is this likely?

[stegasaurus]

DD is now 3months old and EBF despite many and various problems along the way. Feeding her still hurts, sometimes to the point that I think there is no way I can carry on. The HV who runs the breastfeeding support group has seen me feed her at the group and come out to the house and says the latch is good although DD does always feed better when she is watching than when it is just the 2 of us. Today at breastfeeding group the other professional (not sure of her job titles but she works at the hospital, teaches the antenatal breastfeeding class and is the local NCT volunteer for breastfeeding support) also watched me feed and agreed that she seems to be latched on well. So, now they are suggesting that it still hurts because of an infection, possibly left over from when DD had thrush weeks ago, and I need to see a GP to get swabbed for infections. This is partly based on the fact that my breasts hurt most of the time, not just when I am feeding or when she first latches on. Does this seem likely to be the case? Has anyone heard of this before?

Yes, I had thrush and it blummin' hurts! Does it hurt inside your boobs as well as a bit on the skin? Easy to sort out and very common.

Sounds very likely, my thrush wasn't diagnosed for a few weeks and it went all the way into my armpits. Be warned though that many GPs are not very familiar with treating thrush. My bf supporter gave me a copy of an article about being given oral thrush treatment as my GP didn't want to prescribe it but did once they'd seen the article and been made aware of changes to the British National Formulary advice (that's the book that has all the information about medicines).

Yep, thrush feels like red hot pokers going through your nipple! If you go to the docs you and baby need to be treated, even if baby doesn't have the tell tale white tongue. I had fluconozole (SP?) and DS got Nystin (againSP?) Drops. I've seen on here that some don't think the Nystin drops are effective, but it clear up DS in about 5 days. The difficult part was trying to administer them! Label said "hold in mouth for 1-2mins"!

If it seems to be thrush then don't have a swab done - they frequently come back as a false negative.

If you take a look here: www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/thrush-and-breastfeeding.html and read both the PDFs and see what you think, you'll have a better idea. If you decide it's thrush I highly recommend taking the thrush leaflet to the surgery with you so that the doc gives you the correct meds.

Daktarin cream for you, Daktarin gel for bub, and Fluconazole per the leaflet (NOT per vaginal thrush treatment) for you orally. Nystatin isn't as effective as Daktarin. Don't accept Clotromizole cream for you. It can cause skin irritation and isn't suitable for oral use which effectively your bub will end up getting it as (although make sure any cream is well sunk in before feeding anyway).

I printed off the leaflet from organicarrotcake's link and took it to the surgery to get the right treatment.

It's very likely, particularly if you weren't treated when baby had thrush?