daughter,she was on Nystatin and my OBGyn pescribed something called Nipple Ointment by Newman, you can look it up on yahoo.Also for you, if you need treatment as well Acidophulis, works wonders. Good Luck

My baby went through the same thing. After the first medication didn't work, I returned to the doctor for a second refill. The doctor said the same thing about it clearing up quick. I felt the catholic guilt that the treatment wasn't working. What was I doing wrong? I talked to the pharmacist and learned what I was doing wrong. I would give my baby her medication and then feed her. I learned to give her the medication and wait 15 minutes before feeding. I also realized that she previously was spitting the medication out. So I gave her little dose by little. By the time I was done with the second refill, it went away. I hope this helps..goodluck,

Hi,

Yes I went through the same thing with my daughter. You probably have candida as well. You both might want to take Nystatin just to wipe it out. Then you want to take probiotics to reastablish healthy flora, and give some infant probiotics to your baby. You want to alkanize your system, stay off sugar, bread pasta coffee. Nystatin is not toxic and it will get rid of the fungus quickly, then you have to cleanse and reastiblish a good healthy environment in your body.

Good Luck,
S.

Try acidophilus, the refrigerated pills that you can open, and add it to breast milk in a bottle for him. If he doesn't like bottles, I would mix it with just a little milk so you don't end up throwing most of it away.

Hi S.,

Thrush is a form of candida (yeast). Probiotics would be a good choice for your little guy. If you are breast feeding, you too should take in probiotic to help balance good flora in your body as well.