Help please, 3 week old and I have thrush, so fed up and down, don't want to give up but need help...

[BettyBum]

This is going to be rambling because I'm tired and don't have much time to write an eloquent post.

I have a baby that will be 4 weeks on sat. Home birth, all gorgeous, weighed 9.15oz and was 11.6oz last Friday so weight really not an issue. I'm EBF. Midwife diagnosed thrush in early days as I was experiencing razor blade pain in nipples. Latch was fine and still is. Was given topical stuff (canesten) and nystatin for his mouth which is white but I thought it was milk, it's not spotty, but midwife said it shouldn't be white all the time like it is. Anyway, thrush seemed to get better for a few days then really much much worse despite having finished the treatment so I called a counsellor and she told me what I needed treatment wise so I marched to walk in centre and was given daktarin for nipples and more nystatin. Also fluconazole but only 50mg for 7 days which is nowhere near the rec dose from BFN website. Anyway, I'm half way through this treatment but nothing is improving. Still have razor blade pain while feeding although this is not constant. Have shooting pains in breasts in between feeds but this is better with paracetamol.

I'm terrified that I will get to the end of this treatment and the thrush will still be here. I can't go on feeding with this pain, it's far worse at night and very very upsetting. I also hate the thought of him getting fluconazole in his little tummy. I'm taking yakult every day and am going to get some pro biotic caps as heard on here that yakult is not great. I'm washing stuff at 60 degrees. I'm changing breast pads regularly and putting them in the freezer to keep them cold. Trying not to eat as much chocolate. I'm trying everything and am tired. I have just got rid of the beginnings of mastitis on top of everything and have a 3 year old with chicken pox. I'm exhausted, upset and don't know where to turn next. Thinking about getting him onto formula temporarily, expressing myself, and buying the fluconazole myself in high doses in an attempt to clear it (I know WHO supports it with breastfeeding in these higher doses but like I said I dint like the thought of it going through to baby and it might be my imagination but he seems unsettled since I started it). Then I would try to get him back on the breast when the treatment had finished. I know I'll be advised against this but can't think of anything else to try. Plus I would be able to keep the bloody cream on my nipples instead of having to take it off every 5 minutes...

What can I do? I fed my DD for 13 months and it was much easier!! Any help very gratefully received to keep me breastfeeding as I do love it when it doesn't hurt!

[organiccarrotcake]

betty :( it's SO horrible, that terrible thrush pain, isn't it.

You know the meds you need as you have the BfN leaflet. Really, getting those meds is what you need to get better. Can you possibly demand strongly request them from your doctor? I personally found being armed with the BfN leaflet and getting her to phone the BfN line AND the local BFing support nurses was the only way to get the meds.

The fluc is fine for his tummy as I understand it. Far less gets into the milk than is licensed for use on a bub. And of course better a but of fluc than formula, don't you think?

The lovely thing about fluc is that it gets you better SO quickly - or at least improves things really, really fast.

[RitaMorgan]

I'd ask for daktarin gel for his mouth, nystatin is really ineffective. You also have to be so scrupulous with hygiene, sterilise everything, and keep an eye out for thrush nappy rash too.

[BettyBum]

Thanks guys. So would you wait for the current course to finish (Friday) or make an appointment now assuming it's not going to get better? I know some people have said on here that it gets worse before it gets better? Thanks for the sympathy OCC, yes it really is painful!!

Makes you feel miserable when bfeeding not going right...

Regarding sterilizing, what do I do this for? He doesn't use a dummy, can't think of what else I would sterilize? I'm washing my hands so often they are now dry and sore!! I don't use the dropper or syringe for his nystatin, I use my finger and try to rub on gums and tongue.

Can soak to GP but he said his mouth looked fine and ado told me that thrush will clear on it's own which others have said is def not the case!!

[BettyBum]

Speak to GP not soak! Bloody iPad!!

[RitaMorgan]

If nothing's going in his mouth then don't worry about sterilising - my ds had a dummy.

Even if the baby doesn't have symptoms in his mouth it still needs treating - everything has to be tackled simultaneously or you will just keep reinfecting each other. We had thrush from 11 days til 8 weeks (!) because I kept having to go back and ask for more/better treatment, GP and HV didn't have a clue, but we're quite happy for me to do my own research and tell them what I wanted prescribed

So, eventually we got daktarin cream for nips and daktarin gel for ds's mouth and it seemed to clear up... then came right back. Turned out he had a thrush nappy rash too so needed cream for that. Once we treated nipples, mouth and rash all together (plus hot washing, sterilising everything) it finally went. I only had itchy nipples and no pain in my breasts so fluconazole wasn't necessary.

