Baby and me with thrush, trapped in reinfection cycle, can anything work?

[ladyparking]

Bf dd 8 weeks, last week has been hellish painful feeds due to her giving me thrush, cracked nips resulting, she has horrid napy rash, foams at the mouth, and fusses feeding. Ive hadva course of anti b's and she has the mouth gel, it comes and retreats but it hasnt gone, and am getting close to despairing of the whole venture. My supply isnt great at the best of times and have begun 2x top up bottles a day to give us both a break.
Does anyone have any experience and advice? Im not wedded to bfing, id rather do it but equally Id like a happy experience for us both which didnt involve us crying every time!

I'm not sure I understand, were you given the antibiotics as a thrush treatment or are they what caused your thrush in the first place? Thrush is fungal and antibiotics will make it worse if anything I think.

I'm no huge expert but there are lots of good resources here
kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/thrush-resources/

The worst antibiotics are amoxacillin for thrush. They are pure evil!
Try putting the Daktarin gel on your nips too. You can also use Daktarin cream on your nips, but would need to wash off before feed.
If you have deep tissue pain in your breasts, and it feels like you're feeding baby glass, then you have ductal thrush, and that's a whole lot of other treatment.
I know the toe curling pain you're going through, so lots of sympathy for you.
I found the breastfeedingnetwork were really helpful.
If you need some more info, pm me!

Oh, and if you don't want to see doc with appointment, you can buy both over the counter in the pharmacy.

I had this with DD1 - it is horrific and you have my every sympathy. So
Firstly you both need to be treated. Get yourself to the GP if not already got cream for you and drops for her.
Secondly if it is recurring are you using breastpads? If you are do you really need them? I was't that leaky but for DD1 used them...causing nipples to get hotter than if I had not bothered...and not sure if I reacted to them too. For DS I didn't bother and everything lot less painful. Try without (only use when out maybe)
Thirdly (and am guessing you have heard before) check you positioning. I used to get a great latch and then when sorted used to shuffle around a bit to get hold a bit more comfy. Thus moving angles/nipple position etc....causing much pain...and not letting anything heal.
Fourthly, with experience for first (DD) I found bf DS easier..but also supply was better, it felt easier etc etc. I was more relaxed about it because I was never going to bf if was like the first time. I struggled for about 12 painful weeks with DD. My health visitor said on my umpeenth visit something along the lines of "fishfingers, at DD's 1st birthday, when she starts school, when she is in a school play you will not give a stuff what goes in her gob right now. Bf or formula, you will not care." She was right. You have given your DD a great start. If thrash will not clear up it is OK to stop. Really.

Thrush even..sorry on phone.

Thank you all, it feels good to have empathy! It was like feeding glass, exactly. It is my second child, and the combination ofvthe pain, causing her distress, and the fact that it takes me away from my first for so long is making me lean toward giving up. As you say fishfingers i will move on, and as my dh said this morning giving up bfing is a sad feeling whenever it happens, but it does happen. Thanks all x

Even if you stop bfing, you still need to both be treated for the thrush. I found once me and ds were both treated it cleared up in a couple of days. She needs the daktarin gel, you need a course of fluconazole and canestan (clotrimazole) or daktarin cream for your nips. The nappy rash is also thrush so you must treat this too with canestan (I found canestan HC cream was great for ds). Once everything is treated simultaneously it will be sorted quickly.

You need systemic ie oral anti fungal treatment, not antibiotics which can make it worse.
I'll dig out the Breastfeeding Network leaflet for you - lots of GPs have no experience how to treat this (I am a GP, I am aloud to say this ).
It is important that you have a big enough dose for long enough and that your baby is treated at the same time as you.

BfN leaflet

Other causes of nipple pain - just to be thorough

Huge sympathies, nothing worse than the pain of breast thrush when feeding.
Do you have good 'hands on' RL support from a trained BFing supporter?
Hope it gets better soon.

Going through the same thing, not for as long but it is improving - feeding is up the spout but that's my whole other thread. I got fluconazole for 14 days from doc, daktarin gel for DS mouth and my nips and nystatin - the latter didn't help at all. I hear the dak cream is actually better for your nips though. I spoke to a bf counsellor this morning and she said I Need to take another 14 days of fluconazole after I am symptom free or it will be back, so that's the plan, plus it's lingering in ds's mouth so I don't want it back.

Other thing has helped is breast shells, got a couple of sets so one can be in steriliser. They catch the leaks and help with healing but at least you can clean them properly.

Really hope it gets better for you I sympathise entirely.