Tongue Thrush

How did you treat your baby's thrush?

Was it effective? How long did it take to work?? My 7 week old has thrush on his tongue and I've been giving him the Nystatin that the doc prescribed for over a week but his tongue looks exactly the same!

Public Comments

1. My doctor didn't give us anything. She said not too worry about it. He had it for a month or two before it went away.
2. Yes, Nystatin is not very effective. Here is what I did, worked like a charm: Mix 10 drops of grapefruit seed oil with sterile water. Take a q-tip and soak it - swab the baby's mouth before every feeding. Swab your nipples after every feeding. It is a lot of work - but it will work! http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/thrush.asp
3. My son is 10 weeks old and has had thrush twice since he was born! It's so hard to get rid off. My son is on mycostanin nad the doc also told us to give him a few small spoonfuls of natural yoghurt every day which has helped a lot more than the medication! Also, dont give him his medication directly before he's fed as it'll just be washed away! Good luck!
4. There are other preparations that could be prescribed. It seems that your child's thrush is resistant to Nystatin. Return to your Doctor and have this checked out.
5. We dealt with thrust off and on for about 3 months with our middle child, when she was an infant. We used the Nystatin drops as directed, and they seemed effective. We also washed anything she put in her mouth with vinegar. Bleach won't kill thrush, so you need to use vinegar. We would wipe all her toys, pacifiers, bottle nipples, etc in the vinegar, and then wash them in dish soap to remove the vinegar taste. We had to be very vigilant about getting everything that she put in her mouth, but it eventually worked.
6. Grapefruit Seed Extract will clear it up. Really any yeast treatment that is going to work will show noticeable improvement in 48 hours. The problem with Nystatin is you can't use it often enough, and its too full of sugar. http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/thrush.asp My reservations with beginning with the above medications are that the Nystatin liquid contains sugar to make it palatable enough that baby will swallow it. However, yeast feeds on sugar. This may be the reason why it is often not effective. Gentian Violet is effective, but stains skin purple for several days. I have some lovely photos of my twins with purple faces! Diflucan is very effective, but can cause intestinal distress in mom and/or baby. For these reasons, I prefer to begin with Grapefruit Seed Extract as the first line of defense. I have found that the use of Grapefruit Seed Extract as recommended almost always brings rapid relief and an elimination of the yeast imbalance. Grapefruit Seed Extract is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial compound synthesized from the seeds and pulp of grapefruit. It is an extremely potent and effective broad-spectrum bactericide, fungicide, antiviral and antiparasitic compound. Tests have shown that GSE is dramatically more effective than Colloidal Silver, Iodine, Tea Tree Oil and Clorox bleach against five common microorganisms. In studies performed by Dr. John Mainarich of Bio-Research Laboratories in Redmond, WA, samples of each of the common antimicrobials or sanitizing agents were evaluated for effectiveness against Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Streptococcus faecium and E. coli. The other antimicrobials tested were considerably less effective than the GSE. GSE is extremely effective in the treatment of thrush. I also find it to be the easiest place to start. If used diligently, it typically will clear up thrush within a couple of days. Treatment of thrush with GSE * Make a mixture of 10 drops of Citricidal Grapefruit Seed Extract to one ounce of water. The use of distilled water to make your solution is very important. The chemicals placed in your local tap water to kill bacteria can reduce the effectiveness of the active ingredients in GSE. * IF thrush is not markedly improved by the second day, increase the mixture to 15, or even 20 drops of GSE per one ounce of distilled water. If after reaching up to at least 20, and a full day of hourly treatment with it, you see no improvement, I would consider using Diflucan. If you are prescribed Diflucan, continue to treat topically with GSE during the course of treatment. * Use this solution with an absorbent swab on mom's nipples and baby's mouth once every hour during all waking hours. Swab baby's mouth prior to nursing and mom's nipples after nursing. Applying it to baby's mouth prior to nursing will help them to avoid the possibility of baby associating the bitter taste with nursing. * If diaper area is affected, put the same strength solution into a spray bottle or swab as above at every diaper change. * If the infection is particularly rampant or you are having difficulty getting rid of it, mom may need to take acidophilus or GSE capsules to get rid of it systemically. * GSE solution can also be used in laundry or as a surface cleaner to kill yeast hiding and waiting to multiply again. * It may be necessary for Mom to eliminate sugar from her diet until the yeast infection is gone.