Thrush associated with brestfeeding

[jasper]

Has anyone had thrush associated with breastfeeding?
I don't know much about this but at the risk of sounding like Mrs. breastfeeding hypochondriac, I now have a different kind of pain quite apart from the feeding pain.
It is a sharp, stabbing, transient pain felt deeper in ,sort of behind the nipples. It just lasts a few seconds and happens between feeds ( may be felt in the non feeding breas during a feed too). Also in the past two days my breasts and nipples in particular have been incredibly tender to touch, evn with water from the shower, or a towel.
There are no oral signs in the baby, no visible problem in my nipples, neither me nor baby have recently had antibiotics, and I have never had thrush before.
Any ideas? Thanks.

Yes, with both my ds's I suffered with it. Very painful and both times I had to go to the doctors. He gave me some cream which sorted the problem out and meant that I could carry on feeding. My second ds did have visable signs of thrush in his mouth which cleared up from using the cream. I think that the thrush came from the environment that my nipples were forced to live in! Most of the time a warm and wet bra and pad with no air circulation, it's a perfect place for thrush to form. If you're in doubt go and see your doctor, don't try to live with the worry or the pain.

Yes, I had it too - sounds identical to me - it cleared up really quickly with the prescribed cream.

My SIL had it and it was VERY painful... get it checked and fixed... there is no point in agonising with this...
Could you be having a blocked milk duct ??? That is also sharp pain - often there will be a red pactch on the breast... this can lead to mastitis... before it does, I found that putting a very hot wet towel on the breast just before a feed helped a great deal.
I do know 2 other women who had thrush (they said) and didn't find it that painful.

Call a bf counsellor if you need to !!!

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How are you getting on Jasper?

Ok thanks Daffy. I asked the Health visitor about it yeasterday( I am leaving that spelling mistake in as it is a fantastic Freudian slip!) and althought she was really nice I had the strong inmpression I knew more about thrush and bf in general than she did!
Like Bloss I think it is more hassle to go to the doc then put up with it. It is not too bad, I would only have sought to get it treated if I thought it contributed to the generelal discomfort while actually feeding. Happy to report that is getting better ( or I am getting more tolerant!)

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I had a terrible time with thrush a few weeks ago. It was so painful it was a nightmare. I
rang the drs in tears just wanting to be seen, how embarrassing! The GP was a total waste of space, didn't know what was causing the pain so gave me antibiotics, which did nothing. Anyay after researcher it a bit on the internet came up with the idea that I had thrust and took myself down to Boots and got some Daktarin oral gel. Put some on my nipples and some in babys mouth. Cleared up in 3-4 days. What a relief. What I can't understand is that none of my books mention thrush, I can't believe that such a painful condition is just ignored when with treatment
it can be gone n a few days.

You don't work for Daktarin by any chance Kathrynbe

Daktarin did it for me too - I had terrible thrush which let to skin peeling off (not much pain then!), and the doctors were worse than useless. They prescribed a cream which was not suitable for bfeeding! Just for extra info, Daktarin oral gel also helps my dds bottom and girlie bits which flare up with thrush too from time to time.

On the moan front, a couple of questions:

1. Why don't HVs know about this?
2. Why don't doctors have any training in it?
3. Why is there only one line on it in the many baby info books.

Questions I have longed to ask but never been brave enough.

Well done to anyone who perseveres through feeding with thrush, it is like having broken glass latched on.

I think thrush when BF has only recently been recognised as a problem, which is why HP's are generally ignorant about it. The Breastfeeding Network has an excellent leaflet about it. (sorry don't have their details to hand atm)