Thrush

[ScaryHairy]

My lovely friend's baby is 4 weeks old. Last week she (lovely friend) had a lump in her breast, it was sore and she felt poorly, so she was given antibiotics. This week, no surprise, she thinks she has thrush (2 sore breasts would seem to agree...), and so it's back to the GP tomorrow.

I know she is tired, and I know that it must be pretty tempting to give up breastfeeding at a time like this, but I also know that she is the sort of person who, if she can get the problems sorted out, will love to have breastfed her baby. I'm going to give her a call tomorrow and suspect that the thrush is going to be the main topic of conversation. I was lucky enough to feed my baby with no problems, so my texts: "chin up!" and "you're doing really well!" don't quite cut it.

Can anyone with experience advise? Is it possible to keep breastfeeding through thrush or will the baby get infected? Are thrush treatments safe for babies? Is there anything that will relieve the pain until the infection is sorted? I've looked on Kellymom, but all I found was a recommendation for a refined sugar free diet (when everyone knows that cake is the life blood of the breastfeeding mother...). Please tell me some constructive tips so that I don't just spend my time coming out wth platitudes...

She needs either Nystatin or Flucanozole. Flucanozole works more quickly but is not licensed for BF Mums in UK - but is prescribed for prem babies so ids perfectly safe. She needs to ask her GP to prescribe Flucanozole for her and either Daktarin oral gel or Nystatin oral suspension for baby.

Mum and baby need to be treated together or they will re-infect one another.

If GP won't prescribe Flucanozole she can either ask for Nystatin or she can opt to buy Flu' over the counter but it costs about £10 a day. The dosage is either a loading dose of 300mg on the first day, followed by 10-214 days at 100mg or if that doesn't work, a loading dose of 400mg, followed by 14 days of 200mg.

10-14 days, not 10-214!!!

BTW she must not accept it if her GP tells her there is no such thing as breast thrush. A lot of GPs seem to be a bit ignorant about breast thrush.

Scary - if you do a search on MN for breast thrush you will find masses of advice and links to useful websites for your lovely friend

[big hugs] to her - BF thrush is excrutiating

those antibiotics probably gave her the thrush. main thing is to see the GP, then carry on feeding through the pain (really hard), otherwise breasts will become engorged. once my baby was on nystan oral suspension and i was putting canesten on my nipples after every feed, we were both fine within a week. all the best.

Thanks. It does sound awful, and she's been having pain of one sort or another for a significant proportion of the time she's been breastfeeding. You'd think nature would have come up with something less fallible...

She needs fluconazole, nystatin for the baby's mouth, and daktarin cream for her nipples.

It blardy hurts, and often for quite some time after each feed.

Ibuprofen really helps with the pain, and is perfectly safe to take whilst b/feeding.

She will need to wash/sterilise everything that comes into contact with the baby's mouth and boil wash her bras.

It can take a while and quite a bit of work to get rid, but it does go eventually.

I had it pretty much from the start, and it wasnt diagnosed until DS was 5 weeks old. It took 3 weeks to go (well, it was when DS was 8 weeks old when I suddenly realised it didnt hurt to feed him anymore).

I then went on to feed him until he self-weaned a few weeks ago at 2 yrs old.

HTH

Fab and thanks again all. It really makes me wince to think about it! The bra boiling sounds a good tip.

I had bad thrush with both DD's. Was given ome sort of cream for my nipples which needed to be cleaned off before feeding. I get the feeling it was fucidin. However it must not be the one with a H at the end as it makes your nipple skin thinner and more prone to cracking! My baby did get thrush but it cleared up with nystatin.

Pain was conrolled with co-codomol 30/500 on prescription and lansinoh cream on prescription.

It took about a week to go and never returned.

So it sounds like for pain relief she could load up with both paracetomol and ibuprofen. Is there anything less medical that will help - hot or cold flannels, leaving the nipples to air dry, anything of that ilk?

Have you tried Silverette for thrush? Check this out

Scary - lots of air on the nipples will help, plus the hygeine tips below. Ibuprofen has been a godsend to me whenever I've had it - it reduces the inflamation as well as killing the pain.

I had thrush 4 times with DS1 and once with DS2. If she treats it correctly it will go (and the sooner she gets the meds the better). She needs to use the correct treatment though (as detailed below) or it will progressively get worse and more painful by the day.

Echo about the fact that she must keep on feeding on the sore side. Hot flannels. hot showers, "breat nurse" will all help get rid of the matitis lump, plus some vigorous massage before, during and after feeds - kneeding the lump away and stroking the reast towarsd the nipple, to help shift the lump and clear the blocked duct.

Problem with wet flannels - hot or cold - it could help spread the thrush, or perpetuate it.

Ah, not a good idea then. Here's hoping the GP is clued up and knocks it on the head.

Not all are. I think there is a link to stuff on the Breastfeeding Network website, or NCT website saying what treatment is required for a b/feeding mother with thrush. They often recommend printing it and taking it into the gp at the appointment.

yep, BFN Thrush and Breastfeeding

Great, I'll pass that on, and thanks again.
See this is why MN is fab - you can get answers in a hurry!