Mouth ulcers - can't breastfeed

[blushingmare]

DD is 14mo and only breastfeeding when she wakes at night these days. She's not well at the moment - has a sore throat and terrible mouth ulcers. The Dr said he hadn't seen mouth ulcers this bad in such a young child and they must be really painful for her Her sleep is really disrupted - she's only able to sleep for about 45mins at a time and then wakes up hugely distressed and crying inconsolably for a long time.

It's a real struggle to get anything in her mouth, including her medicines, although once I can get her calm enough she is taking sips of water from an open cup. She's not able to latch on to breastfeed - she obviously wants to feed, but just bites down instead of latching and this adds to her distress.

I just wondered if there's anything I could do to help her to latch on? I know it would be such a comfort to her to be able to breastfeed and would maybe help her settle to sleep. It would also get a few more calories into her as she's hardly eating at all

I'm also worried about the effect on my supply. It's been 3 days now and I express in the morning, but I'm worried this isn't enough to maintain it. She'd normally feed once or twice over night, although not for long. My boobs feel a bit emptier this morning. I'd planned to gradually drop the night feeds as and when she's ready, so it wouldn't be a problem per se me finishing bf, but I just don't want it to be like this as it doesn't seem a natural end and I know she still wants to feed.

We are also going through this at the moment, but I think the mouth ulcers are now healing. My DD is older so perhaps has some understanding, so what worked for her may not work for your DD. Her mouth ulcers were all over the inside of her mouth, inside her cheeks, gums, tongue, roof of her mouth and also I think she had a very sore throat.

I gave her maximum regular pain relief, paracetamol and ibuprofen, antibiotics and tried calgel (but she wouldn't let me apply it). She was also able to rinse (and spit) her mouth with salty warm water. I measured the doses of the medicines and gave a little bit at a time on a soft plastic weaning spoon (approx. 1 ml) at a time. I also spooned fluids into her this way as well. After a few spoons of fluid she would then drink from the cup herself. Have you tried the expressed BM from an open cup and spoon?

With regard to the breastfeeding, she couldn't do it and I was getting quite sore as she normally feeds about 6 times a day, and I can't express. I just offered it to her a couple of times a day laying down feeding so she had more control and was easier for her to make adjustments. I think it also helped if I timed this to about 40 mins / 1 hour after pain relief. My DD also liked skin contact to comfort her, she liked to lay her cheek on my bare tummy.

Try her on soft runny plain milky food as she will probably have a very bad taste in her mouth too. My DD's diet this week has been very runny porridge, cows milk, yoghurt, custard, lentil soup and orange Fanta!

We are now on day 6 of the ulcers and she doesn't need pain relief and is happily playing. She has had runny porridge for breakfast and able to BF again. I hope that this reassures you and gives you some ideas.

Could it be hand foot and mouth? Sometimes you just get the mouth spots

Thanks MrsPJ - that's very reassuring. She just managed to eat a good helping of soggy shredded wheat and is much brighter having got something into her tummy, so I'm hoping that's a step in the right direction. I just tried expressing though and haven't got anything out (normally get a good 150mls), so think my supply is dwindling - sad that this might be how our bf ends.

Hope your dd continues to get better.

Aldwick - the Dr said the ulcers are much bigger than you'd get in hand foot & mouth, so he thought they were viral ulcers. He said it was quite unusual at this age so we don't know how she's got them.

Hi Blushing
Just wondering how your dd is? My DD's mouth ulcers have almost gone and she can now eat chewable foods and she is breastfeeding ok. She is not 100% but getting there.

Thanks for asking MrsPJ. She's slowly getting better, thank goodness. She's sleeping a bit better and yesterday was the first day she was actually able to eat some proper food, which has helped her energy levels considerably. She's still pretty irritable and clingy, but doesn't seem to be in too much pain now - the terrible crying has stopped

She still doesn't seem able to breastfeed. As soon as she gets to the breast she bites instead of latching on. She hasn't fed for a week now and my boobs feel completely normal, so I think my milk must have dried up. I feel a little about it stopping like that, but I guess that's the way it goes sometimes and I had been thinking about stopping, so maybe I should be pleased it was taken out of my hands. It presents us with a big sleep problem though as a quick feed in the night was the simple way to get her back to sleep. Now the only way I can settle her when she wakes is by bringing her into our bed, which is less than ideal, although she then sleeps pretty well!

So glad your dd is nearly back to normal and her feeding again must be a big relief.

Thanks for your support.

With the biting, could it be to do with teething? If you think it's that try the calgel/bonjela on the gums before feeding. Another idea would be a frozen banana or frozen wet flannel to chew on, but not with ulcers as cold can be painful. Also take a look at what kellymom suggests for a nursing strike, if you didn't want to stop just now.