VERY ITCHY SORE NIPPLES!! THRUSH?

[gillythekid]

I'm desperately itchy and sore for the past 2 days feeding my 3 week old son. I've been on antibiotics for infected stitches but have taken acidophilus to counteract thrush. Noticed a white covering on DS tongue and now have really horrid nipples. Anyone know what I can put on them tonight till I see the doc?

[tassisssss]

I had this about a fortnight ago.

Managed to get a prescription by just phoning doc and describing symptoms. Meantime, suggest you keep nipples as dry as poss, so bra-less if you can...realise that's not v practical when BFing, but have breastpads/facecloths/muslin to hand and try it for an hour or so.

Good thing is the cream worked really quickly for us.

[thegreenfairy]

Deffo thrush - make sure you both get treated.
Do the cream on you/ gel in DS mouth for two weeks MINIMUM. Also - you can sterilise your nipples with vinegar/ water solution (1 tblsp vinegar to one cup water - stick it in a spray bottle).
If you're using reusable nappies then boil them - but worth switching to disposables for two weeks. Going braless is a pain but worth it.
Sit by a sunny window top off if you can - the sun helps kill the fungus.
Take acidopholus supp - to restore stomach balance - one capsule before every feed.
Also, try to cut sugar/ yeast and dairy from your diet.
It all sounds like a pain, but you need to kill off the underlying infection. The cream/ gel will work to beat the obvious symptoms but it does come back easily if you don't get hardcore with tretment - good luck!

[tassisssss]

hey there greenfairy, can you explain the switch to disposables bit please?

as I said earlier I had this about a fortnight ago and the cream (same for both me and baby) seemed to zap the symptoms pretty quickly (as I said 2 days ago) so I stopped using it but noticed today that symptoms have returned a bit...

How're you gilly?

[thegreenfairy]

Hi. Basically the fungus likes warm, damp places (ie nappies) and is hard to kill in a washing machine. So it's better to use disposables because you're not risking it lurking. For the same reason you should wash your towels more often (in theory fresh ones each day, but how realistic is that?)and use disposable breast pads too.
It's quite a faff, isn't it?!

[tassisssss]

thanks!

[gillythekid]

My nipples are on fire! Have sat in the sunny open window for half an hour with the tats out and put on some Canesten cream, my neighbors must be sick of the sight of my bare breasts. I now have Daktarin gel for DS and will start that tomorrow as he's been really cranky tonight and didn't want to risk him having a benny before bed! Luckily he's in eco disposables till we get back from holiday when he'll be in his new Bumgenius reusables so let's hope it's gone by then.
I know candida can be a stubborn problem having suffered with it years ago. Wish I hadn't had to take the bloody antibiotics!
Thanks for the advice greenfairy and support, MN a winner as usual! Hope you're ok Tassisssss

[tassisssss]

gilly, we were prescribed daktarin too but for us both so suggest you try it on you too!

[thegreenfairy]

The dakktarin is quite sticky and can make your nipples sore. Normal thrush cream is fine as long as you wipe your nipples before you feed - your GP will prescribe it...