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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Got to stop bfing my 19 day old dd3 and v. depressed. Can you help me do it painlessly?

36 replies

Wills · 05/12/2009 20:00

I'm really really blue about this but I've got breast feeding thrush. Given how fast I've had it my gp thinks I've had it since my last child when I also had to give up breast feeding! She's only 19 days old for goodness sake yet already I'm taking painkillers 24 hrs a day and even then am in permanent pain. My gp was prepared to give me a fortnight of fluconazole as suggested by the breast feeding network, I've also been taking probiotics and trying like mad to cut out sugar. Yet although I've been doing this for a week now its still got loads worse. This morning when I changed dd3's nappy she had an appalling rash which turned out to be thrush.

So now I'm having to accept stopping. But I'm in permanent pain which of course gets really really bad when I'm "full". Any tips on how to stop?

OP posts:
iamnotreallyhere · 05/12/2009 20:07

do you actually want to stop? Would you be stopping if it wasn't for the thrush? Flucanazole and oral treatment for your baby would clear it up in a few days.

If you do want to stop, express (hand or with a pump) so you don't feel so full - you really want to avoid getting mastitis on top of the thrush. Try putting savoy cabbage leaves down your bra.

Original poster
Wills · 05/12/2009 20:11

i dont want to give up but have been taking fluconazole for 8 days now + daktarin gel on nipples and her mouth and its getting worse. am gutted as bfing is one of the joyous things possible but not when it hurts like this 24hrs a day

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 05/12/2009 20:14

wills, were you swabbed or anything or is gp only going on symptoms?

i only ask because I thought i had thrush, and was treated for it several times, with my first baby.
turns out we had a terrible latch as he was tongue tied. the symptoms were virtually identical.

so, if you really don't want to stop then my advice would be to see if there is a baby cafe or la leche group near to you where you could get an expert to watch you feeding and see if they think perhaps it's a latch problem?

the drugs you've been taking really ought to ahve sorted it if it's thrush, it shouldn't be worse, which is why i wonder if it's something else entirely....

thisisyesterday · 05/12/2009 20:14

list of baby cafes is here

Montifer · 05/12/2009 20:17

I had dreadful pain which didn't respond to fluconazole (had 2 courses as per Breastfeeding Network protocol).

I think the thing that really helped me was grapefruit seed extract tablets which were recommended as a complementary therapy on the La Leche thrush leaflet and also by MNers when I asked for advice on here.
It really seemed to relieve the symptoms within 24-48 hours of starting the course.

I found ibuprofen and paracetomol helped with the pain.

If you want to keep going it might be worth a try.

iamnotreallyhere · 05/12/2009 20:18

what dose flucanazole are you on? it's really important that you've been prescribed enough to effectively treat it

iamnotreallyhere · 05/12/2009 20:25

ok, I've just looked on my LLL Thrush leaflet and it's recommended to take a 200-400mg 'loading dose' and then after that 100-200mg daily for 2-3 weeks.

Montifer · 05/12/2009 20:30

Agree with this is yesterday that face to face support with an experienced bf counsellor would be really helpful to discuss symptoms / check latch etc.

I also found telephone support from my local LLL woman fantastic.

Good luck

gloriana · 05/12/2009 20:44

Poor you - I can totally synpathise as the same thing happened to me when DS3 was 10 days old. I had stupidly had some Floradix (the yeast version) and woke up in absolute agony. The fluconazole takes a while to work and if you've had thrush before, you know what you have to go through before it gets better. In my case, I was in so much agony that it just wasn't fair to DS1 and DS2 and DH and I decided it wasn't worth it.

I was absolutely gutted and sobbed for days. It felt like grief as I really didn't want to give up but the NHS breastfeeding counsellor couldn't see me for 6 weeks and although I went to my NCT counsellor, she told me that the thrush was made worse by a poor latch (basically because I was flinching when I put him on the breast).

All of these things seemed insurmountable and I wish I'd known about the grapefruit seed extract as I would have given anything a try.

I hope that you feel better soon. I have to say that once I stopped breastfeeding, I still had the thrush but it felt itchy rather than painful so the pain does go quite quickly.

Original poster
Wills · 05/12/2009 20:54

im on 150mg a dAY 9its the highestmy gp would agree to.

I've not been swabbed, he looked at my nipples which are pink and painful and listened to my descriptions of the pain and agreed I had bf thrush.

Is ibruprofen ok in bfing?

I will get the grapefruit seed extract - do you think its possible to get from a health food shop?

The nearest lll group is over an hour away otherwise I'd go.

OP posts:
Original poster
Wills · 05/12/2009 20:57

Oh gloriana its good to find someone who understands. I will sob myself silly. My mum bought a sterilizer and some bottles yesterday and I've sterilised them yet can't bring myself to actually do it. Really pissed off if I can't breast feed although in truth I ought to focus on things like the joyous bundle in my arms etc etc etc

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 05/12/2009 21:04

it is hard wills :-(

i cried myself silly when i gave up with DS1. we didn't find out it was tongue tie until after I had given up. all it would have taken was for one person to check, but not a single midwife, go, health visitor thought of it i was so gutted

this is why I think it would be so good if you could get to see someone, or to see if anyone could come out.
I wish I had tried more avenues and got better advice, because i still regret it. I think if i had tried everything and it still wasn't working i'd feel a lot better about it

puffylovett · 05/12/2009 21:08

Oh you poor thing

Firstly, what dose of Probiotic are you taking and what are the strains in it ? You need a good strong one (4 - 10 billion human resident organisms plus 2 daily) to help with Candida.

