How to handle thrush on nursing mom?

Thrush is yeast so an anti-fungal will not work. You will probably have to go see the soctor so it soesn' speard to the baby, even though you only pump.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T083100.asp
http://www.llli.org//FAQ/thrush.html

2 very good articles about Thrush and treatments.

i havn't read everyone's responses so forgive me if i'm saying something that's already been said.

the nystantin did nothing for us, i got acidophilous capsules from the HFS and mixed that with breast milk and put i in babies mouth and my nipples, then i also did a mix of grapefruit seed extract and water on my nipples, and drops in a glass of water for me to drink. that cleared it up pretty good.

I developed thrush while breastfeeding my 2 week old baby. To me it was very painful and tramatic. Especially since I really wanted to breastfeed but my little one and I kept passing it back and forth. We literally tried EVERYTHING for nearly 10 weeks. 20 day courses of Diflucan, 14 day course of nystatin (which seemed to help a little bit), gentian violet (my nipples and babies tongue were literally bright purple for 2 days), vinegar, air drying nipples, antifungal creams, sterilizing everything that came in contact with my boobs or my babies mouth. The funny thing, the thrush bothered me much more than it seemeed to bother my little one. In the end...the only thing that worked for me was weaning from breastfeeding and using a cream that my doc called into an apothocary pharmcacy (it is an antifungal compound that seems to really help with the pain and infection). I do believe wholeheartedly in accupunture and diet...but cutting out sugars and introducing probiotics didn't work for me in this case. Please contact your OBGYN as well as a lactation consultant. Both were very helpful for me in this instance and helped me work through my options. I would say for at home options....sterilize all parts of your pump that come into contact with your breasts (medela makes a great microwave sterilizer bag), wash your bras evey use in vinegar and wash your breats daily with vinegar. My accupuncturist also reccomended good old olive oil on the nipples...which seemed to provide some pain relief for me. Good Luck!!!

let ur nipples get air and sunshine, wear a nursing bra w/ flaps down, make sure pumps are cleaned each time, rub a drop or two into the niple after pumping, make sure they can dry out totally after pumping
this worked for me (sun and air are great)

Go to the homeopathic store. I started taking a suppliment called aqua flora to rid my body of excess yeast. I don't know if its ok to take while breast feeding, so check at the store. You can also find it online. I use the homeopathic store at the corner of 6th and Broadway in Santa Monica. Also, thrush is candida which IS a fungus. I recommend that you remove breads from your diet right now too. Good luck

I had this FOREVER it seemed with my second. OK, lots of air time (when you can). Clean bra everyday! and take Acidolphilus (you can buy at health food store, in refridgerator section). I think that is all I did. If I think of anything else, I'll add to this post.
www.kellymom.com may also be a good place to look for natural remedies.
Good luck!
M.

Aloah Kristi,

Sounds like you need to restore your body's microflora. I highly recommend using optiflora.....It's helped our family (3 healthy growing kids). You can read more about it at and be sure to click on the "product info sheet" link towards the bottom as that will give you complete details about it including ingredients, etc. http://www.shaklee.net/sarahs/product/80638

Have a great day,
Marie-anne :O)

Kristi,
Yes! Try baking soda (bicarboante of soda). It kills fungus and yeast is a fungus. You can put a teaspoon in water and drink it a few times each day and make a paste with it and put it on your nipples and cover with a moist cotton pad and tape it (I used a bandaid) to hold it in place. Repeat after each nursing.
Good Luck,
D.

Hi Kristi,

Try lowering the amounts of breads and sugars you consume. I have a homeopathic doctor I see for yeast problems and while I take an herbal remedy, he has also told me to limit or not consume these foods if I can help it. Hope you get better!

Hi Kristi,
I feel for you! With my 4th baby she developed thrush and then I started to notice a red, burning sensation on my nipples. I talked to people and did my research. I used Nystatin oral suspension on her, me, disposable breast pads, rinsing with vinegar, drinking probiotic drinks, taking garlic pills, boiling and then throwing out all of her pacifiers, getting rid of sugar and carbohydrates from my diet, and did two courses of Diflucan. Ugh! It lasted for about six weeks before my Dad (a doctor) suggested that it might be a bacterial infection on my tender, stinging breasts. As soon as I mentioned it to my OB/GYN she immediately put me on antibiotics and within days I felt much better. Everything cleared up and I was grateful that my Dad was so smart! With my 5th baby she developed thrush as well and I did the same treatment(minus the antibiotics). After 4 exhausting weeks of all the same treatments, my pediatrician suggested Diflucan for my newborn and everything promptly cleared up. I'm expecting my 6th baby, and because I have GBS, like with my last two babies, I'm anticipating another episode of thrush. This time I will try probiotic capsules from Trader Joes and put the powder directly on my baby's infected mouth, if need be. This apparently cleared it up for my friend's baby right away. Good luck!

