Dear Folks:
  Just a bit to add to Wendy Jones' fine post about using dilute solutions of
these common household substances to alter skin pH and reduce the growth of
thrush. Vinegar water can be a cheap and easy diagnostic measure if a mom
can't get to a care provider or if her care provider doesn't believe it is
thrush unless the classic sign of white spots in the baby's mouth is obvious.
Sometimes a mother can get relief overnight with this. I recommend 1
tablespoon vinegar in 1 cup (8 ounces) of comfortable temperature water. Rinse
after every feed, and also rinse the baby's mouth after every feed. Vinegar is
a food, and is diluted enough with the water that mother and baby are
comfortable.
  If she is relieved with this rinse, then for sure it is thrush.  Warmly,
Nikki Lee