|
|
Does this describe your child's symptoms?
|
|
|
Definition
- A superficial yeast infection of the mouth of young babies
- Causes white patches in the front of the mouth
Symptoms - White, irregularly shaped patches in the mouth
- Coats the inside cheeks or inner lips
- Sometimes coats the tongue (if the only symptom is a uniformly white tongue, it's due to a milk diet, not thrush)
- Adherent to the mouth (cannot be washed away or wiped off easily like milk curds)
- Occasionally causes a painful mouth, reluctance to suck and reduced milk intake
- Mild discomfort or no symptoms in most newborns
- The infant is bottle-fed or breast-fed
Cause - Caused by a yeast (called Candida)
- Occurs on parts of the mouth involved with sucking
- Accentuated by friction from frequent pacifier use
Return to Day Care - Thrush is not contagious, since it does not invade normal tissue. Your child can go to day care with thrush.
|
If not, see these topics
|
| Call Your Doctor Now (night or day) If |
- Your child looks or acts very sick
- Signs of dehydration (very dry mouth, no tears and no urine in more than 8 hours)
- Age under 1 month old and looks or acts sick in any way
|
| Call Your Doctor Within 24 Hours (between 9 am and 4 pm) If |
- You think your child needs to be seen
- Fever occurs
- Bleeding is present
- Drinking less than normal
|
| Call Your Doctor During Weekday Office Hours If |
- Thrush, but none of the symptoms described above (Reason: may need prescription medicine to treat it)
|
|
|
HOME CARE ADVICE FOR THRUSH (Pending Talking With Your Doctor)
|
- Anti-Yeast Medicine: Your doctor will probably prescribe an anti-yeast liquid medicine. Use it as follows:
- Place 1 ml (2 ml if over age 1 month) in the front of the mouth on each side or where ever you see the thrush (it doesn't do any good once it's swallowed). Do this 4 times per day.
- If the thrush isn't responding, rub the medicine directly on the affected areas with a cotton swab.
- Don't feed your baby anything for 30 minutes after application.
- Keep this up for at least 7 days, or until all thrush has been gone for 3 days.
- Decrease Sucking Time to 20 Minutes per Feeding: Â Reason: prolonged sucking (as when a baby sleeps with a bottle) can irritate the lining of the mouth and make it more prone to yeast infection. Â For severe mouth pain with bottle feeding, offer fluids in a cup, spoon or syringe rather than a bottle (Reason: The nipple increases pain).
- Limit Pacifier Use: Â
- Again, prolonged sucking on a pacifier can irritate the mouth.
- Limit pacifier use to times when nothing else will calm your baby.
- If your infant is using an orthodontic pacifier, switch to a smaller, regular one (Reason: bigger ones can irritate the mouth more).
- Special washing of pacifiers or bottle nipples is not necessary or helpful.
- Breastfeeding:  If the mother's nipples are red and sore, apply Lotrimin Cream (no prescription needed) 4 times per day AFTER feedings.
- Diaper Rash: Â If there's a bad diaper rash, it's also probably due to yeast. Apply Lotrimin cream (no prescription needed) 4 times per day (see DIAPER RASH topic).
- Contagiousness: Thrush is not contagious, since it does not invade normal tissue. Your child can go to day care with thrush.
- Expected Course: Â With treatment, thrush usually clears up in 4 to 5 days. Without treatment, it clears up in 2-8 weeks.
- Call Your Doctor If:
- Drinking becomes less than normal
- Your child becomes worse
And remember, contact your doctor if your child develops any of the "Call Your Doctor" symptoms.
Disclaimer: This information is not intended be a substitute for professional medical advice. It is provided for educational purposes only. You assume full responsibility for how you choose to use this information.
Author and Senior Reviewer: Barton D. Schmitt, M.D.
Last Reviewed: 1/19/2009
Last Revised: 8/6/2007
Content Set: Pediatric HouseCalls Online
Copyright 1994-2009 Barton D. Schmitt, M.D.
