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Babies do not have yeast in their bodies when they are born and only get it from others. About ninety percent of babies won’t have any yeast on or in their bodies when they are six months old. However, thrush in infants is a common yeast infection problem since a babies immune system is immature. This is why careful hygiene is important to preventing thrush in infants to keep them from being exposed to yeast as long as possible.
How Serious Is It?
If a baby is health a thrush infection will only be a minor inconvenience with some mild discomfort, nothing like the severe pain that a mother can experience if she gets a thrush infection of the breast. While thrush doesn’t cause behavior problems in babies it is often blamed for problems such as irritability, wakefulness and feeding problems. If a baby is immune suppressed, in other words if they have a low functioning immune system, then thrush in infants can become a serious problem.
Oral Thrush
Oral thrush in infants is the most common problem and can often pass through the gastro-intestinal tract to affect the babies bottom. A case of oral thrush in infants can be recognized by white or cream colored patches like milk curds on the roof of the mouth, on the insides of the cheeks or on the tongue. Sometimes these patches will be surrounded by red areas and sometimes the entire mouth can have a solid white coating. If a baby sucks their thumb or fingers a lot then the yeast infection can often be transferred to the fingernails.
Home Remedies In Newborn Thrush
To treat oral thrush in infants you should boil pacifiers, feeding equipment and teething rings for a period of five to seven minutes after use while the baby is suffering from the infection. You should wash any toys your baby chews on in hot soapy water and then dry it in the sun or bleach it regularly. After feeding your baby be sure you rinse their mouth out, just a few mouthfuls of water will rinse out the milk. This helps prevent the milk residue from encouraging the growth of more yeast.
When it comes to thrush in infants you should rely on medicine alone to treat the infection. If you don’t work to correct the source of the infection you won’t get the thrush to go away and if you do it will return soon. So until your baby turns about six months it is a good idea to limit their exposure to yeast and to control it as best as possible. If you are unsure about thrush in infants it is always best to discuss it with your doctor and they will be able to advise you in the best treatment options available.
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