This article is an excerpt from "The Nursing Mother's Problem Solver" by Claire Martin.
Thrush appears as white blisters, as red dots, or as a peeling rash. It is painful for both mother and baby. Yeast is a kind of fungus. Thrush is an overgrowth of yeast. It survives by consuming sugars digested from other sources. Mother and baby must be treated simultaneously. It is extremely contagious; if one of you has thrush, the other almost certainly has it too, or will soon.
Pediatricians or OB/GYNs typically suggest topical ointments, including clotrimazole (in 1 percent or 2 percent concentrations) and Nystatin, which often are used together in treatment. Clotrimazole will work on thrush. If you find the 1 percent cream too slow or ineffective, try the 2 percent miconazole cream. Wash off Clotrimazole before you nurse (use water, not soap), and reapply afterward.
This prevents the thrush yeast from reproducing; it must be applied to all affected areas four times a day, and you can't nurse for 10 minutes after you use Nystatin. Because it contains sugar, Nystatin can leave your nipples sticky: It never really dries. (If you thought your nipples were sore before, try peeling Nystatin- covered nipples from a nursing bra or nursing pads.)
If you put a little Lotrimin on your nipples, they won't stick to your bra. It's absorbed pretty quickly and thoroughly into the skin. You don't need to wash it off unless your baby wants to nurse the instant you've applied it.
An alternative treatment for thrush is gentian violet. You paint it on your nipples, inside the baby's mouth, on the baby's genitals, and on any other area affected by the thrush. Gentian violet works fast, and it's nearly foolproof, often better at resolving thrush than commercial medications. However, gentian violet has one drawback: Anything it touches will be permanently stained purple. And it takes several days for the gentian violet to work its way through a baby's system or wear off your skin. Plan on wearing dark clothing, using dark towels, and sleeping on dark sheets. On the upside: gentian violet resolves thrush within 2 or 3 days, and you'll have lots of opportunities to teach your baby about the color purple.
Another option for your baby is a relatively new drug called Diflucan, an oral medication that is mixed with water and given to the baby twice a day for 2 weeks. It's a lot easier than swabbing the baby's mouth, and you see results in 48 hours. A pill form of the same medication is an option for adults. One caution about Diflucan: It can damage your liver. Don't take it lightly.
Until the thrush is gone, it's extremely important to sterilize everything that touches the baby's mouth or your nipples. That means boiling all bottle nipples, pacifiers, breast pump parts, and toys. Wash all clothing-yours and the baby's-in hot water. Thrush, as you've learned, is highly contagious.
Don't despair: Thrush can be treated, and you can prevent its return by monitoring your diet and making sure you use breathable, not moisture-proof, nursing pads in your bra. The initial pain should subside within 72 hours.
www.amazon.com
About the Author
Claire Martin is a parenting writer at the Denver Post. Her writing has won national and regional awards, and has appeared in publications such as the St. Petersburg Times, Good Housekeeping, and Sunset magazine. She lives in Denver with her husband and two daughters, both of whom were breastfed.
From THE NURSING MOTHER'S PROBLEM SOLVER by Claire Martin. Copyright © 2000 by Claire Martin. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Browse over 100 articles to help you manage your child's symptoms.
DISCLAIMER:
The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. You assume full responsibility for how you choose to use this information. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before starting any new treatment or discontinuing an existing treatment. Talk with your healthcare provider about any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Nothing contained in these topics is intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.
If you think that you are having a medical emergency, call 911 or the number for the local emergency ambulance service NOW!
And when in doubt, call your doctor NOW or go to the closest emergency department.
By using this website, you accept the information provided herein "AS IS." Neither RemedyConnect nor the providers of the information contained herein will have any liability to you arising out of your use of the information contained herein or make any express or implied warranty regarding the accuracy, content, completeness, reliability, or efficacy of the information contained within this website.
Privacy Statement
RemedyConnect, Inc. has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to your privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this website: http://www.remedyconnect.com.
Acquisition of Information through PMD
We do not acquire any more information about website visitors than is required by law or is otherwise necessary to provide a high level of service efficiently and securely. Our site's registration form requires users to give us contact information (e.g., their name and e-mail address) and demographic information (e.g., children's birth months, but not birth dates). We use customer contact information from the registration form to (1) send the user pertinent medical and parenting information and (2) allow your local health provider lists of who is registering on that provider's site as a parent/guardian, staff member, doctor, or visitor. Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Website. Your IP address is used to help identify you and to gather broad demographic information. Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. We may use this data to tailor the visitor's experience at our site, showing them content that we think they might be interested in, and displaying the content according to their preferences. Our site may use order forms to allow users to request information, products, and services.
Your Doctor's Right to Privacy
We will respect your doctor's right to privacy. A doctor typically does not give his/her e-mail address to the parents/guardians of patients. We will not provide the e-mail addresses of doctor(s) in the local practice to users of their site without the doctor(s)' permission. Their site is restricted to use by whomever they wish, and they may deny access to their site to one or more prior users. In unusual cases, doctors may change their private site's access code and arrange for us to e-mail the new access code to approved users.
Cookies
We use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests and to save your doctor's access code so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit your doctor's site on http://www.remedyconnect.com.
Links
This site contains links to other sites. RemedyConnect.com is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Websites. See Disclaimers.
Disclosure to Third Parties
We will provide individually-identifiable information about website users to third parties only if we are compelled to do so by order of a duly-empowered governmental authority, we have the express permission of the visitor, or it is necessary to process transactions and provide you services from our affiliates: Live Agent Answering Service, Digital Answering Service, Medical Answering Service and Pediatric Answering Service.
Privacy and Our Business Partners
When we make our technology or services available to business partners, we will not share with them any more consumer information than is necessary, and we will make every reasonable effort to assure, by contract or otherwise, that they use our technology and services in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Public Forums
This site may make chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or news groups available to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information.
Security
This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. For further information regarding our security, please contact us at support@remedyconnect.com. If you have any concerns regarding the security of information, please do not provide any information to RemedyConnect, Inc. until you are comfortable with our security measures.
Correct/Update
You may correct or update your User Registration information at any time, by visiting the User Registration section and providing your personal password that you set at registration. If need be, please email us at support@remedyconnect.com.
Choice/Opt-Out
Our site provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving e-mail communications from our partners or us, except communications approved by your doctor's practice office. To so opt-out, please email us at support@remedyconnect.com. To be removed as a user, please email us at the same address. If need be, you may mail requests to us at RemedyConnect, Inc.
Contacting the Website
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Website, you can contact us by email at support@remedyconnect.com or by mail at our address above.