Help! Thrush in baby's mouth and ear infection in me: need drug/feeding help...

[WilfSell]

OK I've been through the thrush and BF thing before but that time round it was me that had the symptoms. This time the baby (a different one) has bad thrush in his mouth.

He is obviously very sore and miserable and is struggling to feed, eat or drink (he's 9 months)

GP has prescribed Nystatin for him.

I have an ear canal infection that is VERY painful and she has prescribed Amoxycillin for me, not wanting to give me a spray (Gentamycin?) as I'm breastfeeding.

I'd prefer to take a non-systemic AB if poss because of the thrush but baby was screaming and it wasn't possible to engage in a long discussion with the GP about whether amoxycillin was best in the circs.

So...

...Is Nystatin still recommended? I thought it was a bit out of favour as not v effective? Would I be better buying some Daktarin oral gel for baby? Should I start using Daktarin cream as a prophylactic, esp if I take the ABs? And does anyone know of a way of clearing up my very painful ear canal (ie not deep within the ear) infection with something topical that is not going to f*ck things up even more?

GP's comment on my ear inf was 'could you not stop BF while you're being treated?'

No... (but I didn't have time to explain the long history of nursing strikes in this baby, his generally easily upset feeding patterns, and my kids' proneness to chest infections which means I don't want to do anything to jeopardise the limited BF we are doing now...)

I have actually got some unopened citricidal from when I suspected thrush before but I don't think I can use this for the baby anyway can I?

And any tips about the pain for him until the treatment starts to work - it will be a few days surely? Argh! He can't not feed/drink for that long!

Heeeeeeeeeelp....

anyone?

i've just been reading up on citricidal and apparently some people do use it in the baby's mouth (diluted)

anyone any experience of this?

Sorry Wilf I can't help, but am worried I might get into a similar position so am interested to see the response. I've got a nasty throat infection (and sore ear) and been prescribed antibiotics. DS is 9 weeks, and want to be prepared. How do you know he has thrush? Will you be treating yourself for thrush as well, even if you have no symptons?

I shall watch with interest and with crossed fingers that we don't get there.

Hope you start to feel better soon - I can't believe how crap I feel with a sore throat (and a baby who has decided to have a bloody growth spurt).

PS Disappointed to hear your GPs suggestion of stopping feeding for a few days.

Yeah it's a bit crap from the GP. i wish I'd seen the other one in the practice since last time one of my babies and me had thrush I shoved a load of BFN leaflets down his throat and insisted he prescribed me fluconazole.

But so far, I don't have any symptoms, but baby has white spots and patches all over the back of his tongue and soft palate. Gp said it was quite bad which is making me feel guilty for not noticing before. He is obviously sore when feeding also and doesn't want anything in his mouth, despite eating and drinking from a cup normally.

I have started treating him myself (argh!) and my nipples with a dilute grapefruit seed solution (since everywhere I read nystatin doesn't work) and i'm even putting a bit of that in my ear too! A bit self-medicating of me but read lots of good reports of the stuff.

Some people say swab with it every hour, some just before/after a feed. Suspect it will be the latter.

I think thrush in breasts is much more likely if you have nipple damage so you might be OK. i've taken ABs since BF this time with no problems. But you might want to restrict sugar/carbs in your diet and perhaps take a probiotic supplement 3-4 times a day? I'm going to do this too just in case...