Seeking Advice on Treating Infant Thrush

HI M. - I was fortunate and my daughter never experienced this. We have been working with other practitioners for other skin problems and have had some success. Here is the website info about a really good herbalist who my daughter is scheduled to see tomorrow.

http://www.minnesotaherbalist.com/

I would second the advice about probiotics. Chewable acidopholous tablets in the morning before I ate anything finally got us over thrush. It was worth every penny (they ARE expensive!) Look for them in the refrigerated section of a co-op or health food store.

Hi ! :) My son had this too when he was in his first four months. For us he got it five times, and finally the doctor had us boil the bottles we were using and asked us to buy new nipples and pacifiers because he thought it might be growing there. We used two different antibiotics, because the first one doesn't work.

My advice, try another antibiotic, and if he uses pacifiers, boil them in hot water for five minutes.

I used Gentian violet and it worked great, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentian_violet) . I don't remember the name of the store where you can get it (a friend gave me mine). There is a store I think on 36th and Grand that would have it, its a herbal/homopathic store. The wedge may have it. You put it on a q-tip and apply to your nipples and your baby's mouth twice a day for about a week. Everything will be purple for a while but it works great.

My son and I had problems with thrush every time he was put on an antibiotic. I read that taking a capsule of probiotics (live and active yogurt cultures) could help. I started giving it to my son and I. The next time he came down with thrush, the doctor recommended them! They're a bit spendy ($15 per bottle of 30). But every time we stopped giving them, he seemed to come down with another case of thrush (and me too!). The brand I use is Florajen 3 (recommended by doc. and websites about ridding thrush). You can find it at lots of natural foods and supplements stores around town. Whole Foods in St. Paul has it and so does the natural vitamins shop on Old Shakopee and Lyndale in Bloomington (in the strip mall with Festival). It needs to be refridgerated. I usually took 3 capsules a day when we had thrush, 1 per day as preventative if I didn't. For my son, I was told to open a capsule into a small containter. Then throughout the day (maybe 3+ times) wet your finger, put it in the powder, and put your finger in your baby's mouth for him/her to suck the powder off. My doctor said that the FDA hasn't approved it for use with infants yet, so there is no recommended dose; but it is just the cultures in yogurt, so I think perfectly safe. I gave my son about 1 capsule per day. This always seemed to clear it up within a few days.

Also, if you are having trouble getting rid of the thrush yourslef (wich could be passing back to you little one) you could have thrush in your ducts (wich a topical med. will not cure). Most docs don't know about this, but lactation consultants have the latest information. I contacted the LC at United Children's hospital in St. Paul and talked with them about it. They were willing to fax the information from their breastfeeding medical journal to my doctor so that an appropriate treatment could be given ( I think they give oral diflucan for an extended period of time so that it can clear your ducts of thrush).

Hope this helps. Also found this site to be helpful http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/thrush.html. Best of luck getting rid of thrush. It is a tough on to get rid of (and painful in the meantime!).
:) M.

I know that candida thrives on sugar, so I would definately cut out all forms of sugar (including refined carbohydrates) and bread products containing yeast. Stick with whole grains and make sure to include a lot of yogurt in your diet for the probiotics. I would do more research into a healthy diet to get rid of candida. Good luck-I had candida while breastfeeding and it was soo uncomfortable but you'll get thu it:)