Do I have early symptoms of nipple thrush?

[LennyW]

DS (14 weeks) has been extremely fussy on the breast for about two weeks, often pulling off or hardly having any feed at all, even if he's hungry (i.e. it's breakfast time and he hasn't fed for hours).

I thought it was just distractability or maybe teething, but during the night last night I had a slight pin-prick kind of itch/pain in one nipple. This has continued during the day; it's not something I've felt before. It's not actually that painful, just irritating; the sensation lasts only a second or so, but returns every minute or so for about an hour after feeding/expressing.

Does anyone know whether this is an early symptom of nipple thrush - or what else it might be? If it's thrush obviously I want to start treating it ASAP so it doesn't develop.

DS doesn't seem to have any other symptoms (oral rash/nappy rash) other than being really fussy on the breast for a while now.

Advice appreciated. Thanks.

Hi LennyW don't know how much help I can be, but I had this a while ago & ignored it but have now had treatment for thrush after the pain started getting worse & spreading into the breast. Although not sure if it was thrush as still have the breast pain but could also be wrong treatment from GP- started a thread about that & others said there was cream you could apply so maybe worth a shot to get it early?

My twins have both been fussing at feeds too & very windy so its back to the GP for us to get it sorted.

Sorry thats probably not much help to you

lennyw, I am currently feeding dc4 and I'm on month 59 of breastfeeding, thre are people on here who have been feeding for longer and have more knowledge than me, but if I ever happen across a thrush query thread I have to respond. 1st time round I went undiagnosed for 6 months and stared at the wall and gritted my teeth through each feed with tears streaming. 2nd and 3rd babies I knew what was wrong and 4th time blissfully I didn't get it

You may have the beginings of thrush, in which case you are already forwarned ,BUT you may also have a small amount of milk blocking one or two of the ducts in that nipple. If you have a very close look and gently squeeze you can see where the milk is coming out and occasionally you can see a duct which is plugged. This happens sometimes when the baby has been in a different position and isn't stimulating that part of the nipple properly or as you can imagine going from a pump to direct feeding it stimulates differently. If this is what has happened you need to be INCREDIBLY careful about unblocking the duct. The last thing you want to do is damage your nipple. There was another poster on here who had a kind of patented "duct cheese removal method" iyswim If its left you can end up with mastitus so you do need to sort it.

I will be back in a mo (hopefully ) with a link to the other thread...

thanks guys, not much i can do tonight so we'll see how it goes overnight.

Finally found the thread on pinging ducts! here

The other one is BFN thrush in breastfeeding for you to wave under your doctors nose in case you need to

If you do find its a duct be VERY, VERY careful in unplugging it. Hope you have a good night.

Thrush is so annoying... I ignored it first too, but it just gets worse! Your nipples become really sore and itchy! It sounds like you do have it, as its not pain as such just not very pleasant. My daughter kept pulling away from my breast and then latching on again... I would say go to your GP and get it cleared up. They will more than likely give you drops for your twins that need to be given 4 times a day and thrush creme for your nipples. I'm sure your GP will be able to tell you if its thrush thats really causing this!

I hoped this helped!