This is Susun Weed, the voice of the Wise Woman Tradition. One of my past apprentice is a wonderful midwife, Astrid Grove, asked me to make some YouTubes. This is for you Astrid.
Thrush is a problem that can occur even in a breastfeeding baby, although it tends to be more common in babies. When a baby has thrush, if we look inside its mouth, we will see kind of a white coating all inside its mouth, and the baby might be very uncomfortable or crying, especially when it tries to nurse.
Basically, thrush in a baby's mouth is kind of like yeast in a woman's vagina. It can be irritating or not irritating, depending on the individual. Some women say they get vagina yeast infections, it doesn't bother them. Others say, it absolutely drives them crazy. The same thing with babies and thrush. And if you have good remedies that work for your vaginal yeast, those remedies will work for your baby too.
Let's start with the simplest and safest, and that's plain ordinary yogurt. Just take some yogurt, and either using your finger or a clean swab, put that yogurt inside your baby's mouth. Some women just like to take the yogurt and apply it to their nipple before the baby starts to nurse, thereby knowing that they would get that yogurt into the baby's mouth. You can apply it as often as you want to, it's safe and wholesome for the baby.
For many women, yogurt vaginally is the easiest thing to get rid of vaginal yeast. For other babies and other women, sometimes we need to use something more astringent. And especially astringent herbs that contain the alkaloid berberine are considered very effective at eliminating vaginal yeast and thrush in baby's mouth.
Goldenseal of course is an herb that many people think of as being very high in berberine, but barberry which is berberis vulgaris, a very common shrub throughout the Northeast, is my favorite, rather than goldenseal, which is after all not so common, and a rather threatened plant at this point as well.
It's the bark or the roots of the berberis vulgaris, also called beauty berry bush. Very noticeable bush with its red berries dangling down in the fall, and that can be brewed up, and again, used as a wash, right directly in the baby's mouth or directly on the baby's nipple.
I was very happily surprised to read that chamomile tea also is highly effective against thrush and yeast. So if you like chamomile tea or your baby likes chamomile tea, drinking some chamomile tea together is a wonderful way to help get rid of a thrush infection.
Don't you think that would be a good thing to do Monica Jean? This is Susun Weed, the voice of the Wise Woman Tradition, reminding you that herbal medicine is people's medicine.
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