4 Year Old Constantly Having Yeast Infections.

My daughter had a yeast infection and I got her some chewable probiotics at the herb shop and also some probiotics in capsule form and I broke open a few and put them in her bath water. It cleared up quickly. If you could keep her on probiotics for a while it should really help. If I'm not mistaken, yeast infections can be an indication of a lack of good bacteria which probiotics will help clear up. hth

I haven't read the other responses, but thought I would chime in. This happened to my son when he was 4yo. I took him off dairy (cow's milk mainly) and I also put him on probiotics and used coconut oil (organic) from the health food store and it went away and didn't come back.

He was drinking way too much cow's milk. Actually, he drinks none now. The coconut oil is great for yeast infections, etc. You can look at the kind that I buy at coconutoil-online.com (it's coconut oil supreme). It's wonderful and can be used for so many things. The probiotics that I use is the Jarrow Brand. It's great for people that have been on antibiotics (which we don't do) and helps to replace the good flora back in the body.

Sweets and the like can cause this problem as well for some people.

Just another thought-and I agree with all of the other wonderful advice here but she is also at that age where they "discover" and "explore" different things which is normal. I had a cousin and her daughter had the same problem and they couldn't figure out why she kept getting yeast infections. Come to find out my cousin walked in one day and found her daughter playing with crayons in a not so healthy way. She had no clue that she was doing this and it wasn't "sexual" by any means. She just discovered that hey there is something there and moment of advantage that she had crayons. I have heard some very wild stories-my Mother is an MA and has been for several years and you wouldn't believe some of the story's. It may be something as simple as these other suggestions but my cousin was totally freaked out about the whole situation but then her Ped totally calmed her down and told her it wasn't "abnormal" but that she needed to "supervise" when she was playing with her crayons. lol! I know it sounds kind of gross, weird, or whatever and may not totally be the case but just thought I would mention that in case she was a little curious George like my cousins daughter was/is.

chronic yeast for a 4-year-old is interesting...

Well, first of all, I'd make sure what's going on is really yeast. (doctor visit.) Then, I'd just allow as much air to her "diaper region" as possible. Cotton panties, watch her diet and avoid too much starch/sugar. I have a girlfriend who takes her daughters into her bathroom after every bath and blow dries (not on hot, of course) their private areas. I don't -- but it might be a good idea for you.

If it were me, I'd take my child to the pediatrician to find out what exactly the problem is and what the cause(s) are.

Cut out all sweets, balance her carbs and get an appointment with the DR asap. Yeast feeds on sugar. If she were a young adult a vinegar & water douche would clear it but I would be concerned about diabetes as the urine will shed sugar. Get her blood work done along with a urine test. V.

My first thoughts would be how much sugar and white flour is in her diet. Then how often has she been on antibiotics? and third is there a family history of diabetes? I would introduce a regular dose of a good probiotic and good immune balancing foods garlic would be a great and super easy thing to incorporate into her diet on a daily basis! Baby just woke so I have to run GOOD LUCK!

My sister-in-laws children get yeast infections all the time too. She consulted her doctor and the doctor told her that some females; even young girls; as young as yours, are just prone to yeast and other vaginal infections. It was suggested that they be given yogurt- to combact the yeast infection- regularly, and 100% cranberry juice to promote healthy unrinary tract system. I hope this helps.

From:____@____.com
Date: Tues, 30 Dec 2008
Dear K.'
This can be a challenge for little girls. Has your child been on antibiotic's. If so this can cause the infection. Let your child's doctor know so he can order anti-fungal(yeast is a fungus) medication to be APPLIED TO THE AREA. IT IS ALSO HELPFUL TO give your child yogurt with
active probiotics or you may want to try chewable probiotics
in the dose appropriate for her size. Don't delay treatment.

have you talk this with your doctor? Does she wet herself a lot?

K.,
Has she been on antibiotics a lot? This can certainly cause a yeast overgrowth. I would suggest a probiotic supplement for her; you can double the dosage recommended for kids until this clears up. There are also some safe herbs available to help her condition.

