Thrush or something else?

[Skyblue82]

I'm EBF my 4 month old DD & in the last few weeks I've been experiencing pain in my right nipple/breast. Every few days after a feed I'll get an intense shooting/burning pain in the breast, almost as if behind the nipple. This will last for about an hour then fade away. The next time I feed the nipple is sore when she latches on initially but no further breast pain. There's also white bits at the tip of nipple which I can gently brush away in the shower. Not sure if this is broken skin or congealed milk. Next few feeds also sore when she latches but then it all stops only to start up again a few days later.

First trip to GP resulted in a diagnosis of thrush and I was given Daktarin gel to put on my nipple. I've been doing this for a week but no difference. There's no symptoms on my left breast or on DD which would be odd for thrush? Also severe pain only occurs after one feed.

Second trip resulted in antibiotics for mastitis which I'm just not convinced I have. No fever, no red or hot patches on breast, no lumps or bumps from blocked ducts. She drains the breast fully every time. I'm not going to take the antibiotics as if it is thrush it would make it worse.

Dropped into a BF cafe today and they thought it could be thrush too. Said gel was not right for nipple & I need the cream equivalent for me & to use the gel on DD.

I was wondering if it was a crack which keeps opening up, healing up then opening again. Last week during a bout of it DD had a couple of possets with a brownish twinge to them. We've never had a problem with latch before this though!

All very confusing & before I do another GP trip I want to be armed with more info. I don't get the impression they're massively clued up on BFing. I could go & see a health visitor to get another opinion.

Would love any advice or opinions!
Thanks so much.

Really don't know on that one sorry Sky. How are you both now?

It's a milk blister. What worked for me was ice cubes on it before lancing it with a sterilised needle, then an epsom salt soak for ten mins, then hand expressing a little bit, then a wet hot flannel all before a feed. Repeat as necessary. It's a rigmarole but worth it for the pain relief. Another time I soaked a cotton wool ball in apple cider vinegar, and left it in my bra, which burnt a hole through the blister and blocked milk, followed by the above solution. This however was more painful than labour and I wouldn't recommend unless you really can't shift it.

Ouch vinegar approach sounds painful!! I'm thinking it's some kind of milk blister too. Although there's nothing obvious to lance. The white stuff is in a ridge on the centre of my nipple rather then raised up. No bulging if I squeeze nipple. The white stuff only comes out when I run hot water on it in the shower. The top right quarter of my nipple does seem swollen and there's a raised dot (pore?) but it's not white, just normal colour. That looks lanceable but not sure that's a good idea!