can I give EBM with thrush or do I have to dump it?

[MacMomo]

I have no symptoms but dd has it in mouth. I desperately want to prevent transfer to my nipples so I was hoping to give EMB or even formula until her symptoms have cleared. but - is my BM ok to give her or should I dump it?

I was told by someone and I read on the internet that I was supposed to dump it when I was in your situation. When I spoke to my GP though he looked at me sceptically and told me he had never heard such a thing in his 15 years of being a doctor. He said I could use it and I did.

In my situation though DD and I both had thrush. And it was quite persistent. Took us a month and 2 different gels to get rid of it. A few weeks after it cleared I gave her my EBM that I'd done when she alone had thrush (I didn't express when I had it - my boobs were sore enough) and it didn't come back.

ok, thanks for that. I will give it in a bottle and make sure the pump is sterilised each time. i can't think that thrush is actually in the milk.

Do you mean can you still breastfeed? If so then yes that is fine, and I think it is also fine to express and give in a bottle but the advice that I was given is that you can't express and freeze to use later, ie further down the line when the thrush has cleared, as there is a chance you can reintroduce the thrush. Does that make sense?

Yes that makes sense, but my doctor told me that wasn't true.

Who knows...

Well, in my experience what my GP knew about breastfeeding and related issues, you could write on a postage stamp! It is confusing but thrush is so hellish I would personally err on the side of caution and not risk it.
It was a lactation consultant that I was seeing who suspected I had thrush and referred me to my GP for meds. My GP suggested I might need help with my latch.. . I had to restrain myself from banging my head on her desk turning violent-

I was in the same situation and did some research. I found two studies that had looked into it, and both said there was a theoretical risk, i.e. it possibly could happen but doesn't. On estudy said just go ahead and use it, the other said you could boil the milk before freezing it.

I froze and re-used later after the thrush had gone and it was fine.

The bf advisor I saw said you could pump and use the milk now bug not to save the milk to be used once the thrush had gone.
Was also told that sterilising does not kill the thrush on the bottle teat or pump so you need to boil for 20 mins as well in a pan of water

oh wow - didn't know about the boiling thing - thanks for that, I'll have to start doing that now.

The white patches cleared up within 24 hrs of me starting the oral treatment - so by the time I got to the doctor on Friday afternoon she couldn't see any signs of thrush herself (but she didn't doubt my self-diagnosis which is nice). She did say the baby would be unlikely to pass it to my nipples - is that true generally or just because the patches seem to have gone?

Also - my baby has always refused to open her mouth, so I found it very difficult to put the ointment in. I have been coating her dummy and giving it her that way instead (she only has the dummy for sleeping so this works out about 4 times a day), and I try to apply some to her gums, too. If I'm sterilising the dummies do you think this is an effective way to administer the medication? thanks

MacMomo, although I read the advice about boiling, I didn't actually do it, didn't make that clear in my first post.