[Tryharder]

I probably shouldn't write this but the ONLY thing that got rid of the last bout of thrush that I had (lasted about 10 excrutiating weeks) was vaginal strength canestan. I had to lie to the pharmacist to get it.

[coldcomfortHeart]

Just wanted to add my symapthy- I had thrush for a long, long time with DS1 and it was hell on earth. Incredibly painful, in all worse than childbirth. Get pushy with the BfN leaflet. INSIST.

I've posted lots about my battle with thrush so if you'll forgive me here is a copied and pasted bit of advice I've given before on another thread. Time-wise it's quite outdated, as DS1 is 2y 8m now and I am bf DS2 who is 5 weeks old! (And no thrush!) Here you go:

I had hell with thrush and it's only just gone in the past couple of weeks. My case is not normal but I thought I'd tell it anyway, if nothing else it should make you feel better in an 'always someone worse off than you' sort of way!

Great tips here from everyone- I had the same symptoms as well, plus DS eventually got white patches in his mouth. I also got a deep crack (from poor attachment) that did not heal for weeks and weeks due to the presence of thrush.

Because I was unsure it was thrush (most pain in bf is due to positioning and attachment issues) I left it FAR too late and it took absolutely forever and ever to get rid of.

Again, I must state I think I've been extremely unusual but I had three courses of the meds you have been prescribed, and during the last course I cut out sugar, (so no fruit either, just veg) white foods (pasta, rice, bread) all yeasts, alcohol, dairy except tons of live sugar free bio yoghurt, etc.

I took grapefruitseed extract tablets, acidophillus tablets, garlic tablets and used grapefruitseed extract liquid as a nipple wash and mouth swab for DS. I used my Silverette silver nipple shields (I used these to get rid of the crack in the early days) to try and create an environment in which the candida couldn't thrive.

I washed everything at high temp, changed towels, bras etc constantly. It was hellish. Eventually I went on a long holiday to visit my parents abroad and the total change in diet (tried to stay sugar free but eventually failed!), the heat, different breast pads (no plastic back or puffy-up gel stuff like most uk ones) and swimming in the sea every day finally did the trick.

My DS is 24 weeks by the way!

It was truly awful in the first weeks (I was on a long thread with other sufferers, including KiwiPanda here) and although the drugs helped a bit they didn't get rid of it.

I hope my story doesn't terrify you too much- I get vaginal thrush all the time, so am very prone to it (and had a horrific bout of vaginal thrush postnatally too) had been on antibiotics postnatally and left it way, way too long. If you catch it early, and have the right treatment fluconazole usually works for most. You do need to be persistent though. Best of luck!

My DS is now nearly 7 months and and the thrush is still at bay, so it is possible!!
HTH and sorry for the length x

[coldcomfortHeart]

Blimey that is long!

[BettyBum]

Wow thanks!

I too have acidophillus tabs, not started yet as I found the yakult upset little ones tummy. Did you find this with the acidophillus? Not sure if I'm being neurotic!!

[Incapinka]

Hi. Am in the same boat as you. Well almost! Re the probiotics. Higher nature are meant to be good. A friend of mine is a nutritionist and she recommended taking 3 capsules of probio daily and then a teaspoon of probio easy as well. Have also started adding 1/4 teaspoon of probio easy to a bottle of EBM each day for LO.

Have also resumed using daktarin gel on him as the nystatin didn't help but did make him throw up when applied.

If you are still in pain phone the doctors although if they are like mine they won't be much help!

Good luck xx

[BettyBum]

Thanks! It's hard to know whether this is getting better or not. I think it is but don't want to get my hopes up! My course of fluconazole finishes today. Think I will see what happens over weekend and make appointment for Monday if it starts up again/hasn't gone completely. My baby takes the nystatin ok but plenty of people on here say it's not that effective. Think I'll keep applying the cream to my nipples until it runs out, it's daktarin.

Want to start the acidophillus but worried it will make baby windy, need to be told I'm mad for thinking this

[worldgonecrazy]

I had very bad thrush and had the tablets and cream. I gave up trying to treat it in the end, and it eventually went away on its own after a couple of weeks.

[coldcomfortHeart]

I didn't experience any windy side effects in DS1 from the acidophillus- give it a go, you can always stop if you think it's a problem.

[Incapinka]

Personally I think the probiotics have made my son less windy...

[BettyBum]

Update:

Went to see another GP as symptoms no better, and rook the BFN leaflet. He was aghast and said there is no way he would prescribe fluconazole as it was putting baby at risk due to no trials etc. He said thrush in bteats is really not very common and told me he saw no evidence of it in my sons mouth. He examined my breasts and said they were fine, thought pain was down to just breastfeeding.

Since then haven't had too much trouble, some burning on nipples but that's about it. Still taking the probiotics.

Not sure what to think about the whole thing really...