C.
www.LostRiverNaturals.com
Handcrafted Herbal Organics

Sure this is yeast? Yeast is fed and its population allowed to grow out of control (and cause symptoms like vag yeast infections) when a person has continually elevated bloodsugar levels.
So if it is, please don't delay to have your daughter screened for diabetes type 1 !

You might want to try giving her yogurt. That might help!
Good luck!

Are you sure they are yeast infections? My daughter had problems with irritation and it turned out to be what I was washing her underwear in. Are you using laundry soap, fabric softener or dryer sheets with fragrance in them? Many of these can cause contact irritation. Hope it helps!

You may already do this but have you given her any yogurt? I'm wondering if her digestive tract has lost most of the good bacterial due to antibiotics. There are alot of probiotic items on the market today that can help in that area. Give it a shot if you aren't already doing it! Does your Pediatrician have any ideas? It's almost as if she has a predisposition to the infections and maybe there is something out there for it. Good luck!

She may need to see a doctor to get cream or some other type of medication. I would also feed her yogurt as it is a natural way to fight yeast infections and prevent them before they start.

K.,
I don't have girls, but I am a girl, so I can give a little bit of advice. I saw that some people recommended yogurt and pro-biotics. You can buy that at a GNC or other nutritional supplement place. You can also get a very good source of it by having her drink Kefier. It is a yogurt/milk/smoothie sort of drink that is sold with the milk. It is in quart size containers and is often flavored. It will have a blue or pink cap (to help you find it :-) I think most common are blueberry and raspberry. I have heard that the plain is horrible, so I would steer clear of that for a child. Anyway, my friend gives it to her girls all the time. It is an aquired taste as is yogurt, but you could add fruit and make a smoothie. Or you could add some vanilla soy milk to thin it a bit. I love it, and it is a great source of the pro-biotics that help us fight yeast.

I agree that this is something that you should explore with her doctor, but if he says it is just yeast, try the kefier and steer clear of colored underwear (which you probably already are).

Good luck!

I really feel for you! It is so hard when you try ever ything you can think of and it still keeps happening. I agree with the pre piotic but think you should use a pro biatic as well...this actually feeds the good bacteria. Has she been on atibiotics a lot? This is another huge reason for yeast infections. It is hard to get pro biotics with very many live cultures still in them by the time they make it to your home as well as down to your intestines where they need to be. Your stomach kills many of them just in the digestion process. The ones we use are triple encapsulated and the last layer doesn't come off until they are in your lower intestines where they belong. I feel this can be cleared with a nutritional approach. I think I have a flyer on yeast (candida) that I could scan and e-mail if your interested. Just let me know if you would like that. I don't think I can send an attatchment through this forun though so wouold need a traditional e-mail to do that. I wish you the best as you sort through all the suggestions and wisdom to know what will be the answer for your daughter!

Sincerely,
K.

I would like to point out that most yogurts and keifer you find in the grocery store have lots of sugar. Look at the nutrition label. There isn't enough bacterial culture in these products to counteract the sugar that's in them. You need either plain keifer or yogurt that you can sweeten with stevia or use probiotic supplements. Yeast feeds on anything sweet including alcohol and dairy, so I wouldn't add vanilla to the yogurt unless it doesn't contain alcohol. I have also used these things at the health food store called Pro K (in the refrigerated section), which are little containers of something that looks and tastes like yogurt on steroids. They are expensive but very effective. Have the staff at the store explain the dosage.

But first, go to the doctor because as others have said, it may not be yeast but another type of infection.

I feel for you because I have been there. My daughter has had the same problem. I will say this, the pediatrician is out to lunch on this issue. There is one easy one and one much more involved one. The easy one is pullups (I am convinced the chemicals make it worse). The walgreens version have less chemicals it seems.

