I believe many mothers have heard of thrush or [snow mouth disease]. Literally, we can probably know what the disease looks like-there are many white plaques in the mouth.
Thrush is not a serious illness, but it is very common in infants and young children, and it can be avoided.
Let Dr. Clove talk to you about thrush.
What is thrush?
Ththrus is caused by excessive proliferation of Candida albicans (also known as Candida albicans), which is a fungal infection in common terms.
Thrush can occur in anyone, mostly in newborns and infants, malnutrition, and people who use broad-spectrum antibiotics or glucocorticoids for a long time.
Infants suffering from thrush often have white spots that are not easy to wipe off on the mucosa, upper jaw, tongue, cheek mucosa and other places in their lips. They are usually cheese-shaped, slightly shaped and fused into pieces. If these white spots are forcibly scraped off, bleeding may be caused.
Many children may not have obvious discomfort, However, some severe thrush may have fever. If it is complicated with stomatitis and stomatitis, it will feel pain and cry when sucking milk. It is unwilling to eat and even affect eating, resulting in malnutrition. If thrush spreads to throat in severe cases, it may affect swallowing, breathing, etc. and even endanger life.
Please note: thrush and milk lump are still different, so how to distinguish the two? It is very simple. Use cotton swabs and the like to gently wipe the white spots. If the white spots are easily wiped off, and the oral mucosa is complete, smooth and non-damaging after wiping off, then it can be considered as only milk lumps, otherwise, it is likely to be thrush.
Why does thrush occur?
Under normal circumstances, all kinds of bacteria in the baby’s oral cavity are in a relatively balanced state, and oral Candida albicans is also a kind of normal flora, which will not cause disease under normal circumstances.
However, when the baby’s immunity decreases, oral hygiene is poor or malnutrition occurs, the original balance of oral flora is destroyed, the [steady state] is broken, and Candida albicans [overgrowth] leads to Candida albicans infection.
1. The disinfection of baby products is lax.
As the baby’s own immune system is not fully developed, it is more difficult to resist the invasion of diseases. If the daily use of baby products is not thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, such as bottles (pacifiers), pacifiers, toys, etc. are not clean, thrush is easy to occur.
For example, most babies begin to grow teeth during the period of 4 ~ 10 months, and their gums have slight distending pain, so they like to bite their fingers and toys, which is easy to bring bacteria and mold into their oral cavity and cause infection.
2. Abuse of antibiotics and hormone drugs
Long-term use of broad-spectrum antibiotics may kill [beneficial] bacteria that can inhibit the overgrowth of Candida albicans. Candida albicans that lose the inhibition of [beneficial] bacteria may proliferate excessively and develop thrush.
Improper use of hormone drugs (dexamethasone, prednisone, methylprednisolone, etc.) will reduce the body’s immunity, and Candida albicans without immune system [suppression] will proliferate like a duck to water.
3. Other circumstances
Infants with certain congenital diseases, premature infants or chronically ill and infirm infants are also prone to thrush. In addition, if pregnant women have vaginal mold infection during childbirth, special attention should also be paid to whether the baby has Candida albicans infection.
How to avoid thrush?
Although thrush is very common in infants, it can be avoided to the greatest extent with a little attention.
1. Pay attention to the baby’s oral hygiene
- Cleaning of breasts: If you are using a bottle or pacifier, pay attention to cleaning at ordinary times. This can reduce Candida albicans on rubber nipples and pacifiers and avoid repeated infection of babies. Toys and hand cleaning: For babies who have the habit of sucking fingers or biting toys, pay attention to the cleaning of small hands and toys.
2. Avoid mutual infection between baby and mother,
For mothers who are nursing, they should be alert to nipple infection when their nipples are red and painful. At this time, they should see a doctor in time and use antibiotics and other drugs correctly under the guidance of doctors.
Pay attention to cleaning your hands when touching your baby at ordinary times.
3. Don’t abuse antibiotics and hormone drugs
Abuse of antibiotics and hormones may lead to Candida albicans [overgrowth] and thrush.
Problems needing attention after thrush
When the baby has thrush, the doctor may suggest cleaning the oral cavity with sodium bicarbonate solution or smearing nystatin on the infected area. During treatment, parents should pay attention to some details.
STEP 1 Do not wipe the infected area hard
Some parents may try to wipe off the white spots with towels, cotton swabs, etc. However, even if the white spots on the surface are wiped off, there are still many fungi that will reproduce after a period of time.
Not only that, hard wiping will not only damage oral mucosa and hemorrhage, but also may cause secondary bacterial infection and even septicemia.
2. Don’t feed the baby immediately after applying the medicine.
After the doctor prescribes the therapeutic drug, do not feed or eat immediately after applying the drug to the baby, which will affect the efficacy of the drug. It is recommended to apply nystatin after feeding or between two meals of milk.
Remember:
The course of treatment is important, Most babies’ thrush will disappear soon after medication, At this time, parents should not stop taking drugs casually because they have scruples about the side effects of drugs. Because, although no white spots can be seen in the oral cavity, in fact Candida albicans has not been completely eliminated, and the Candida albicans that have not been eliminated will come back again. Therefore, even if it looks like it is good, it still needs to continue to be used. The total course of treatment for nystatin is generally 7-14 days.
3. Seek medical treatment in time when necessary
Candida albicans can not only infect the oral cavity, but also may infect throat, trachea and other parts. When the baby has hoarseness, dog barking cough (cough sounds like dog singing), dyspnea or dysphagia, skin purple, should immediately go to the hospital.
What about recurrent attacks?
There are always some babies with thrush recurring attacks, which will not heal, but they are worried about Baoma. Don’t worry, here are some tricks.
Mother must first find out the reason from herself.
-
Reflect on whether you have standardized medication or stopped medication without authorization. If this is the case, you should pay attention to rational medication according to the doctor’s advice and the course of medication should be sufficient.
-
Think about whether there is nipple infection or whether the mother’s bra is dried in the shade, or whether there are unclean toys and bottles, and pay attention to the treatment of the causes.
-
Is it not improper feeding by oneself that makes the baby lack some nutrients, resulting in weakness, poor resistance and frequent illness. In this case, the mother should ensure the baby’s balanced diet, cultivate the baby’s correct eating habits and not be picky about food. In addition, she should often take the baby to exercise and enhance her physique.
-
If the baby’s thrush recurs, or thrush occurs after 9 months old, especially accompanied by recurrent respiratory tract infection, digestive tract infection, skin infection, etc., it is necessary to see a doctor in time to eliminate the existence of immune deficiency or other diseases.