Secondly if you've had fluconazole in the past there is a fair chance the candida is resistant to it. Its a clever little bugger that can be very difficult to shift.

However - Grapefruit seed extract is an excellent anti fungal & can be obtained in a liquid form which you could also use diluted on your breasts as a wash, topically. Other really effective anti fungals are - Caprylic acid (though i would need to check if this is ok with bfeeding), Oregano oil, Allicin (garlic - but the pungent stuff, not the no smell tablets), Olive leaf extract, cinammon oil, and a new probiotic called Saccromyces Boulardii which crowds candida out rather than killing it and is also cheap - very effective.

So there is an awful lot of options there, which hopefully might make you feel a bit better - in my experience (have been treating candida for years) the Caprylic acid is the best and quickest.

sanfairyann · 05/12/2009 21:13

I know you have almost certainly googled etc but just to check - are you using the gel in her mouth after every feed? and also gel/cream on you after every feed? washing bras on hot washes and changing at least every day/not using reusable breast pads - basically anything that could be re-infecting you?
It took weeks before my thrush felt better tbh but we did get there. it is hideous. can you hang on in there a few more days to see if things improve? or just one more day - then another if you get through that ?
are you using natural remedies as well eg vinegar/tea tree? there's a lot of good stuff out there that can help the meds do their job

crankytwanky · 05/12/2009 21:23

Oh you poor thing.

You have the will to carry on, so that'll help more than anything.

I would ask your GP for a swab to see if you definitely have thrush. Has your DD got it in her mouth?
I had similar problems with DC 2 and it was simply a pisspoor latch. MW I knew suggested holding baby in my left hand and shoving boob into his gob with my right hand iyswim. I was ready to quit and crying all day too.

It was worse as I'd had no huge probs with DC1, so couldn't work out why the second time around it was worse.

Will your HV come out? Would your GP be able to refer you to someone?

reservejudgement · 05/12/2009 21:29

thisisyesterday I remember all your threads about your ds1 but somehow missed that it was tongue-tie, not thrush. But you did go to huge lengths for your ds1 and he got lots more BM than many other babies would have done under the circumstances. You did good!

thisisyesterday · 05/12/2009 21:32

ooh reservejudgement, who are/were you??

reservejudgement · 05/12/2009 21:33

Was chipmonkey, am supposed to be taking a break!

thisisyesterday · 05/12/2009 21:40

ahhh hello!

OurLadyOfPerpetualSupper · 05/12/2009 21:46

Wills, I can't link directly on my itouch as I'm rubbish, but lots of MNers speak highly of silverette nipple shields from here to speed up the healing - in fact, if you google them, they come up in several forums.

Might also help to avoid plastic-backed pads if you can.

I hope the pain eases for you asap.

2point4pets · 05/12/2009 22:09

I had exactly that at 3 months - 2 courses of flucanazol and nystatin for baby, was on 2 X ibuprofin + 2X paracetamol every 4 hours (more pain meds than after my caesar)
I posted on here and some great person suggested a simple thing which I think may have worked - boil everything for at least 15 minutes - maybe it just ran it's course, or maybe the boiling really worked, who knows?
But I had all the dummies, nipple shields, teats from bottles etc in the pot. Apparently the poster said that a normal steriliser (I have an avent one) wasn't good enough to battle thrush.
I got through it in the end, now having another issue at 10 months - even now I would hate to have to give up so I totally sympathise, that is horrible for you.

Montifer · 05/12/2009 22:36

Wills - I got my grapefruit seed extract tablets and liquid from an online UK pharmacy (sorry can't remember which one) and it arrived 24 hours later.

Never actually used the liquid but reckon it'll be useful at some point as it's supposed to be a strong but gentle 'citricidal'; so anti bacterial/ fungal / viral properties.
I was planning to wash bras / bedding / nappies etc with it but it wasn't necessary as symptoms resolved on the tablets alone.

HTH

Original poster
Wills · 05/12/2009 22:57

OK, so i've suddenly got a load of alterrnatives to try. Am going to dose up on ibru and paracetamol and head to bed. Thanks to all of you and I'll keep you updated if you get time to look back on.

OP posts:
Alibabaandthe40nappies · 05/12/2009 23:04

Clean bra everyday, 60 degree wash and then a hot iron. Hot wash all bedding and switch to disposables until the thrush is cleared if you are using cloth.

I nearly gave up because of thrush, the pain is just awful so I do sympathise. It really sounds like you don't want to stop though.

Low iron levels can contribute to candida being able to thrive, so it's worth taking an iron supplement alongside the fluconazole.

MistletoeNoelPresents · 05/12/2009 23:09

Wills have you thought of expressing and using that milk in the bottles?

It seems to be current advice from breastfeeding nurses here is Geneva.

Also the last mum i was with had a yeast infection but not thrush and was told not to breast feed until she was pain free but could express as this didn't hurt. She is 4 weeks on able to do 2 feeds and the other 5/6 are expressed and given in bottles.