Q: Hello Doc, I just want to ask some remedies for baby’s oral thrush

A: Believe it or not, our bodies are filled with different micro-organisms, all of which are searching for relevance and dominance 😀 These good and bad micro-organisms usually maintain a delicate balance until something happens (like when one takes some medications like steroids, uses antibiotics, has a depressed immune system as occurs in extremes of age: very young and very old and also if one is infected with HIV, has cancer or Diabetes Mellitus) to disturb this delicate balance. When this happens, fungal organisms which were minding their own business before, have an opportunity to overgrow in the mouth and cause problems.  This condition can also happen in the vagina causing vaginal thrush or even in infants causing diaper rash.

What does this look like? It looks like creamy white patches on the tongue, on the inside of the cheeks, gums, tonsils, back of throat etc. They look like you can just scrape them off but any attempt to do that would usually lead to bleeding. People with this condition may also experience pain when swallowing or eating. Children with this condition are usually irritable and fussy.

Treatment of this condition is with the use of anti-fungal drugs which would usually have to be taken for about 10 to 14 days. Your baby’s doctor will advise on the right medicine. For nursing mothers, there may be a need for antifungal cream applied on the breasts as the baby and the mother may pass the infection back and forth to each other. Talk about joy in sharing 😀

I don’t know how old your baby is but irrespective of age, to prevent this:

• Practice good oral hygiene: brush your baby’s teeth twice a day being sure to spend time brushing the surface of the tongue
• Rinse out your mouth after every meal, if you can’t brush, especially if you have just taken a lot of sugary foods.
• Limit intake of sugary foods
• For those who use dentures, take them off before you go to bed
• And for those who smoke (definitely not your baby :D), don’t reduce the number of sticks you smoke. Just quit! 😀

Have a great night, people 😀