15 Tips for Curing Thrush with Gentian Violet

15 Tips for Curing Thrush with Gentian Violet

Does your baby have white patches on their tongue or the inside of their cheeks? Do they have a diaper rash that just won’t go away? Are your nipples sore? It is possible that you and your baby have thrush, a yeast infection that is easily passed back and forth between mom and baby.

Thrush can be very difficult to get rid of. My son was diagnosed with thrush when he was 13 months old. My doctor recommended an anti fungal medication. I hesitated, but ultimately decided to give my son the prescription. Several times a day I had to rub the medicine all over the inside of his mouth. To make a long story short, two rounds of medication and two months later, we were still battling thrush.

I called my lactation consultant and vented about my frustrations with the antibiotics and the thrush that just wouldn’t go away. She suggested gentian violet.

Gentian violet is not a medication. It is actually a dye that I spread all over the inside of my son’s mouth, his bottom, and my nipples. It works by coating the yeast and cutting off the yeast’s oxygen supply. It works after just one application, but my lactation consultant told me that we should use it for three nights just to be sure we got all of it.

So if gentian violet works after just 3 nights (unlike the antibiotics I was battling with for weeks), why don’t more people choose to use gentian violet right from the start? Probably because it is messy. Like I said, it is a dye. Whatever you touch with gentian violet will be stained purple.

At first I was scared of the mess, but in the end it was much easier than coating my son’s mouth with antibiotics several times a day. However, you should make sure you know what you are doing before you get started with gentian violet.

15 Tips for Curing Thrush with Gentian Violet

1. Consult your Doctor or Lactation Consultant – I am not a lactation consultant or a medical professional. Gentian violet worked for my son, but there may be reasons why you should avoid using it with your baby. Find out from a professional exactly how to use gentian violet safely.

2. Use it 3 Nights – After the last feeding of the night, just before you put your little one down for bed, spread the gentian violet all over the inside of your baby’s mouth. Make sure you get it everywhere: roof of the mouth, under the tongue, inside of cheeks, the gums, and as far back on the tongue as you can. You need to do this for three nights in a row.

Since yeast can also be in the form of a diaper rash or on mom’s nipples, also apply gentian violet to your baby’s bottom and your nipples just before bed. Do this even if you don’t see signs of thrush there. Yeast loves warm, moist places, so make sure you get in all the cracks and creases around your baby’s bottom.

3. Dilute – Gentian violet can be picked up over the counter at most pharmacies or on Amazon. It is sold in different concentrations, usually 1% or 2%. You need to dilute the dye to 0.5% before using it on your baby. The pharmacy can give you a small syringe to help you measure out the dye and then add the correct amount of water.

For 1% Gentian Violet – 1 part dye & 1 part water

For 2% Gentian Violet – 1 part dye & 3 parts water

4. Watch for a Reaction – Even with properly diluted gentian violet, some children will have a reaction. It is rare, but be on the look out for sores in your baby’s mouth.

5. Use a Disposable Cup – Dilute the small amount of gentian violet that you need for each application in a disposable cup that you can throw away. Don’t forget that gentian violet stains! You don’t want to rinse or wash a cup in your sink. The cup and the sink could end up purple.

6. Protect the Surface/Floor – Put an old towel or rag on top of the counter where you are diluting the dye in case you drip. I decided to put the gentian violet in my son’s mouth in our laundry room. I set my son on top of the washing machine, which I covered with an old towel. I figured that if things got super messy, I would rather have a stained laundry room floor than a stained kitchen or living room floor.

7. Apply Gentian Violet with a Q-Tip – I used a q-tip to wipe the dye all over the inside of my son’s mouth. I used a separate q-tip for his bottom and another for my nipples.

8. Don’t Use Diaper Rash or Nipple Cream – Soothing creams will form a barrier that the gentian violet can’t penetrate and will actually protect the yeast.

9. Wear Plastic Gloves – I was amazed at how messy my hands were after putting the dye in my son’s mouth. Thank goodness for the gloves!

10. Rub Olive Oil or Coconut Oil on your Baby’s Face – I spread olive oil on my son’s cheeks and around his mouth to help keep the dye from staining his skin. His face still got purple, but I could tell it was worse on the night that I forgot to put the olive oil on first.

11. Have Help – If your newborn is battling thrush, you might not need an extra pair of hands to help. However, my son was over a year old and he definitely knew how to fight back when I came at him with the q-tip. It was extremely helpful to have my husband there to hold back my son’s little hands.

12. Have Everyone Wear Old Clothes – This is the time to put your baby in an ugly onesie. Pull out the your grubby yard work clothes. Make sure everyone involved in the process is wearing clothes that you won’t mind being stained purple.

13. Protect the Crib Sheets and Blankets – Lay down an old towel or use old crib sheets. I used my darkest sheet and put it on the crib upside down. Surprisingly, the sheet wasn’t stained at all. I guess my son doesn’t drool much in his sleep. Does your older baby sleep with a stuffed animal? Don’t forget about those types of things. Anything in that crib could end up stained.

14. Use Disposable Nursing Pads – Don’t forget about protecting your nursing bras from the purple stain. My favorite disposable pads are made by Lansinoh. You’ll want to make sure you are wearing a nursing bra that is comfortable enough for sleeping.

15. Be Careful Not to Recontaminate – Thrush can live on things like sippy cups, bottles, pacifiers, tooth brushes, nursing bras, and cloth diapers. Be diligent about boiling or washing these things in very hot water until you are sure the thrush is completely gone.

Bonus Tip: Reschedule Family Photos! Thank goodness those purple stained baby lips won’t last forever. The purple will quickly fade, but you’ll want to make sure you don’t have any important photo shoots coming up before you start using gentian violet.

For more information about thrush and other alternative treatment options, check out: Breastfeeding and Thrush: How to Beat the Yeast Beast.

Have you ever battled thrush? What did you use to get rid of it?

Original article and pictures take www.breastfeedingplace.com site