A suprising reason for babies crying - the symptoms of oral thrush (possible reason for colic)

I had a problem with my second son - he was crying while I fed him (not because of wind), he had smelly poos and passed smelly wind.  So I took him to the doctor - 4 times.  Of course I sounded like a neurotic mother, but I was

so sure there was something wrong.  The doctor did tests but found nothing was wrong - so he said to me "babies cry - thats what they do".  I did not believe this because my baby was in the Gina Ford routine (a book by Gina Ford called The contented Little Baby - see my advice called 'baby crying? how to have a happy baby that doesn't cry and sleeps through the night') so he shouldn't cry and I could even pinpoint the week it started (he had been a happy before).

In the back of my mind I could remember that it started when he was three weeks old, however I had dismissed it because I thought I had treated it already.  Finally I did some research - the results were very suprising, my son had almost every symptom for thrush.  The reason he got it?  I had taken antibiotics when he was two weeks old.  Afterwards I noticed a mild candida infection on my nipples, he had no signs in his mouth, however I treated both him and I with Daktarin gel for oral thrush.  It seemed to go away but then gradually over the next few weeks I noticed he was getting very grumpy and cried with pain when I fed him, with short bursts of crying for no apparent reason through the day.  I didn't realise that the candida had returned and was getting worse.  Some people (particularly babies) are very prone to yeast infections.  The thing with this is that there are so many symptoms but you don't put it all together until know them.  Symptoms include:

Possible symptoms in mother - If you are particularly 'yeasty' you may have the following signs (if you have taken antibiotics such as augmentin ~amoxycillin is not as bad~it can trigger these):

1. vaginal yeast infection - particularly during pregnancy (make sure its treated before baby is born, it can cause stomach pain and premmie labour too).
2. dandruff (not the burnt flaky scalp kind but the yellowish, greasy kind that covers your scalp and doesn't have tiny white spots - this is a yeast infection on your scalp and only special anti-dandruff shampoos for yeast infections will work).
3. thrush on the nipples (symptoms are reddish looking aerola, shiny patches on aerola, painful letdown (which can take a long time also), deep throbbing aches or shooting pains in the breast - particularly at night. Sharp pains in breast while feeding, but usually goes away towards the end of a feed (this is not a poor latching technique which gets more painful as the feed progresses). Itchy nipples are also a sign of it.
4. yeast infections can also occur on your face and in your eyebrows - they are greasy patches (often around the nose) but have flaking skin.  They are red, itchy and sore.  I found out about this one while pregnant - exzma creams did not work.

Possible symptoms in baby - (basically if you have any of the above the baby is likely to catch it):

1. Small white spots on tongue that don't wipe away (not lumps of milk)
2. Particularly red mouth and lips can also be a sign
3. Rash on bottom that is red, flaky and mainly appears in the skin folds (as opposed to diaper rash which is not in folds, comes from contact with diaper, usually only occurs if you are not changing diapers enough and can be treated with nappy rash creams). Candida infection rash gets worse no matter what you do (and makes you look like a bad mum if anyone sees the state of the poor baby's bum!) I had a fantastic nurse that spotted the rash with my first son after I had tried for 3 weeks with nappy rash creams!
4. Dribbling - when they are too young to be teething
5. Smelly diapers - a very yeasty smell, and often an unusual colour - like someone mixed cream with mustard (icky).  It can be foamy too.
6. Passing smelly wind  - particularly during feeds(and I don't mean just a little bit smelly - this makes you gag and curl your toes up!).
7. Crying in pain for no apparent reason (high pitched cry that stops as suddenly as it starts) - particularly during feeds. Our sons crying was timed with his poos (which occured every six days).  We knew that he was due for a poo because he started to get grumpy for three days beforehand).  This stopped after treatment.
8. Fussing at the breast - the baby is crying in hunger but will not feed.  He will throw his head back and squirm in pain when you start to feed him.  There are two possible reason for this: one is that his mouth might be sore, two is that his tummy might be sore after a couple of minutes of feeding.

The problem with yeast infections is that they often get worse if left untreated.  What starts out as a mild nipple infection turns into a deep infection in the milk ducts (much harder to treat).  With the baby a slight case of oral thrush can get right into his intestines and cause him a lot of discomfort by producing excessive gas. 

Ways to treat a yeast infection:

1. Treat nipples and baby's mouth with Daktarin oral gel (or a similar product with miconazole as active ingredient).  Apply cream to nipples and mouth three times a day after feeding - continue for about 10 days to be sure it is gone (it comes back with a vengance if it's not completely killed).
2.  Unfortunately candida is becoming resistant to the above modern treatment, so a cheap and gentle alternative is the Genetian Violet (supermarket usually sells it).  It is an old remedy and if painted carefully (with a cotton bud)on the nipple after feeds and inside babies mouth before sleeps it will cure it after about 10 days.  Be very careful with it as it stains everything purple - add a little bit to a glass of water to see the result.  It will give your baby a hilarious purple clown face but goes away a day after you stop treatment.  Also makes your nipples look like an aliens - wear disposable breast pads during treatment.  Change breast pads often and keeps nipples clean and dry.
3. Treat the diaper rash with vaginal thrush cream - one application and you see a huge difference. Put in on three times a day for about 3 days.
4. If you are storing breast milk in the freezer throw out all milk expressed before treatment.  I've heard that it can multiply in the freezer still but I don't know about that.  I'm sure it stays alive though, and reinfects the baby if you give him a bottle of milk with candida in it - this might explain why our first treatment didn't work. 

As you can see there are a lot of symptoms and this can be very painful for a baby if it is in his intestines.  The doctors don't seem to be very aware of it (or they only check the mouth for spots).  My son had all the symptoms except for the spots! There is definitely not enough awareness of candida in babies, even though it is very common.  Some babies are never diagnosed and it only starts to clear up once they are on solids and their delicate gut changes and becomes more resistant to candida.

I believe this is one of the most common problems that is not diagnosed in babies - it can cause all the other problems related to feeding: lactose overdose (too much foremilk as the babies mouth is too sore to drink the hindmilk), not sleeping because baby is too hungry, crying related to both pain and hunger.  I hope this advice helps anyone with a baby to identify the cause of his/her crying, maybe it will help some doctors to think outside the box too!