A friend of mine has a three month old baby who's been battling thrush for quite a while now. She's prone to breast infections and wants so much to breast feed this baby longer than she did with her other two.(ages 3 and 1 1/2!)

She's taking an antibiotic and putting a cream on her breasts and washing it off before each feeding. She feels like she might have a yeast infection, too. Also she's putting that blue stuff (I've fogotten what it's called) in the baby's mouth.

She's also taking an acidophilus capsule. It seems I've heard something about the acidophilus negating the effect of the antibiotic, but, I can't find where I heard or read it.

Do any of you nursing mothers have any suggestions about the thrush, breast infections or the acidophilus question?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. She's is such a busy mom with all three little ones, plus not being able to knock the thrush is really wearing her down. Add to the mix.... they are flying to CA Tuesday to see her family.

I know there are some good breastfeeding sites, can some one direct us to some?

Thanks so much,
Maggie

I'm not a mom, and I'm sure many will come in with much good advice, but I wanted to add this: perhaps she might use a cream or salve on her breasts that she doesn't have to wash off. I've read over and over that it's best not to wash the breasts prior to feeding.

Lotrimin-type ointment is what they typically will prescribe for yeast on the nipples. That's what they gave me, and yes you MUST wash it off before feeding. Burns like (the yeast does, I mean) a house afire. Pure torture.

Another thing that can be used is UNsweetened yogurt with live cultures, on the nipples, but that must be washed off before feeding as well. For babe, Nystatin Oral Suspension is typically Rx'd for thrush. (it's gentian purple that she's using now) Thrush is a nasty thing. It's just a yeast overgrowth, but it can be swallowed and seed a lovely yeast diaper-rash for the baby (lotrimin or yogurt on their butt works nicely) What a dilemma. If the gentian purple ain't cutting it, get that Nystatin prescribed; it kills it really nicely.

Poor little mama; I don't remember much of the twins' first year of life (my older one wasn't yet two) but I DO remember SCREAMING when they'd latch on when I had that yeast on the nipples. Egads, that hurt. Just makes me cry for her.

There's gotta be a lactation consultant at her local hospital, or a La Leche League person somewhere near; get ahold of them. (pediatrician's office may have a list for you, or the OB office or the L&D ward at the hospital) Or we can call LADYBUG!!! (pm her; she's a whiz with this BFing stuff)

Thrush and yeast are the same thing... just to clarify.

I know a woman who had a huge battle with it, and she posted a whole bunch of good info... lemme see if I can find it.

http://tinyurl.com/2ftzo

Oh, God. I SO feel for her. :(

Nystatin, Nystatin, Nystatin. Now, say it again. Then add some plain yogurt. Use it topically and internally. Yogurt rocks.

If she's taking oral antibiotics, she's really gonna need to up the acidophillus (yogurt). It comes in capsules and liquid form -- check the organic/health section of the store.

I'm so sorry for her and her little one. :(

there's probiotics that you can get. And genetian violet. Be careful, because it turns everything it touches a blushish purple - including baby puke.

Thank you all.

I knew you would come through!
I sent her all the advice and the site Persephone posted.

Persephone: I had seen the Earthy Birthy site before, but could not remember the name of it for the life of me!

I'm sure it will be encouraging to her to know others have been through this and didn't lose their mind. :)

Although I had 4 children, I didn't have any problems with thrush and only one breast infection out of 4 years of nursing. I had no idea how to help her.

Maggie[/b]

Oh, I'm sorry I'm late on this one. I'm not ladybug, btw, but I think I can help! ;)

Anyhoo. Yeast/thrush loves sugar. Loves it. It will help the mommy immensely if she temporarily eliminates refined sugars from her diet (aka--the sweets). Poor thing. I had a thrush infection in the aftermath of my tongue-tied baby chewing my nipples off after delivery for an entire week. After we finally got his little frenulum clipped and I pumped for a week and then trained him back on the breast . . . .you know the rest. Here's the hoot--ladybug had her baby 12 days earlier and the poor thing was tongue tied too!

But that is beside the point. I wound up using nystatin creme. But I had gentian violet on hand if it wasn't helping. If you get the nystatin creme (by prescription only) without a steroid additive (request it) the baby can safely nurse it off, which is really really nice to not have to wash the boobies all the time.