Keep up the great work! I pumped for several months too. Pumping takes true dedication because it is so easy to give up. I too developed thrush when both my sons were very young. With my second baby I found out that you can take acidophilus supplements or powder mixed with water. The good natural bacteria seems to have run low in your body (specifically your stomach) and your body now has a yeast infection, hence the thrush. You have to combat the yeast by adding good bacteria back into your body. Ask your child's pediatrician how much you can take for his size or how much you can give him directly. I gave it directly to my baby boy at 6 weeks by mixing it in with my breast milk that I pumped. Both my sons developed thrush from me becuase I didn't clear it up soon enough. You will know if he has it by looking in his mouth. If he has what appears to be cottage cheese like film on the inside of his cheeks he probably has thrush too. In fact, nystatin which is a presciption they give infants that can't clear up thrush on their own didn't work for my son. However, the acidophilis did. All vitimin stores carry it and it is in the refrigertaed section. It is the best natural approach in my opinion. Best of luck to you!

Kristi,
Since you live in Kingman and there is no LLL here, I recommend you contact Linda Olson. She is a registered nurse at Kingman Regional Medical Center. She is a lactation consultant for the hospital. She works the night shift on the Labor/Delivery unit. I strongly encourage you to call here for your lactation issues. If you have more questions I have another contact for you, but she is a private person and I will need to contact her before giving you her number. If you are interested, contact me.
Best wishes,
T.

Hello, Kristi,

Find a health food store and ask for a good probiotic. (Explain your situation to them.) I use an excellent probiotic that I order, as well as a topical (and non-toxic) solution for external use. Please feel free to contact me if you'd like either: ____@____.com is important to get more living, green foods in your body that are not cooked and to reduce processed foods. The sugars created feed that yeast. I have excellent recipes for easy, tasty and healing live foods if you email me...

My best to you and the baby!

T.

sunlight! first and foremost, a little nude tanning will help a lot.

switch your breast pads more frequently.

and use aloe vera gel on the nipples.

are they clogged? if they are burning and itching and pumping is painful, then you've got a slight infection, not thrush.

boil some water, take half a bunch of organic parsely and hold leaves in a shallow bowl of the boiled water for about 60 - 90 seconds. place parsely directly onto nipples. allow to cool on nipples. repeat 3 - 4 times a day.

hopefully that should clear it.

also, line dry your bras in direct sunlight and switch to cotton ones for a while.

good luck
-A.

Hello,
Thrush is caused by excess yeast in the body. One of the best ways to relieve this is to start taking probiotics daily. This will help to balance the yeast in your body and eliminate the thrush. I'd also suggest eliminating all sugar and bread products from your diet until the thrush subsides.

http://www.motherlove.com/product_diaper_rash_relief.php

This product is fantastic.

The best thing to use on your breasts is your own breast milk. When you are done pumping take a little of the breast milk and put it on both breasts. I have used it to heal the cuts when my baby bit my breast since she got teeth at 4 months and it healed my breasts right up. Good Luck, D.

When my son had thrush in his mouth, we gave him acidopholus (sp?) it's one of the good bacterias in yogurt. You can also get acidopholus supplements in pill form, that really helped me fight off a yeast infection when I was pregnant and didn't want to take the medication, and I think yeast infections and thrush are similar types of infections.

Hi Kristi~ I suffered with thrush too and you are probably recontaminating yourself with your pump, so be sure to boil every part of your pump for at least 5 minutes. You can also use Genteel Violet, you can buy it over the counter at Target, Save ons, etc. It is dark purple and you paint it on your nipples (I know it sounds weird but it really is the only thing that works). It dries out the yeast. Paint it on once a day for 5 days and it should get rid of it. It will stain your clothes so stick with dark bras for the time being. Good luck! Thrush sucks! It will pass though.

I know for thrush in the baby's mouth you can you Genshin violet(I am spelling it how it sounds not how it should be I am sure). It would stain your nipples purple, but might do the trick and it is natural so that is nice. Good luck!