The bigger issue, which is the real one, is the yeast in the gut which needs to be addressed. Yeast is usually either due to the use of an antibiotic which causes the yeast bacterial imbalence to be begin or due to gut inflammation stemming from food sensitivities. There are a host of things to do, but the number on thing is to get her on tons of proibotics (a broad spectrum such as one at your natural food store, culturelle -walgreens has - 1 a day). Get her off milk (go to rice milk and rice dream products) which will help with any inflamation. Consider removing the gluten (GFCF) in her diet as well as this can be tremendous improvment when inflamation is the cause (the antibiotics will sometimes cause clostridia which then screws up the system and both the yeast and the bacteria are out of control).

You can start reading on www.greatplainslaboratory.com. Also, in whole foods library, you can start looking at books on yeast overgrowth or food allergies, etc. You need to find a good preventative med doctor who will prescribe you Nystatin or another antifungal. Our doc in CA is awesome (www.drrachelwest.com) but may be better to get a local one. Your pediatrician can prescribe it and it can help immediately, as long as you accompany with proibotics.

Search for yeast overgrowth, there are products like ThreeLac (a type of priobotics) and Candicid Forte which are awesome and will need to be continued for some time. Yeast is tough to beat, but very possible.

We finally beat it wiht my daughter using homeopathy. We got a great homeopath in CA and I will be glad to share any other folks you may need. Just email and let me know.

J.

I had lots of yeast infections as a young child and had exploratory surgery at age 10 to see what was causing them. Although the surgery never found what was causing the recurring infections, I eventually grew out of the condition. I still get them when I take antibiotics, so I just call my physician for a dose of Diflucan to take care of it. However, this option is probably not one you can use with your 4-1/2 year old. What I would recommend is that you talk with your doctor about whether antibacterial soaps or hand santizer could be causing the problem by killing too much of the good bacteria and also ask if your daughter would benefit from eating yougurt with live cultures or taking a supplement with probiotics (lacto bacillus, etc.) You may also want to allow your daughter to sleep in gowns or pjs with no underwear and wear only 100% cotton undies with her clothing. I noticed that you don't allow her to bathe with scented soaps or bubble baths, but have you also switched to unscented laundry detergent and unscented fabric softener? My kids use Dove soap (unscented for sensitive skin) and I wash clothes in perfume/dye-free detergent and use only perfume/dye-free fabric softener. Some loads I even rinse twice. I'm sure she will eventually grow out of it, but keeping your eye on her diet will help (low sugar intake). Take care and good luck!

When I was younger, I had pretty bad allergies to several laundry detergents and fabric softeners as well as soaps. I still cannot use Tide or Bounce or any liquid fabric softener and I am 35! As a child, I also had to use only Ivory soap. See if changing any of those products helps.

They do make Diflucan for children...

K., it is important for you to know how yeast infections work. Well, you know how MDs think they work, I mean how the natural sciences know they work. It is a signal that there is an imbalance of bacteria - too much bad bacteria in her gut, and probably no good bacteria. Every time you take antibiotics, whether drink or put on skin, all bacteria in the gut are killed. The bad bacteria return quickly and are fed every time she eats sweets, such as fruit juice, sugars, and simple carbs - bread, cookies, etc. The only way to add good bacteria is to take probiotics. She will also need to take a supplement to treat the candida. We take Kiddi-Flora chewable probiotics. This one includes something to feed the good bacteria - FOS and inulin. My daughter takes Candida Plus homeopathic drops. 3 drops twice a day. We get both at Dr. Chris' Natural Pharmacy in Snellville.

K.- try cutting out bread (in particular wheat) wheat is hard for a lot of people to handle and can cause overgrowth of yeast in teh body- also put her on a probiotic- the best ones to use are the ones you'll find refridgerated at Harrys' or health food sotres- you can break open the capsule and put it in juice yogurt, or applesauce....good luck
Nikki

didn't read all the responses but use a dye and fragrance free laundry detergent. also, all natural unscented hair and body care products(i use arbonne abc on my kids).

Are you using detergent or fabric softner with fragrances,
if so you may want to switch to dye -free, fragrance free
detergent, see if this helps. Good Luck