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Why Does My Baby Have Thrush And How Do I Get Rid Of It?

Thrush is most common in infants, which are two months old or younger. It appears as white patches in the mouth and tongue and can spread to the lips.

Thrush can be described as a cottage cheese-like patch or patches on the inside of the child’s mouth. It can spread if left untreated and will probably not go away unless you receive treatment.

There are many things which can lead a baby to develop thrush in the mouth

If a mother has a yeast infection when she gives birth to her child, the yeast infection can be passed to the baby. When this happens, it typically shows up in the mouth and is referred to as thrush.

Sometimes infants experience hormonal changes after birth which can also contribute to thrush. If you are breastfeeding and either taking antibiotics or suffer from a yeast infection, the chances of your baby also getting a yeast infection are very good.

As with any yeast infection, the infection can be passed back and forth between mother and child. It is possible for a breastfeeding mother to get a yeast infection on her breasts/nipples. This can be extremely painful and will require a prescription to treat.

Thrush can also be a result of poor hygiene or constant sucking on a pacifier or bottle. Make sure you are disinfecting bottles and pacifiers daily and in between uses. If your baby drops his or her pacifier on the floor, it should be rinsed off immediately.

When my daughter was still using a pacifier, I used to keep a small plastic spray bottle that I picked up from Wal-Mart for under a dollar. I put 1 to 2 drops of scope mouthwash in the bottle and filled it up with water. If my daughter dropped her pacifier in a restaurant or store, I would spray it off with the disinfecting mixture, killing the germs. I never had a problem with illness or thrush after I began doing this.

Thrush patches can be removed, but not very easily. If you do scrape one off (I wouldn’t recommend this) and it is thrush, a reddened raw area will be left underneath it. This area may bleed.

If you happen to notice a white residue on your baby’s tongue, but nowhere else in the mouth, he or she likely has milk residue. Watch your baby closely if you do notice a residue. Sometimes thrush can start out in one spot of the mouth and then spread to other parts. My daughter had thrush for a week before I understood what she had and by the time I took her to the doctor, it had spread to her lips!

Some doctors will tell you to leave thrush alone and it will disappear within a couple of weeks. I took my daughter into the hospital because she had thrush and pinkeye and was extremely unhappy. The hospital sent me home without treatment (no insurance), telling me that it would all be cleared up on its own. Later that night, my daughter got extremely uncomfortable to the point of us getting up in the middle of the night and going over to a children’s hospital. There, they told us that thrush and pink eye needed to be treated and would not go away on its own.

Tags: baby, baby yeast infection, children, infant, thrush, treatment, white spots, yeast infection

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