Bl**dy Oral Thrush ...to tweat or not to tweat ?

[4blue1pink]

My Baby has oral thrush. He is almost 5 weeks old.
He has had it for a good three weeks despite my being told by one health professional he did not.
I have been given nystan drops ( four times a day PITA) which i have been giving for nearly two weeks.
I have used daktarin too ( which he at least likes)

The thrush is still there although not bad. HV told me I need to treat my ( symptomless) nipples with canestan. Its now all getting me down ...constant creaming of bloody nips and droppering this horrible stuff into my babies mouth.

I have had so many people tell me different stories re thrush - some say treat some say leave - some say treat me - some say not....
I wish it would just thrush -off and leave me alone....
Whats the official line and does any one actually know?
Otherwise any home-help stories of how to get rid of it?

Thanks!

You need to treat both of you otherwise you risk passing it back and forth

I seem to recall it taking me and DS about 5 weeks to get rid with Daktarin

This link has various info

www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/thrush/thrush-resources.html

Gentian violet is supposed to zapp it but you end up with purple clothes

I was just looking in DD2s mouth thinking she has thrush too and I should take her to the docs, hate the idea of shoving antifungal drops in her wee mouth so interested in any other natural remedies?

Thanks TB -Five weeks sounds like an awfully long time but i am beginning to think it will never go!

Sweetkitty -I too cannot bear giving him these drops - one was laden in sucrose and i have noticed this latest batch is sorbitol...Nice... breastfeed your baby and them ram it full of artificial sweetners!

I so know what you mean hate her to get anything artificial so young but need to get rid of the thrush

you can (or could) get the sugar version of nystatin but you might have to try a few chemists to get it.
I know it seems awful giving them it. But believe me - the very very last thing in the world you want is to get it on your nips. Ouch.

How would i know if it were on my nipples?

No way of knowing for certain, but when I had it, feeding hurt most of the time.

Few other points - do you have any symptoms of thrush down below? I got this too, and had to use pessaries to clear that up. Are you using cloth nappies / does ds have any signs of nappy thrush (looks v. similar to nappy rash but with little spots)? If so, you need to do hot service washes on the nappies to ensure that they haven't got thrush in them. Are you using any bottles (for EBM / water etc?), dummies or does ds have toys that go in his mouth? These need to be doubly well sterilised to ensure that he's not reinfecting himself that way. Also try to ensure people keep their fingers out of his mouth (particular bug bear when ds had thrush).

I would say treat personally. It took me 6 months to clear it as I wasn't properly advised about treating self and ds at same time (and dh if you've resumed coital relations ). I used daktarin on my nipples, as I wasn't worrying then about rinsing it off if ds decided he wanted a feed two minutes later.

Thanks for advise it is all starting to depress me though!

Have you tried talking to your local NCT BF counsellor? That was the first time I got some common sense advice. She rang my GP's for me (was also a MW) and arranged a prescription. She also explained about the tablet you can take orally as a last resort.

If you have got it too, you can make changes to your diet (reduce sugar, bread etc) to help eliminate it.