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How To Avoid
And Treat Thrush When Bottle Feeding
By Robin OBrien
The presence of thrush in a baby's mouth can be painful for the baby
and very upsetting for parents. Babies who are bottle-fed are more
likely to develop thrush than those who are exclusively breastfeed.
However, steps can be taken to lessen the risk of thrush developing,
and treatment is quite easy.
Thrush, or oral pseudomembranous candidiasis, is a superficial yeast
infection that is found in about 5% of healthy newborns. Babies usually
acquire the yeast from their mothers during passage through the birth
canal. You can tell whether or not your child has thrush by looking out
for the telltale white patches that can be found of the inside of the
cheeks, lips, palate and tongue. Many mothers who bottle-feed their
baby often mistake milk residue found on the tongue for thrush. If the
tongue is uniformly white, this isn't thrush. The patches of thrush are
often described as curd-like. Unlike milk residue, they adhere to the
underlying tissue. You can also, test for thrush, by gently touching a
patch with a gauze-covered finger. If it is thrush, it probably won't
come off very easily, but if it does, you'll find a raw, red area
underneath that may bleed. Thrush lesions can be painful and when
bottle-fed a child can become fussy and squirm.
Why are bottle-fed
more
susceptible to thrush?
Many
have
thrush, but it is a
self-limited condition; it goes away all by itself, without anyone ever
knowing the baby had thrush in the first place. However, certain
changes in baby or its environment can cause the thrush to be
exacerbated. Antibiotics or stress can be to blame. Bottle-feeding
often causes thrush
because the lining of the mouth becomes abraded with prolonged sucking,
such as
who
sleep with a bottle or
pacifier -
who
are breastfed don't go to
sleep at night still sucking at their mother's breast, unfortunately,
many bottle-fed
do
go to sleep sucking on a
bottle. Also, dirty nipples and pacifiers can harbour the yeast
infection.
How to treat thrush?
First off, prevention is better than cure. Babies should not be put to
bed while still sucking the nipple of a bottle. Avoid letting your
child suck on a pacifier for long periods of time. Make sure all
nipples and pacifiers are washed thoroughly and sterilized.
In most case thrush will disappear all by itself and the only treatment
required is to alleviate oral discomfort or to treat (or prevent)
painful yeast diaper rashes. You can use an antifungal medicine such as
Nystatin suspension. This can be applied, directly to the plaques with
a cotton-tipped applicator, or given orally 1-2ml four times daily.
Always follow the manufacturer's instructions. An old-fashioned, and
still affective treatment of baby thrush is baking soda. Use a
cotton-tipped bud dipped into a mixture of one-fourth teaspoon of
baking soda and one or two drops of mild liquid detergent (without
ammonia or bleach) mixed in a glass of warm water. Apply the mixture
gently to the affected areas.
If symptoms persist or you have any concerns, seek medical help.
Babies who fuss during bottle-feeding, can do so for many reasons. If
your baby is fussy when being fed formula, it's worth checking to see
if your child has thrush. If your child does have thrush, you need not
change milk formula. Just apply a treatment as described above and the
thrush should disappear in a matter of weeks. Article
Directory:
http://www.articlecube.com
Robin
O'Brien is founder of Baby Bottle Feeding. It offers
advice on what is the best infant formula
and bottle feeding and thrush.
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