Dont know where to put this..DS and his mouth

[turtle23]

DS is 11 weeks and has just found his hands. He is almost unable to eat today and last night as he has to ram his hands in his mouth nonstop. Is it teething? Just playing? Cant work it out. He feeds a few mins then starts ramming his hands in and is biting me too...what to do?

Could be a bit of both, DS2 is most certainly showing signs of teething, it can take a good couple of months after the first signs of teething before they cut a tooth but is very possibly teething.
(DS2 is only 9weeks)

Thanks VS...(yes, I'm still BF...hurrah for me!) he is also drooling like a fool. If he's going to be like this til first tooth I may go mad!

You want Dentinox - it's teething gel - suitable from birth - before feeding. If it's teething this will fix it and then you'll know. If it's just the nice feel of a hand in the mouth, I'm afraid you may have to just wait for him to find something else to amuse him (sadly it may well be the poking of your eyes).

Just been in to check lovely boy, and he has fallen asleep with entire fist still jammed in mouth. Hmm.

You could give him a dummy you know?

They are honestly not the devil's gobstoppers some people make out - DD had hers for a month then ditched it!

Been there, done that! He just looks at me quizzically now, spita it out and shoves hands back in and slurps away. We have 4 dummies in this house and I'm not ashamed. !!!

Hi Turtle, DS is also 11 weeks and has started doing the same thing - his fists are constantly in his mouth, even when he is trying to feed. In our case tho, I assumed it was connected to oral thrush - which DS still has after nystatin then daktarin

I'm taking him back to GP now so will report if she has any interesting (non thrush-y!) things to add.

VS - blimey that's much earlier than I thought! What other signs to look for?

DS (21 weeks) has been doing that since about the same age. Sometimes its a few fingers, sometimes the thumb, sometimes the whole fist. He also likes to grab DH's fingers and chew on one or more of those.

Accompanied by a lot of drool, we've always assumed it is teething. I didn't notice any feeding problems when this started though.

Shooflypie-any news from dr?

Both of my DS's did the hand in mouth/biting thing when they had oral thrush too

You maqy be passing it back to him via your nipples, so would need to treat your nips ate the same time as his mouth.

Hope it gets sorted

Turtle - GP said 'they just do that' Sorry, thought I might have something more interesting to tell you!
Fitfox, she said increase daktarin to 3 x daily and be sure to really slather on nips b4 and after. Fingers crossed, it's been weeks now.

I think I used to smear Daktarin orange gel on DS's dummy, as well as apply it direct - so he constantly had traces of it in his mouth to zap all the nasty candida

• I have been a mega-breast-thrush sufferer in the past

You could also try taking 2 x oral candida pills (Canesten) total 300mgs, which would eliminate any candida from your nips

Have had my DS2's tooth confirmed.
HE is 9weeks and it's cutting through, HV checked today
HE has been more restless, chewing his hands TONS, chomping down on ym nipple etc.
When I had thrush it was very different, he wouldn't enjoy his feeds iyswim, kept pulling off, and would be obviously unsatisfied.
Shooflypie, you need fluconazole tablets, it's probably internal by now so the daktarin will kill it then it will be transferred back through the milk.
Go back to the docs and ask for at least two doses of fluconazole 150mg, to be taken 24 hours apart.
This used to be on the BfN thrush leaflet but they've recently removed it from their site.
I'll see if I can find a copy for you.

VS, that leaflet from BfN is currently being updated as whatever they recommend for babies is no longer recommended for babies under four (I think) months due to choking hazard. New leaflet will be out soon I understand

but agree you need fluconazole tabs to shift it.

Yeah, it seems the daktarin advice needs changing, lets hope the fluc one is back asap.I'm trying to get hold of a RL copy for you anyway shoofly.

I have a copy in some stuff I got at my peer supporter training. I can copy it and post it to you shoofly....CAT me if required.

I have been to GP and she said I hace nipple thrush but DS doesn't have oral as far as she can see. She also said if I take tablets I have to give up BF for 4 days. Is this right? I have had the other kind of thrush since before he was born, treated with just pessaries and am slathering canesten cream on nips...would be so much easier if i could take pills...DS is taking nystatin just in case

No, you don't have to give up BFing.
That's bollocks.

The leaflet we were talking about earlier says how little fluconazole is actually transferred to baby and the BfN reccomend it, maybe call them and ask for advice as it's not on their site anymore? The number is on my profile.

If either of you have thrush you both need treating because otherwise it just gets passed back and forth.

The fluc. is for if it has got inside your breast rather than just on the nipples, hopefully it hasn't but if the thrush doesn't go within a few days I'd go back and demand the fluconazole because otherwise you will not get rid of it. I found the nyastin crap as well, and used daktarin oral gel, which I bought from boots otc, I had to say I was told to get it by the GP though.

However it is the daktarin info BfN are changing so probably best to call them.

Oh btw, you can buy fluconazole over the counter, it's not cheap, but two doses of 150mg (one every 24 hours) was enough to kill mine.
The full course rec'd though is 150-300mg loaded dose and then a smaller dose every day for ten days.

VS - email me, i have it.

Turtle, I've CAT'd you, hopefully MN will pass it on quickly.
x

independant chemists sell a generic fluconazole much cheaper than say Lloyds or Boots own brand. I got the 150mg tabs for £5.99 each rather than the £12 it costs for canesten or £10 for Lloyds own brand.

And no need to give up BFing at all.

there is some discussion out there whether ductal thrush actually exists or not. As someone who had recurrent thrush, I definately disagree!

Yeah, the ones I had were generic fluconazole from behind the counter rather than the expensive ones, I saw that it said they were £5.99 on the shelf, so make sure if you do get it otc you ask specifically for their own brand fluconazole.
If they get funny about selling it when breastfeeding, just say you're stopping or show them the BfN leaflet.

www.travelpharm.com sells them for 3.98. If you spend over £10 you get free delivery, so I got 3. After all, DH needs treating as well!!
Am going to blitz this bloody thrush if it kills me.
VS-Thank you so much. I have emailed you back.

Turtle you don't need to give up BF - flouconazole is given direct to prem babies in special care baby units, its just that the manufacturers have never bothered licensing it for BF mums (as its expensive to get the license and so few Mums BF in the UK and also get thrush apparently).

The trick with fluc is to have a high loaded first dose - I used 400mg for the first day, then 200mg per day for 14 days. At the same time put daktarin orange gel in your baby's mouth - completely coat the tongue and gums and inner mouth.

The gel is not recommended for babies uner 3 months due to the logistics of getting it into their teeny mouths can make it less effective (not 'cos its dangerous in any way).

You cannot neccessarily always see thrush in a babies mouth. Your GP should know that if you have breast thrush and your baby is putting his hands in his mouth/biting, then that is enough to indicate he has thrush. If you don't treat both yourself and him at the same time, you will never shift it - just pass it back and forth.

I learnt this the hard way and it was only after doing a lot of research (and my very kind GP doing research) that we cracked it.