Oral thrush and other feeding miseries

[LittlePink]

Ds is 4 weeks old and has had oral thrush for a good 3 weeks now. I asked the mw if it was that before we were discharged and she said no it's just a milk coating. I wish I'd have ignored her and gone with my instincts instead of battling through with ds screaming at the breast, coming on and off, shaking his head and generally fussing a lot whilst feeding. I also have an over supply so he was choking and coughing so I thought it was an over active let down. I went to a breastfeeding clinic to see if I could get some help and the lady took one look at his mouth and said he's got oral thrush. Took him straight to the doctors and the gp agreed and gave us treatment. Up until this point I didn't have it but since ive started the daktarin my boobs are killing. I'm getting shooting pains, the nipples tingle and itch and they generally feel horrible. I'm leaking and dripping and spurting all over the place and bfing just seems horrible at the moment. I tried giving him a bottle last night to give me a break and he looked up at me like a little lost puppy like why are you doing this? Then put an Oscar winning performance on of are you giving me poison? This is disgusting get it out of my mouth now! And started gagging and spitting it all out. So I gave up and put him back on the breast where he did a good feed.

On top of horrible sleep deprivation feeding every 1-2 hrs at night I feel like the walking dead. I smacked the side of my nose closing the cupboard door yesterday full force in a freak accident and it tipped me over the edge. Luckily dh was working from home and heard me shout ow and flew in from the dining room where he was working to find me with my face in my hands bawling my eyes out and cuddled me through it.

Dd who is 2.8 is really feeling it and has become very clingy and jealous. She constantly asks for cuddles which is lovely but not when I'm struggling with ds fighting the breast and becoming hysterical then dd starts crying coz she wants attention and I feel like my head is going to burst with the stress of it all. Especially when she's bouncing on the sofa next to me while I'm trying to feed or clambering all over me and saying incessantly mummy can I hold him, mummy can I hold him. It all feels too much sometimes!

People keep asking me if I'm napping in the day. I'm not coz I have a toddler to look after and ds will only nap on me. As soon as I put him down he wakes up.

Just needed to get that all off my chest.

Hiya. I feel for you - i was in same situation a few weeks back (DS now 15 weeks and I have a 3 year old DS too). There is a great book called 'food of love' which has loads of detail about oral thrush (as soon as DS stops feeding I will get it and summarise advice for you) and good advice - but it's hard to get rid of it (for us anyway).

Have you also checked whether it is tongue tie? DS was and getting it snipped helped a bit - he had posterior tongue tie which is quite hard to spot and back of tongue was always coated.

Things I did to help me get through this stage were (1) sleeping on my own in the evening as soon as older DS went to bed - while DH held baby and (2) putting toddler in nursery and on those days I would do Nothing except just concentrate on feeding baby boy - I found that if I was relaxed - watching tv or listening to radio in bed - skin on skin with baby in nappy - then feeding usually went better (3) get all the bf advice u can - NCT usually run baby cafés and your mw would also bring able to refer u to a feeding specialist (4) co- sleeping (Internet has good diagrams how to do it as safely as possible) to maximise your sleep time. I will post again later

Thanks so much for that. When I took him to the clinic I explained how difficult the feeding can be but he made a liar out of me and latched on perfectly and fed like a little angel! I was saying honestly it's not usually like this! The lady was lovely though and it was just a relief for someone to agree that there was an issue rather than all in my head! I could go back again and mention about tongue tie and see what she says as she was really good and supportive.

That's so funny - exactly the same here and I may even cancel my next appointment with bf specialist as DS keeps being ok - then he goes right back to back arching and pulling off.

Right! Kate Evans in food of love says the following. I have yet to do it but given that we've still got thrush even after having 3 sets of treatment for DS (nystatin for ds (Sp) and cream for me too) I think we will give this a shot too.

