At least they don't have any yeast on them.

[rivka]

Alex has thrush, which is a minor and relatively common-in-babies yeast infection in the mouth. She's had it a lot. So we've got the drill down. When we're treating for yeast, we sterilize her bottle nipples after each use, and her pacifier every time we treat her mouth.

This morning I washed up bottles while boiling water fot my tea. I put the nipples and her most recent pacifier in a little pan of water and set them over a flame to boil. I poured my tea and fixed a bowl of cereal. I ate my breakfast while Alex played on the floor. We played some together. I went upstairs and put some files I needed for work on a thumb drive, and set up the work laptop on the couch. I fixed Alex a bottle. Here's what I did not do: maintain any recollection of the pot boiling on the stove.

Suddenly I heard a couple of pops and smelled something sort of electrical. I looked anxiously at the laptop, but it seemed fine. The smell continued.

"Oh my God!" I set Alex down on the floor and ran into the kitchen. Sure enough, the pan had boiled dry and her pacifier had begun to melt. The nipples had taken on a weird cloudy cast. I turned off the stove and ran cold water into the pan.

Accidents happen, right? Except that this is, conservatively, the third time Michael or I have ruined nipples and pacifiers while trying to sterilize them. I always laughed at the people who paid money for a separate sterilizer - why didn't they just use boiling water? - but now I'm beginning to get the idea.

Comments

[lysana.livejournal.com]

At risk of causing offense, and please forgive me for letting concern lead me down that path if it does, but if Alex keeps getting thrush, perhaps you should consider what in her diet may be doing that? Thrush is a yeast infection, if I remember correctly. Her intestinal flora may be out of whack.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Heh. Here's her entire diet:

- Enfamil formula with lipil.
- Organic brown rice cereal.

It's not a very complicated regimen. ;-)

Nothing I've read about thrush in babies suggests that it's diet-related, but thanks for your suggestion. I'm going to ask her doctor if she can takr acidophilus.

[thette.livejournal.com]

I would have agreed, but I went and searched. Some articles do suggest a diet high on carbohydrates as a risk factor.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

For most of her episodes of thrush - all but the current one - she's had a diet precisely as high in carbohydrates as every other formula-fed baby in America, though. I really doubt that's it.

[thette.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to imply that was the case with her. Sorry.

[fourgates.livejournal.com]

FYI, this (http://www.mendosa.com/gi.htm) claims brown rice has a glycemic index of 79. *shrug*

[erbie.livejournal.com]

If your dr okays it, there's acidophilus for babys at Whole Foods and similar stores. Baby-dophilus is one brand.

There's also Gentian Violet, which REALLY kicks thrush's ass. I had systemic thrush for about a year, did Diflucan, etc. What finally worked was GV. Screaming pain to cleared up in three days, and didn't come back for months. I finally went on a low carb diet and that got rid of it for good. Not practical for an infant, but the GV works like a charm. There are possible issues with side effects though, so investigate, obviously. I'm not a medical professional. And the GV stains everything it comes in contact with a lovely deep purple.