If it is true thrush, you may find plain yogurt (no fruit - fruit makes yeast grow more,) applied to the affected areas will help. Mixing it with the feminine anti-yeast creams is even more effective. Beyond that, if a doctor hasn't diagnosed it as a yeast rash, it may just be a heat rash.

try to keep your nipples as clean and dry as possible. you should also get some probiotics (the opposite of an anti-biotic...keeps all the good bacteria in your body). try going to a Whole Foods if you have one nearby. You should eat the probiotic (even more than the suggested use, since you have an active infection), and also mix some with water and rub it on your nipples. I've had thrush twice with my breastfeeding son, and it's terrible. those creams just don't work!!! once i stopped using them, it went away...i felt like they were making it worse. anyways, good luck!

If your baby stops drinking, you need to have them also checked for thrush on the tongue, it is contagious, when babies get it , its quite painful on the tongue area, its a yeast infection, I am not sure but they do sell monistat over the counter, check with your doctor or pharmacy if you can use it.

you probably need the right medication prescription from your OB. Thrush is yeast and not a fungus. Go see your doctor and they can help.

Oh that is NO fun, i have had it so much breastfeeding. I swear by this...
1TBS white vinegar to 1/2 cup distilled water on your breasts
1TSP baking soda to 1/2 cup distilled water in baby's mouth (if baby has it, you mentioned you onlt pump so make sure you are boiling EVERYTHING that touches your breast (breast pump) after each use.)
Make sure you make a new mixture everyday!!
My friend who is a homeopathic doctor gave me this formula and i SWEAR by it. It works really well. You should start seeing results after 2-3 days and then just continue it until cleared up and even a few days after that.
Good luck and if you have any more questions please ask!

Kristi,

Take a look here. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/thrush/thrush-resourc... There are a bunch of different ideas for treatment of thrush. Some are home remedies, some medical remedies. You can get thrush without actually nursing (obviously!).

:-)T.

Ugh! I had that and it's awful. The only thing that worked for me (and I tried everything) was Nystatin (prescription). I would use the liquid...then put on the powder to ensure a good cake on it. Sleeping topless with a gentle fan helped a lot. My son was nursing at the time, so I didn't always get to do it. Good luck!

I had the same problem. It was so painful! But it did get better. I used gentian violet--a purple dye. You can get it at health stores and just apply it to the nipples. It will be very messy, but it is effective. Also, it goes without saying that you should be sure to wash all bras in hot water after using. Good luck!

It sounds like a yeast infection due to sweating. Believe me, I've tried it all, and nothing has worked over the counter. I go to the doctor and she prescribes a cream call Nystatin. It's wonderful and works very quickly. After the infection is gone, eat yogurt (with live cultures), dry thoroughly after showering or sweating, and use corn starch, not baby powder (it dries up the sweat). Good luck.

Have you seen a doctor? I was told by a doctor I saw (when someone else told me that I might I have it...but didn't) that Thrush comes from the baby's saliva. So if you're not nursing and pumping only it might be something else. Try Googling Thrush, then, if I you're sure you do have it, I'd see a doctor. If you've already seen a doctor then call them and see what they would recommend. Keep in mind that anything that goes onto your nipple will transfer to the milk when you pump. When I was having pain while nursing I would rub a little of my milk on the nipple when my son was done eating and it helped to keep it moisturized. Maybe olive oil would help, too...depending, of course on what exactly you have. Olive oil is very, very good for your skin. I'm no expert by any means. But I hope this helps.

I took acidophilus and also applied baby probiotics directly on the breat. There's a great probiotic called bio-k. They sell it at Whole Foods. It's pricey but fantastic!

Vinegar, but it does not feel good. Yogurt is also a good one. I battled thrush for two months with docs creams and meds with no luck. I then found something at a health food store called Jarrow-dophilus. It was amazing. I was breastfeeding and we got rid of it in two weeks with that stuff. You can also put it on your nipples if you dissolve some in water. What it is is a combo of a bunch of "good" bacterias found in yogurt so it is safe. I also suggest sterilizing your pump EVERY time you use it. It is a pain, but thrush is a bigger pain if it gets out of control. Good luck.

ACIDOPHILUS! It works great. I keep a powdered one in the refrigerator at ALL times that way I can use it orally or topically. If your nipples have thrush, add a little water to make a paste and apply. I would also take it orally to fight the bad flora from inside. Most importantly allow your breasts to get some air. You may have already had a bit of Candida and it came out on your breasts. It doesn't mean it came from the pump.
Cutting back on sugar makes a giant difference.