Please help me continue BFing - thrush, cracked nipple, red rash over breast in TOTAL agony!!

[Warmseabreeze]

Can someone please help me. I am BF my 12wk old and we have both had thrush since she was about 5 weeks old. DD2 has been taking Nystan, and I have been taking Fluconazole for the past 6 days (bought on internet) and the Drs have now given me 2% Daktarin cream (4 times a day)after the previous cream wasnt helping.

Currently due to the cracked nipples feeding is toe curlingly painful (not sure why nipples have just started to crack in past week)and I have a rash of little red spots over my breast some have little pus heads (nice!). My other breast is starting to go the same way. Does anyone have any advice as I dont want to stop feeding (as DD2 has reflux) but I dont know how much longer I can take this as DD2 is mid growth spurt, and especially if the other boob is heading that way too!

Any advice greatly received!

Oh and can I avoid feeding on the v sore breast, i.e. twice on one side and before return to the sore one?

well done you for wanting to continue. this happened to me and it is so very very hard. i did get through it by taking ibruprofen lots and lots. flucanazole will work. not sure re teh rash but it sounds like you should get it looked at to be honest. it might be an infection of some sort. thrush will go. typical this happens during a growth spurt. what a great mum you are to be so committed. Well done. keep posting about how you are going.

Ditch the nystatin for baby and get Daktarin oral gel instead, can be bought OTC. Spread it around mouth, but v. thinly so as not to create choking risk.

Boil your bra or do it on a 60+ wash every night; go topless as much as poss; hot wash for towels/muslins too; sterilise any toys baby puts in her mouth.

Start drinking 2-3 of those yoghurt drinks per day, eat natural yoghurt too. Try and avoid sugar (inc. fruit) & yeast products.

We did this and it started to go within 3-4 days.

Oh Sea breeze, poor you. sounds heart sinking... well done for keeping going, your baby's very lucky o have such a persistant mum!!

how about expressing from the worse side so you don't get build up of milk, but can give it a break? have you ever tried cup feeding? ask your GP on monday if a swab is worthwhile to work out which antifungal is best- or go to OOH and ask them to send the result to your GP. Are you taking painkillers? certainly paracetamol is totally ok- and evn though lots of people say 'it doesn't work', try it before you decide, because its a great medcine. Have you got supportive mum-friends you can visit/ ask to come round? how about partner. Does your HV know you're having trouble?

blah blah. what a stream of conciousness.... cabbage leaves?? cool compresses? make sure you usin lots and lots of lansinoh ...

good luck...

When I had cracked nipple didn't rotate feeds, I did 2 off one side, one on the other. Just to give one side a little break. It is do able.

Hopefully the medicines you are taking will kick in soon. It's hell when BFing is going badly.

Hi Ladies thanks for your replies, just fed DD2 on the sore boob and can't sleep now as the pain is so bad. Think I will go to the out of hours Dr tomorrow, after googling I think I might have a S. Aureus infection.

Thanks for your support! Not sure if I can keep this up for much longer, the "good" boob is starting to look worse, though thankfully hasn't cracked yet!

Ok, this sounds like a really rough time.

What sort of local help do you have with breastfeeding?

The cracked nipple sounds like it could be down to bad latch. (cracked nipples generally are.) Thrush can't cause cracked nipples.

How do you know you have thrush? Some of the symptoms of thrush also look like the symptoms of bad latch.

I can talk you through latch, or there are plenty of websites with information and videos (Dr Jack Newman's, for example).

And the rash? Is that heat rash? Blocked duct?

It sounds like you've done really well to carry on so long, with so much going wrong, and I recognise it's rude to charge in and start questioning everything you're saying, but thrush is masively over-diagnosed these days ...

Not Quite - don't worry thanks for replying!

It has been diagnosed as thrush as I had two weeks of antibiotics after birth. It started in DD2's mouth and I then got it in my boobs, it wasn't to bad at first had the shiny skin and pains after feeding. Then just over a week ago one boob started to get red bumps these were quite itchy then these turned to tiny blisters, then the cracks appeared and the red bumps spread out onto the actual boob!

Poor you, express a little milk and rub it into your nipples, that and savouy cabbage, don't know why savouy but it works much better than other varieties, good luck hun

ps also use lansinoh it lanolin rich cream its so thick that its sticky,and really works

Oh you poor thing - having been there myself, I know how painful this is! You can definitely feed off the less painful side first so that your baby isn't sucking quite so vigorously by the time they're feeding off that side. No idea about the rash I'm afraid!

I'd second Jemjella about the daktarin gel for your baby - we needed two tubes before my baby was cured of thrush (also had daktarin cream for myself and also bought flucozanole over the counter). I used to rub the gel inside my baby's mouth but also let him suck it off my (clean) baby finger.

I'd also recommend hot washing bedding and towels regularly.

As well as the live yogurts & probiotics I also took pau d'arco (herbal remedy - I was desperate to ensure it didn't come back!) and really tried to cut down on sugar.

Even once my thrush cleared one crack remained on my right side - causing weeks of pain as I tried copious amounts of lansinoh, jelonet (which I'd recommend), silverette silver cups and the usual air exposure to cure it. Finally, it was a course of anti biotics that shifted it. My GP didn't take a swab but I suspect it was a s. aureus infection. The GP didn't think it looked infected, which I put down to the fact that DS was feeding off it so many times a day/night.

NotQuiteCockney good advice on latch but afaik cracked nipples are usually classed as a symptom of thrush. They certainly were with me (I was diagnosed by a lactation consultant at a breastfeeding group). So treatment for the thrush should have the crack healing quickly unless there's an underlying s. aureus infection.

Was breastfeeding comfortable before the thrush?

Yes bf was fine before the thrush. Bf DD1 for 13mths so I know when it feels right

hi there hows it going?? hope your feeling betterxxx

Quite possible you have staph aureus as well- has a swab been taken of the crack? My doc thought it was thrush but swab showed staph aureus- was on anti-b's for a week- took a few more weeks to heal but was much better.

You are so brave- painful feeding is a killer. Take paracetamol/ibuprofen alternately every two hours if is really bad- (so both have a 4 hour gap iyswim- work on diff pain pathways so okay to do).

Also try saline/tea tree nipple soaks- but make sure not on boob before a feed!

Hang in there Warmseabreeze. I had a 14 day course of fluconazole and it was only in the last couple of days of the course that it felt better. But then it was gone, the agony was all over and I was able to feed normally again.

It is horrible, you have my total sympathy!

Cracked nipples that won't heal are a sign of thrush according to The Breastfeeding Network.

Not sure what the redness could be - is it still there? I did get patches of discoloured skin (well loss of pigment really) way up at the top of my chest that I hadn't even connected with thrush.

I'm surprised you say thrush is massively over-diagnosed NotQuiteCockney. From my experience and what I've heard from others it's really hard to get it diagnosed and even harder to get a prescription.