Probiotics for breastfeeding

[Zoero]

Hi,

I'm unsure whether me and babs have thrush so i'm going to the docs tomorrow and going to my local bf support group on Tuesday to check attachment issues.

I've done some searching online and apparently probiotics can help with thrush and can help to prevent it.

Has anyone taken probiotic supplements whilst breastfeeding? And if so, which ones? Or are there other ways of taking probiotics? I don't want to take things like Yakult because of the sugar which can actually feed the yeast.

It all seems so confusing to me. Aparently the bifidobacteria are the most important for babies intestinal tract, but the acidophillus also came up as good to take. Are supplements ok to take when breastfeeding?

Thought i'd try and find out before going to gp as i've heard that gps know nothing about thrush in breastfeeding!

Also, found a website that suggested cutting out yeast and sugars from diet. Is this wise when breastfeeding? I've tried doing it today and boy am i craving cake and biscuits!

Thanks for any help! I'm feeling utterly exasperated and I keep telling hubby that i'm going to switch to formula, which i know i'm not, but feeling so depressed about sore nipples and bab's white patch on his tongue.

Boots do vitamin/probiotic combo called Breastfeeding Support. Lord knows if they actually work, but I've had 3 courses of (strong) antibiotics in 6 months and not ended up with thrush, so maybe!

If you've a persistent candida issue then I think grapefruit extract can help. You'd need to get this confirmed by a dietician though as I'm dredging the memory banks on this!

Okay lots of questions time!

How old is baby?
Has feeding always been painful/nipples been sore or is this soreness new?
Are both sides sore?
Does the white patch in baby's mouth rub off? If it does rub off what does the skin/tongue look like underneath?

Cutting out yeast/sugars may help you from developing thrush again (if you have it) but it won't 'cure' a ongoing thrush infection unfortunately.

Pro-biotics can be taken as a capsule or a powder and I can't see how beneficial bacteria that is naturally occurring in your gut could be harmful if taken as a supplement but it is good to check! Also if you do buy pro-biotics buy them from a reputable shop not on-line (just in case you end up not buying pro-biotics but something else entirely)

Hi MomboJombo,

thanks for your help. I can't find one in Boots called Breastfeeding Support. The one i can find on the boots website is called Prebio 7 probiotic. Is that the one you mean?

do you know if I can take this whilst taking Pregnacare vitamins and omega mix?

Could you tell me more about the grapefruit extract? Where do i get it? How do i administer it - on myself or baby? (Baby has more signs of thrush - white patch on tongue, bad nappy rash which is spotty red).

thanks so much for your help!

Hi TruthSweet - yes sorry about that, I forgot to apologise for how many questions i had! Just feel so down in the dumps about breastfeeding at the moment. I wish there was a way of knowing for sure whether we have thrush.

Anyway, babs is 6 weeks old and as far as i can remember, we've always had soreness on left nipple but right nipple seems ok and has been for a while. Not sure whether the white patch rubs off yet, but will check when babs wakes up.

Thanks for your advice about supplements. I see what you mean - it shouldn't be harmful, but i was just scared as I also take pregnacare vits and omega mixture so was scared of putting yet more tablets in my mouth! But I will check with gp tomorrow and will buy them from Holland and Barrett or Boots. Never know what i'll get if i buy online! Viagra or something else dodgy! :)

No the lots of questions was from me!

If you have always had soreness and it's pretty much one sided it's highly unlikely to be thrush. Thrush is very contagious so it would be passed to both sides very quickly and then both sides would be sore.

The good news is that you almost certainly don't need to take any meds/smear cream on your nipples or inside baby's mouth several times a day and it should be fairly easy to tweak positioning & attachment so you can feed pain free pretty quickly. It's surprising what even a small adjustment to p&a can make to how much or little pain you feel during feeding.

Here's the Breastfeeding Networks FAQ on Thrush which should has lots of info on it.

Have you had a feed assessed by a bfing professional (or a bfing volunteer!)? Is there a bfing support group near by you can go to? If you wanted to pm me your location (either county or town or region) I shoudl be able to find some groups locally for you or you could try calling one of the bfing helplines (on the MN bfing pages) and asking them (if you call from a landline you get put through to the nearest on call bfing counsellor) - they should be able to help you with p&a over the phone too.

All the best.

Hiya, so just got back from GP. He was not very helpful, in fact rushed me through because his clinic was running late and told me that if i had a long list of things to discuss with him then i would have to book another appointment which would probably take 2 weeks at least. Felt like punching him because he doesn't understand how much pain babs is in. GRRRRRR!!!!!!

Anyway, he said nappy rash wasn't thrush so prescribed fusidin after using clotrimazole for two weeks with no improvement.

Said babs did have thrush in his mouth but that i didn't necessarily have thrush on my nipples. so he prescribed nystan drops for babs and nothing for me. But i thought that both mum and baby had to be treated together? also is nystan an antibiotic? if so won't this increase thrush?

i've started using nappy cream but not nystan yet. i want to get 2nd opinion from bf counsllor beforehand.

TruthSweet - we're in lewisham, se london. do you know of anyone in particular? i've been to a few bf groupss already so might know them but worth a shot. would love to see someone privately as the bf groups get busy and i feel a bit clostrauphobicv.