I assume that you have been to doctor to get checked out abd have had anti fungal cream prescribed for you both??
Ok - simple to most drastic steps:

• eat natural live yoghurt and put it on nipples after feeding
• if u or baby r on antibiotics or steroids then get an acidophilus supplement from health shop (as antibiotics cause candida/thrush to get out of control )
• change soggy breast pads often as thrush loves moist warmth. Air nipples
• wash your hands a lot especially after feeding n changing
• leave baby nappy off if sore bottom - use yoghurt on their bum if sore
• don't use any baby soap etc on baby
• boil some water for 20 mins so it's sterile then add 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda to 1 cup of water and swab around nipples and baby mouth with cotton wool for a few days
• use grapefruit seed extract - diluted in boiled water for 20 mins to use as swab over nipples and mouthwash for baby
• don't drink any alcohol

And if it's still bad:

• boil wash your bras n tshirts n washable breast pads
• stop using or sterilise dummies a lot
• a long paragraph about using 'gentian violet'....probably worth researching that in detail

And if that doesn't work:

• cut down on sugary foods, fruit juices and bread (:) - all these contain yeast which promotors thrush
• ask doctor about prescriibing 'fluconazole' - but apparently this is controversial as uk bodies say it's not safe for bf - even though world health organisation says it's safe.

Good luck! Let's hope we all get sorted soon. And good luck with the sleep deprivation. Take it one day at a time - it will get better in a few weeks. Tough tough tough innit xxx

Thank you for taking the time to post all of that information. He's finished the nystatin now and his tongues still white. He's feeding better though but think I might need to take him back to the dr to see what else he can have. I've got daktarin cream but it's a real pest having to wash it off before every feed. Better that though than him having a nasty taste in his mouth aswell as thrush. Poor thing.

Hope you get sorted soon too. It seems quite hard to get rid off. As if bfing wasn't hard enough without this too!!

Same here - he's feeding better today but tongue still coated white - that's our third go at nystatin. Exactly though bfing IS hard. You're doing brilliantly finding out everything and keeping it up / especially as it's such early days for you and you must be exhausted. Please Let me know if you get an alternative thrush med for baby. :)

After about 3 weeks of thrush on both of us my gp prescribed me an oral anti fungal (maybe the fluc... mentioned above?). Continued with cream too. The combo finally shifted it - as well as doing many of the things mentioned above. It's rough. I'm sorry for you :(

I was about to recommend fluclonazole for you too, but it's not recommended for very young babies (more info here) www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/detailed-information/drugs-in-breastmilk/thrush-and-breastfeeding/

I found my oversupply went hand in hand with tongue tie and thrush. Sorry if teaching you to suck eggs but change your breastpads every feed (or more if necessary), and use disposables rather than washables. Nothing better for thrush than a nice warm damp environment. think about bedsheets etc if you leak at night. If tongue tie is an issue get that snipped asap is my advice.

My sympathies, breast thrush is one of the worst things I have experienced! Good luck

Thank you for the support and more advice. Yes oversupply definitely an issue. Back to the doctor for us I think for the fluc good stuff!

I found disposable pads gave me thrush as not breatheable so swooped to washable. But soaked in grapefruit seed extract before washing.

Daktarin oral gel for baby (nystatin didn't work for us) and daktarin for me. Plus v dilute gse seemed to help

We did take fluconozole but it really does nothing for thrush on the skin.

We also had tongue tie and over supply. The poor latch and clamping to stop the flow can cause trauma and thrush. One or both can also cause the pains you describe.

I would find a lacation consultant to get the tongue assessed and support with the over supply.

He clamps the nipple and the lady at the clinic said it's pure luck I'm not very sore but he clamps it to control the flow. Where do I find a lactation consultant? Do I ask gp? Or is the bfing advocate lady I saw last week the person I need to go back to?

I'm seeing gp again this morning.

Ok so the gp has prescribed more nystatin then daktarin oral gel if the nystatin doesn't work again and I've got canesten cream instead of daktarin as it was making me itch and tingle after putting it on when I didn't have symptoms before I started using it. It's such an annoyance having this and I feel so sorry for ds. He's so unsettled and it makes feeding very stressful.

Well done for getting to gp (not the easiest with another toddler around!). I'd be interested to see how that works. Plus I will get done washeable pads I think. Thanks McBaby.

It is extremely stressful and tiring. Dc2 will only go on 1 side today.

FYI I got referred to a specialist midwife about the tongue tie.