Infant Thrush in Babies: How to Recognize and Treat Thrush

Infant thrush is a common yeast overgrowth found in baby's mouth. While generally not serious, infant thrush can make life hard for both babies and their moms. Yeast overgrowth can cause painful lesions and sores in a child's mouth.

Most often infant thrush is recognized as a white, cheesy overgrowth on your baby's tongue, inside the cheeks or on the gums. Babies with thrush may also be unusually fussy and irritable. Sometimes they will exhibit a low appetite and may have trouble nursing.

Thrush is more common where antibiotics have been used in child labor. Antibiotics have become extremely common due to the high level of c-sections as well as strep B prophylaxis. Antibiotics wipe out the friendly flora that help keep yeast and other harmful pathogens in check.

A simple home remedy for infant thrush is to mix a little baking soda with water and put that on the thrush overgrowth. This changes the pH to help inhibit the growth of yeast. This a temporary cure however. Also, you would never want to give your baby too much baking soda as this is not healthy. So use this remedy sparingly.

Another common home remedy for baby thrush is gentian violet. However, this remedy has been linked to an increased risk of oral cancer.

Moms who breastfeed may also experience thrush symptoms at the same time as their babies. Unfortunately, the yeast can be passed back and forth between mother and baby. So it's important for moms to treat their yeast overgrowth at the same time. You can make a simple paste with baking soda and water and put that on your nipples after nursing. This will help to control the yeast.

For a long term and permanent cure, I've found the best approach is to rebuild both mother and child's natural yeast immunity naturally. This is not only more effective than toxic anti-fungal pharmaceuticals, it's also completely safe and doesn't entail the dangerous and harmful side effects of prescription drugs.

Unfortunately, the prescription drugs available for thrush are also often ineffective. Many people find temporary relief only to experience the yeast coming back again. So this is another reason to favor the natural approach.

For example, the drug Nystatin carries the risk of allergic reaction, nausea -- and most importantly, it can cause the yeast to mutate into a more treatment-resistant form. Diflucan (flucanozole)has the potential for very serious side effects such as vomiting, rash, liver failures and even death. Little is known about the long term effects of these drugs, especially on babies and children.

I've helped many people who unfortunately had already used toxic remedies such as Nystatin, Diflucan and gentian violet -- only to have the thrush return. Many people who end up trying the natural approach do so only after experiencing that this is one area where western medicine unfortunately is very limited. However, many people have had experience using a natural program for even the most stubborn cases of thrush. Whether it's infant thrush, breastfeeding thrush, newborn thrush, adult oral thrush or even vaginal thrush, I'm a strong proponent of safe and natural treatment. Not only is it safe, but it just plain works.