Baby Problems - Thrush, Acid Reflux, Lactose Intolerance, Colic

Thrush

Thrush is a type of yeast infection and can be seen in the baby’s mouth as creamy white patches. Some mother’s ignore this thinking that it is milk residue but be careful as these will be small patches whereas milk residue is one uniform white patch. One sure way to check if it thrush is to wipe that area with a soft cloth if it does not go away it is thrush. Even if it goes away you will see a red area that may bleed. It is generally found on the tongue, palate, lips or gums of the baby. It is very painful for the baby and it should be treated early. There are some cases where the thrush gets cured on its own but most of the cases it needs medication. You could use an oral antifungal medicine like Nystatin to cure thrush. It could be applied on the thrush infected area several times in a day. It is believed that intake of antibiotics could be a cause of thrush as antibiotics kill bacteria that fights yeast. Avoiding antibiotics and using clean bottle nipples and pacifiers could help avoid thrush. Even mothers breastfeeding babies with thrush could use Nystatin so that they don’t pass the thrush infection back to the baby.

Acid Reflux

Acid reflux is a condition when after overeating the excess food is converted into acids and specially as babies are always lying down the acids tend to travel from the stomach to the esophagus. A baby with acid reflux tends to spit up and vomit very often. The baby could also have a tendency of being uneasy and irritable during feeding time and after that. The child could also have a tendency to cough a lot. A loss of appetite is also possible. Be aware of all these symptoms and provide proper medication to the baby as per your pediatrician’s advice. Keeping the baby upright while feeding and burping the baby after feeding could avoid acid reflux in babies. Even giving the baby small feeds at frequent intervals of time could be a good idea in such situations.

Baby colic

Colic is a condition when babies cry endlessly for 3-4 hours. They have a tendency to do so mostly in afternoons or evenings. This generally occurs because baby’s digestive system is weak and they do not release enough digestive enzymes to digest formula or mother’s milk causing them to have painful gas. Babies are believed to get over this condition after about 6 months or so. Baby colic can really be a terrible time for parents to handle when their dear one is crying endlessly. While a crying baby can be soothed by trying some of the tips here ‘soothing a crying baby’, there are some ways in which you can try and avoid baby colic.

Gripe water is believed to do magic for a crying baby.

Sometimes mother’s intake of dairy products (for children who are breastfeeding) could be the cause of baby colic. Mother can try and avoid dairy products for a few days and see if that helps the baby.

A particular brand of formula may not suit the baby. Switching the brand of formula could also help.

Breastfeeding should be done properly. The baby should be made to feed at an upright position and should be burped well after every feed.

Use drops for gas.

Smoking near the baby could also cause colic so please avoid that.

Feeding the baby frequently and in less amounts helps to prevent colic in babies.

When the baby is sucking endlessly from a small nipple or when the baby is sucking the nipple of an empty bottle the baby tends to develop gas. Please avoid doing that.

Lactose intolerance

Sometimes babies are allergic to lactose found in cow’s milk, certain types of formula, or sometimes in processed foods. These babies have a tendency to vomit or spit up whatever they eat. Babies will show these symptoms within one hour of drinking milk.  The best solution to this problem is changing baby’s formula like giving soy milk based formula.

The above problems like thrush, etc. if detected early and treated early will not hurt your baby.