Thrush & cracked nipple - the bane of our lives at the moment..

[Incapinka]

Sorry for not being more upbeat but nearly had enough of this. LO & i both had thrush diagnosed when he was 2weeks and 5 days. The doctor prescribed Daktarin oral gel for us both but then i had to go back after 2 days as the pain was quite unbearable. Anyhow got prescribed Fluconozole (spelling?!) which sorted out the pain. However LO struggles latching on the left side due to the shape of his mouth and the shape of my nipple and the oral gel which i had been told to use on that side ended up causing an almighty crack. Due to the pain from the crack i went to a breastfeeding support group in tears and was told that they should have given me a different form of Daktarin for me and that so long as the nipple got air using lansinoh would be ok. Anyhw after 3 weeks of treating little one the doctor then told me that his mouth was clear - i had taken him in as i was concerned that the white streaks on the side of his tongue was thrush but this was dismissed. Hoorah i thought. I then started expressing from my left side and feeding LO the expressed milk in an attempt to heal that blasted nipple. 2 weeks on nipple still not fixed and the blasted thrush has come back on LO's tongue. Started using Daktarin oral gel on him and this time it hasnt worked at all. They have now given my Nystan to try but am not holding much hope. I have been boiling the bottles & pump equipment for atleast 20 minutes so anything lurking should be nuked but am now thinking that i am going to have to feed him off the cracked side to see whether that will help. Does anyone have any ideas? Sorry if this is all rather rambley - just low today and not helped by phoning the so called helplines all afternoon and no one answering their phones. Just find it depressing that the first 10 days of feeding was painful due to tongue tie, milk coming in etc, then thrush, then crack and now LO is 9 weeks old i find it upsetting that feeding off my right side is good and calming to LO & then the left side & the thrush gets me down. Sorry for going on... And thanks for reading if anyone got this far x

Sounds like you've really had a rubbish time of it incapinka. I don't blame you for being down about this.

TBH, I've no experience of thrush but from reading on here every single day, nystatin isn't as good as the daktarin.

Regarding the lansinoh- I'm not sure about the advice to keep using it as most things I've read have said that as it traps the moisture, it doesn't assist in getting rid of the thrush.

You could try jelonet which is a gauze type dressing for the crack. You can buy this from pharmacies.

Others suggest that grapefruit seed extract is useful for eliminating thrush. See this article

Might be worth a look at the BFN info on thrush here

Hope that's of some help- hopefully you'll get some more suggestions from thrush sufferers soon.

Is it definitely thrush in his mouth (white patches, possibly on lips/gums too) or a milk residue (white coating just on tongue, wipes away with cloth with no bleeding)? Are you treating yourself too?

One other thing, has your baby got a nappy rash? I managed to get rid of thrush, then it came back when we stopped using the treatment - turned out the thrush hadn't actually gone, it had just moved from mouth to bottom.

Thanks badger for listening! It's so disheartening that the daktarin gel did nothing this time round to the poor chaps mouth. Like you I had read on here how rubbish nystatin has been so just hoping this will work for him otherwise god knows what will!

Have tried jelonet. It did help semi heal the crack but no such luck with the last bit. Will try again but again its moist wound healing and whilst I think I am clear of thrush I definitely don't want it back.

Not been a happy day and not helped by the first jabs yesterday x

Thanks Rita. I am pretty certain it's thrush as it is thick and won't budge even when wiped with a clean muslin. He was also pulling off the breast and crying as though in pain before resuming his sucking. This isn't as bad as what it was but is still happening. Luckily it hasn't made it to his bum - yet! Maybe that will be tomorrows surprise!!

Just make sure you're both being treated simultaneously, even if you don't currently have symptoms. Hope it goes soon for you!

Do do I! Am slathering on daktarin on me and boiling and hot washing everything. Damn stuff!

Has anyone given their LO probiotics on their finger to suck?

The first word was meant to have been so!
Damn predictive iPhone text!

I had recurrent ductal thrush and Dd had oral thrush. She had it at just a few weeks old and it was caused by IV ab's via me at birth. I tried the prescribed stuff, but it did nothing except make Dd spotty, so I phoned La Leche League (sp?) and the lady there was marvellous. She said that I could try something that they were not supposed to advise anymore, but it would work and it did!
Vinegar solution washes for you after every bfeed; just around your nipples with clean cotton wool pads. Allow it to air dry if possible. For Dd I made up a very week solution of bi carbonate of soda and applied it to her mouth on the thrush infected areas with a cotton bud 4 times daily. It worked very quickly and Dd didn't ever get it back. They had to stop recommending it because of salt issues, but you make it very weak and squeeze the bud at the edge of the cup so that it's not sodden.
For your cracked nipple, I found Silverettes were fantastic and healed me literally in 24 hours. I've just looked them up at Breastfeeding Heaven and they seem to be out of them again...you might find them elsewhere though.

Thank you! Am already using vinegar but not bicarbonate on the boy. Will do research and also look up silverettes. Thank you!