And I put a little plain kefir (it's like yogurt, but more variety of cultures--better if you can get it) on my finger and let him suck it off. Introducing a little good bacteria to the baby's intestine won't hurt him. At least it didn't mine. I did this once a day. Use the creme for at least two weeks, every other feeding.

The mommy also needs to use disposable nursing pads, without waterpoof backing or internal liners. This is really important--no liners. Change them every feeding. And wash the bras every day in hot water. If you don't--you'll just be reinfecting the breasts.

Yeast battles aren't sprints, they are marathons--so don't give up. And even when the nipples are feeling better--keep using the medicine as long as perscribed. Then there are the old standbys, sleep, drink a lot of water etc. But no softdrinks, no candy, no refined sugar. And if you have a southern facing window, or better yet, can actually get out in the sun, expose the nipples to direct sunlight for a few minutes. Less than 10--you don't want to burn them. But UV kills yeast.

Most thrust infections are Candidiasis albicans and won't respond to OTC anti-fungals. And do not use tea tree oil--it is toxic if ingested. The enemies of yeast are: dryness (lack of moisture) lack of sugar, freindly bacteria (from yogurt), sunshine, nystatin, gentian violet, and your own immune system which functions best when you're taking care of yourself--hard to do with a baby!

And there's another use of ACV! Dilute vinegar 1:10 in water and put it in a spray bottle and spray your nipples with it. But don't put a bra on, you want the breasts to dry--just borrow hubby's t-shirt.

Poor mom--I really feel for her. If you want, pm me and I can give her my email addy. Good luck. And it will eventually go away. ;)

Thank you, too, scarlett.

I printed off your info and will give it so her as soon as I see her.

What throws a 'monkey wrench' in to this, is that she's leaving early Tuesday morning, flying from east coast to west coast for a two week visit to see all her family and friends. Even though her husband will be along and is a big help, it's not going to be easy.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could schedule our illnesses for a more conveniet time? :D When would thatbe, right?

Thanks again,
Maggie

My twisted mind had an image of this poor woman getting caught in one of the south facing rooms of her family's house with her blouse open, trying to catch a few rays :shock: :D

I'll say it again, this board is invaluable for moms to be like me!

Heidi,
Don't discount that south-facing window just yet. Air is THE best thing for that skin when it is repeatedly getting wet throughout the course of the day. Some of the soreness we women experience at the onset of the breastfeeding period could be alleviated by allowing them to air a bit and DRY before "capping them back up" with the brassiere. And CHANGING the brassiere if it gets dampened (or SOAKING WET) by an ill-timed let-down-reflex. Silly body. I remember when my twinners were just 5 weeks old. The younger one, J, had to have a surgery on his stomach. He had a serious TIGHTENING of the squeezy-muscle at the EXIT of his stomach (pyloric stenosis, for those of you who "do" medical terminology) and they had to FIX that. He was a bit dehydrated by the time we realized it was a surgery-type problem, and not just a stomach bug thang, so running an IV was a WHOLE lotta fun. They tried once in the room, and there I was, SOAKING the front of my shirt. I remember being so MAD at my body for letting down at the PAIN cries of my infant, and having to worry about THAT, when my mind should be focused on the baby..... Very frustrating. (to finish the story, they got IV therapy in there and a guy they called "sure-shot Jake" pegged it on the first poke, and he had the surgery the next morning and was fine right after that. Then the older twin started barfing and I thought "Oh crap" but it was just a bit of the sniffles and he'd swallowed too much air. Whew! I was afraid we'd have another hospital-stay, and that's just NOT fun!!! Poor little guy; it's no fun to have your baby operated on at any time, but he was SO small at 5 weeks.....)

Well, anyhow, I digressed badly on that one. It was just an example of letting down when you wish you weren't, and....then you need a DRY bra! (and a dry shirt! I soaked that thing BAD!)

Air is GOOD for our nips! ;)

That is the HUGE virtue of being a small-breasted nursing Mom. I went totally without a bra for three months. I got lots of black T-shirts and I was fine.

I also tried to stay totally uncovered for at least 20 minutes after each feeding. On some days of course that meant I just went shirtless. DH LOVED that :twisted: