Tongue Thrush Treatment for Children
Tongue thrush is generally treated with antibiotics. The whole family should be treated simultaneously because the disease may be passed from one person to another. Although it may take a longer time for recovery depending upon the severity of the condition, this method will help you eliminate the infection without home remedies.
Prevention:
Like any other disease, prevention is always better than cure. After finishing the course of treatment, you should tell your child to avoid sharing utensils with others and also wipe his/her mouth before taking part in mealtime with family members.
Also, your children must be made aware of putting something in their mouths without checking for any signs or symptoms like a white coating on the tongue, which is common with tongue thrush. Special care must be taken when there are younger siblings in the family. Keep an eye for symptoms of infection.
Cause:
Lack of minerals and vitamins, food allergy, sudden change in temperature of surroundings can cause this oral problem. Our immune system becomes weak due to stress or illness that suddenly increases the chance of getting infected with tongue thrush.
Diet:
Consumption of healthy food items like green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, lemons, coconut oil, etc will help in healing quickly. Eating these foods is also helpful in preventing the risk of this disease. Avoid giving your child too many artificial juices or sugar-filled food products that may cause harmful effects to infants.
Home remedies for the treatment of tongue thrush include gargling warm salt water at least once a day for 5-10 minutes continuously and making sure you spit it out without swallowing any part of it;
application of garlic paste on the affected area can also help in reducing symptoms; applying lemon juice or eating one raw piece every morning is an effective way to prevent infection; keeping clean teeth and tongue with a clean brush can help prevent infection from spreading.
Asking your pediatrician to prescribe the medicine accordingly may also prove beneficial for you if he/she suggests otherwise. But please, avoid using toothpaste that contains any ingredient like sodium lauryl sulfate as it may worsen symptoms of this disease.
Oral thrush home remedies:
You can use garlic paste or lemon juice to cure the problem at home without wasting money on expensive medicines. If you do not want to go through all these methods, then consult your doctor who will diagnose the problem by examining your infant’s mouth under proper light if oral thrush is present or not. Generally, doctors will recommend treatment with antibiotics for children but make sure you follow guidelines provided by your doctor.
oral thrush in toddlers treatment:
First, let’s find out what exactly is oral thrush. Oral thrush may happen to anyone, but it seems that children are more prone to the disease. This is a fungal infection of the mouth caused by Candida albicans.
The spots, matter, and inflammation spread on the hard palate, gums, and tongue. This disease can affect a child if he is born through a cesarean section or has a weakened immune system or was given antibiotics at an early age.
However, this condition doesn’t lead to any serious health problems in most cases. In many cases, parents become worried about their kid’s oral thrush as it looks scary and unpleasant for them, which is completely understandable. Luckily this condition goes away without any specific treatment in many cases. But there are certain ways to make your toddler feel better and avoid any discomfort due to the condition.
How long an infant with thrush will be contagious?
The child may spread the infection by bypassing his saliva or kissing someone (with saliva on his lips). However, usually, an infant cannot pass oral thrush to healthy adults, not even to other babies. The chance of spreading this yeast infection is higher if a child has vaginal candidiasis as well as oral thrush at the same time.
In such cases, it is suggested that women don’t have sexual intercourse until their treatment ends and the woman’s vagina also heals from the disease. Research shows that adults can carry Candida albicans without being affected clinically, but they don’t show any signs of thrush.
How to treat oral thrush in toddlers:
Oral Thrush is the most common cause of sore mouth and tongue in babies and children under 3 years old. This infection can be treated at home by following the steps mentioned below:
1. Get your toddler accustomed to brushing his teeth twice a day, preferably after meals. It will help him maintain good dental hygiene. You may offer him some lollipops or chewing gums if he refuses to brush his teeth regularly due to discomfort caused by this condition. If you want, you can use plain yogurt as it contains probiotics that restore the balance of healthy bacteria in the tummy and fight Candida.
2. Clean the mouth with a swab dipped in saline solution at least two or three times a day. It may be painful for your child, so you should distract him to make sure he doesn’t move his head away from you.
After cleaning the mouth properly don’t forget to rinse it with boiled water as well as wipe dried areas of yeast infection on the hard palate and tongue. Don’t scrub too hard as this may be very uncomfortable for your kid and cause pain, but do gently remove all signs of thrush from his mouth. However, you shouldn’t use toothpaste before brushing as it contains fluoride that is harmful if swallowed by an infant.
3. Pay attention to how often your kid eats yogurt that contains live and active cultures of bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. These probiotics help to combat the candida yeast that causes oral thrush, so he should take more than one or two tablespoons a day if it is available for him.
4. Give your child 1 teaspoon of organic apple cider vinegar diluted in warm filtered water. Mix well and pour the mixture into a baby bottle and let him drink it up during his mealtime or meal replacement time (if he can’t eat solid food yet).
Don’t forget to carefully check the temperature first before giving this mixture to your toddler as hot water may be very painful for an infant’s tiny nostrils and mouth. If you notice your kid swallowing too much of this mixture, you should not repeat the treatment the following day.
5. Use of natural antifungal treatments is highly recommended for an infant that has oral thrush. You can use them in addition to the above-mentioned home remedies or on their own if your kid doesn’t feel comfortable with certain measures. To make sure they are safe for your baby, check with your primary care physician before using them at home.
He will provide you with advice on how to safely apply different herbal treatments to your baby’s skin without causing any side effects. The most commonly used natural antifungals include tea tree oil, calendula ointment, grapefruit seed extract, and many other similar products that are available in the local pharmacy or your local health food store.
6. Avoid giving your toddler any confectionery, fruit juices, and other sweet fruits especially when he is taking antibiotics as they encourage the growth of Candida yeast. The reason for this is that these foods are high in simple sugars that promote the growth of yeasts in the human body.
You can give him lots of fresh vegetables to counter these negative effects of breastfeeding just because breast milk contains natural probiotics that help to counteract fungi present inside the intestines.
It also clears up thrush very quickly according to some pediatricians. However, most mothers don’t like to feed their baby with formula milk only because it doesn’t contain any good bacteria (the main ingredients of breast milk). If you finally decide not to breastfeed your child anymore, you should notice that the use of soy milk or hypoallergenic milk will cause heartburn, constipation, or other digestive problems.
7. If applying antifungal ointments doesn’t help in fighting candida yeast infections inside the baby’s mouth, there are some pills available in local stores that can be used for this purpose. One of them is Nystan (Diflucan) that contains fluconazole as an active ingredient and can be used when breastfeeding.
Diflucan is also prescribed by doctors to treat vaginal thrush if nystatin ointment alone doesn’t work well enough. It has a great anti-fungal activity so it is especially useful in treating oral thrush.
It does not have any side effects as long as the newborn doesn’t use it for a longer period or take excessive amounts. Make sure you follow your doctor’s advice when using Nystan and reduce the amount given to your infant every two days until his infection heals. Also, never crush this medication and don’t touch it with wet hands because there is a risk that you’ll get infected.
8. Nail biting is something that babies do since their little fingers are always very close to their mouth, but they shouldn’t bite anything before 3 months of age, including their fingernails. To prevent infections caused by Candida yeast from getting inside a baby’s or child’s body, you should cut or file nails after every mealtime and make sure she doesn’t touch food with her fingers.
If the nail has an infection caused by a fungus, you must disinfect them by either cutting them short or filing them down as far as possible before applying tea tree oil on top of that. This natural antifungal will help to prevent re-occurrences and improve his condition gradually just like any other topical remedy for candida yeast infections.