Zoero - If your DS has thrush then yes you do need to be treated (as a precaution) as thrush is contagious. Perhaps you could see another GP at the practice or see a GP at a walk-in clinic or even ask your HV (I am sure they are allowed to prescribe thrush cream) to get the thrush confirmed.

You would need Miconazole 2% cream which is applied lightly over the nipple and areola (both sides) after each feed. Any visible cream remaining on the skin before the next feed should be gently wiped off but the cream doesn't need to be removed in it's entirety. The Miconazole gel is not effective however so the cream preparation should be prescribed.

I have found a few people/groups who you could contact about a home visit (I don't know any of them personally or by reputation so I am not recommending any of them over the others IYSWIM) -

There is an IBCLC called Hazel Jones who covers SE London 07910 317407 / [email protected] - she would most probably charge as she is in private practice,

There is a La Leche League group based in Stoke Newington 02088 808098 - they may be able to arrange for a leader to make a home visit,

There is an NCT group based in Lewisham and funnily enough Hazel Jones appears to be their 'lead' Breastfeeding Counsellor (a BFC can do extra training to become an IBCLC which is the highest level of bfing training) her NCT no. is 020 3602 7710. The link is at the bottom of this page for all the Lewisham bfing groups and the other NCT bfcs in Lewisham here (grey box at the very bottom of the page).

The BfN has some bfing centres in SE London but they don't give any individual contacts here but they only run term time (Easter hols are for the next two weeks but not this week).

These are all the ABM groups that run in London but my London geography is not up to picking which is the closest to you!

Hope that helps.

Hello again
I can't find the ruddy things on Boots website either! Which is ridiculous because I'm taking them RIGHT NOW! So unless my local Boots has an old stock, or they're called something completely different, I'm going doolally. They look like these - same picture, same colours, but called Breast-feeding Support (with the hyphen). It's 2 pills a day - one is multivitamins, minerals & fish oil, the other is probiotic.

As regards grapefruit seed extract for candida, I'm absolutely not an expert, nor do I endorse any particular product or claim to have personal experience of it - but have known a couple of friends with persistent candida issues who have sworn by it. Have a Google - there's plenty of anecdotal stuff about it, and of course a bunch of internet sales which are perhaps less trustworthy. Maybe someone in Holland & Barratt or similar could advise...?

Truthsweet, it's not quite right to say IBCLC is 'the highest level of breastfeeding training' :)

A breastfeeding counsellor and an IBCLC are different - there is virtually no counselling in the IBCLC qualification, and the IBCLC has rather more clinical input.

I don't think the IBCLC is 'higher' than a breastfeeding counsellor. There are IBCLCs whose experience and knowledge across the whole breastfeeding experience is actually very thin. And breastfeeding counsellors cannot offer clinical input or diagnoses because that is not what they are trained for. Many IBCLCs are nurses, midwives, HVs, and may use the IBCLC as part of this work.

Thanks tiktok - I thought IBCLC was the 'next' stage in bfing education that you went on to do if you had an aptitude for bfing counselling/education and wanted to move to doing things like TT releases and work in private practice.

I guess I need to pay more attention

When I had thrush dd2 was 22 months old. I didn't bother going to the gp as I know all of them at my surgery would just tell me to stop bf as she was old enough for it not to matter (it matters very much to us). I took acidophilus supplements from Holland and Barrett, I took loads for the first day, then down to 2 a day after that. The thrush cleared up within 3 days :)
Your gp should have been more helpful, but gps aren't necessarily experts in breastfeeding. My hv was never able to prescribe the drugs but she did write them down for people and send them to the gp with the message 'Eleanor says I need these, please prescribe them for me', and they always did so she obviously knew what she was talking about (or the doctors didn't so were willing to trust her )

truthsweet, you say you thought " IBCLC was the 'next' stage in bfing education that you went on to do if you had an aptitude for bfing counselling/education and wanted to move to doing things like TT releases and work in private practice."

Well, you can become a tutor if you are a bfc. Most bfcs don't want to work in private practice and they can learn to do TT releases without being an IBCLC. Most bfcs would never become IBCLCs because the governing body of IBCLCs don't recognise volunteer experience or training very much (they require so much volunteer experience if you don't have a clinical qualification it would take most bfcs decades to reach it).

It's definitely not a 'stage' :)

That's grand as I have heard on the grapevine they are closing down the stream for lay people (e.g. bfcs/bfps) to get an IBCLC qualification and making it just for medical types (which is not me at all).

Thanks for clarifying this tiktok - you are a mine of information as per usual

They are closing access down - it hasn't happened yet, but it has always been the case that bfcs from the vol orgs have found it a difficult transition because they have always wanted thousands of hours of experience.

Thanks for all your help. Just one final question!! Doc has prescribed Clotrimazole for my nipples (after I had to request for treatment for me. He said that it is possible for babs to have thrush in mouth but not necessarily that I have thrush on my nipples. However BfN have suggested that both of us need to be treated as the thrush will transfer to my nipples. I said that to him and he just said if i want treatment he can give it to me, so i've got it.

But, we've just finished using clotrimazole on babs' bum!! He's now on fusidin for his bum. Not heard anyone else saying that they used clotrimazole for their thrush. Is this ok to use? Also, does anyone know if I have to wash off before feeding? Babs is a snacker all day long so it will be quite difficult if I do have to wash off.

Thanks for any further help!