Help oral thrush in six week old...

[kitten30]

Hi I am breast feeding and my baby has oral thrush. Doctor has given me nyastatin drops for baby and canestan for my nipples. I have put this on religiously now four times a day as prescribed for eight days and it has not done a thing.

The Dakatarin gel is only given to babies over 4 months so I cant use that.

Any advice or similar experiences?

Did you find the daktarin worked right away? I think you can buy it over the counter so I may think about getting it as they wont prescribe it for him given he is too young. Something about babies choking with it as its thick?

Get daktarin - I was prescribed it for ds when he was 11 days old and it cleared his mouth in about 3 days.

It's only a choking risk if you squeeze a glob of it into their mouths. So long as you're sensible and just smear a bit round the mouth it's fine. You need to use it 4 times a day though rather than twice.

This is an excellent leaflet:

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/BfN_Thrush_leaflet_Feb_2009.pdf

Daktarin gel is fine for babies under 4 months. It's very sticky so there's a theoretical risk of choking but actually you wipe smears around your baby's mouth, not lumps of it, so it's fine.

You need to do everything you can to break the cycle. Wash your bras daily and iron the inside (stick to cotton bras!). Dry your nipples after a bath/shower with a facecloth and put it straight in the wash (saves washing a whole towel) but anything which touches your nips needs washing. If your baby has a fabric comforter, or anything fabric to suck, remove it until the infection is gone. Sterilise all dummies etc frequently.

Watch out for it infecting your milk ducts as it's agony (read the leaflet for info).

Smear it with a clean finger that is.

Thanks everyone will get the gel tomorrow and will do as advised. Hopefully I will shift it as my nipples are so itchy and his mouth is really upsetting him.