Thrush and breastfeeding

[Nelbert19]

Anyone had nipple thrush while breast feeding? I’ve been diagnosed today after struggling for a couple of weeks with such sore boobs, thinking it was my latch 😖

If you’ve had it before, how long did it take to clear up? Did it come back?

Any tips aside from prescribed medication and careful hygiene?? (Not that I’m unhygienic now!)

I had it and it was the most awful pain for me. Showering felt this like the water was made of razor blades. Are both your nipples and baby’s mouth being treated? I can’t remember how long it took to clear up. I think the treatment was for 10 days but the pain went before then.

I've had it twice (two different babies). It never came back. If I remember correctly, I had to use the medicine for both of us for 2-3 weeks. But things were much better in maybe 4 days. It is worth persisting as it will get better. Have you been on antibiotics recently? In both cases, mine was related to antibiotics.

@Lockdownseperation yes the shower is awful! And the towel after. And any item of clothing.

@mindutopia yes I had antibiotics during my c section so I think that’s probably what did it. Glad to hear things improved relatively quickly

Did you use the creams or did you get the pills? I’ve got oral gel for the baby and a cream for me

I didnt have thrush but awful cracked nipples and blisters. Hydrogel breast pads helped heal / soothe me so much! I got mine off amazon, they were quite expensive but worth every penny!

Miconazole cream i think i used on breast and baby had treatment too

For drying make sure you gently pat not rub although I’m sure your already doing this.

Mine took nearly 3 months. After a while they switched my cream to one that includes a mild steroid and that did the trick. They had very similar names but I can't remember them now!

The time I was dealing with it was during the Beast from the East. Man, those were some razor blade pains the cold wind brought with it!

I had it recurring for about a month! Like you I’d thought it was just a bad latch as baby had been tongue tied and had it snipped, also baby had no symptoms (Aside from fussiness at the breast- no white tongue at all). By the time I realised it was thrush it had really taken hold. I would say look up the following resources in case you have a battle with the GP as I did- they are really not very clued up with Bf....

www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/48_Community+services+Wandsworth_Breastfeeding+with+thrush.pdf

ibconline.ca/information-sheets/candida-protocol/

The second link is Dr Jack Newman he is a breastfeeding expert from the reading ive done. Had I not read both these links and done my own research to get truly clued up I reckon I’d still have thrush now and it was 3 months ago! A locus GP initially told me to use the daktarin cream on one breast for a week whilst not feeding off it and then treat the other breast which obviously would have ruined my supply but he was an idiot and also spoke to me like crap when I challenged him! After ringing my breastfeeding peer supporter in tears she pointed out GPs have 1 days training on breastfeeding so It really does pay to be clued up yourself.

In the end I did the protocol on the second link- substituting the daktarin for the all purpose cream it mentions as we can’t get that made as it refers to in England. I used grape seed extract as a wash and on tablet form, took loads of prebiotics and used gentian violet. I think it was the gentian violet that truly cleared it up in the end. It’s available on Amazon. I also took flucanazole but had to buy my own from different pharmacies as the prescription I finally negotiated off the 3rd GP I spoke to was only for 50mg for 10 days.

Happy to clarify further if you are struggling! It was an absolute battle! Oh to add as well change breast pads really often if you are using, add the grape seed extract to the washing powder and hot wash all bras/ anything milk has touched.

Oh and change to your towel everyday and hot wash it.

Also to add, I occasionally felt it creeping back it for weeks after inintitialy shifted it and so used the daktarin cream and also actually used canestan cream sometimes too which seemed to stop it taking hold again!

Yes, I had it several times in the early months of feeding my twins. I found Canesten most effective for me, obviously wash it off thoroughly before baby feeds. My twins had oral gel. Also make sure you thoroughly sterilise any dummies or bottles you may be using as it can hang around on these. I'd say 2-3 days of consistent use of gels and cream would give me relief from the pain but you need to carry on longer to make sure it's totally gone.

Thank you everybody (particularly @Ibizababyy) Fingers crossed I’m one of the lucky ones where it clears up quickly with no fuss!

I read that thrush in the baby can cause excessive gassiness- this would explain a lot in our windy young chap! Did anyone else notice this?? And did anyone have the persistent nappy rash? Thankfully my sons bum seems ok apart from the enormous and constant gas!

I thought I had this for 8 months. Turned out to be a tongue tie.

However if you are on thrush meds make sure it's the right dose as often under prescribed.

Refer GP to this.

https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/48Community+services+Wandsworthh_Breastfeeding+with+thrush.pdf

You need to combine the above with washing all clothes, towels etc as hot as you can, going on an anti thrush diet - no sugar, yeast etc and wiping down breasts with a vinegar solution also helps. Take a probiotic to balance the drugs.

@ColdCottage thank you, that link is so helpful

I had it and was a nightmare - I actually gave up bf because of it because I was crying with pain. I had fluconazole - also had to get from diff pharmacies as GP didn't prescribe enough. Daktarin cream for me and Nystatin for the baby although micronazole is supposed to be better.

I kept using the cream twice a day for about a month - until it ran out - as a previous poster has stated, mine kept threatening to come back but had gone right into the breast not just the nipple.

DD had very very bad thrush nappy rash which was cured by Timodene (prescription) cream.

@nelbert19

To stop it coming back please look into aphadophilis probably not spelt right but you get it in Holland and barrett and it has been amazing for me. I used a orange gel in my babies mouth that was prescribed not sure on the name and I had to use an athlete's foot cream on my nipple which was also prescribed. The nystatin liquid didn't work on my newborn as it doesn't stay on their tongue for long enough. Make sure your not washing your nipples with soap aswell as that can make it come back just use water. I'm so sorry your going through this I remember the pain being so so bad. It will go and it will get better x

Thank you @Lou2120 it’s pretty miserable isn’t it?? Hopefully start feeling the difference soon and seeing my son settle down, poor thing