Well, over the weekend, the tell-tale signs of thrush appeared in Alessandro's mouth. This explains why the cabbage cups weren't working!! Treating thrush is like chasing chickens - it's incredible what needs to happen to ensure it is treating both in the mother and the son!
Some great advise from my cousin's wife who battled this darned thing for 3 months!
1. Nystatin cream for my nipples, oral nystatin for him, and he didn't have the white in his mouth but did have a yeasty diaper rash so we used nystatin butt cream too. This worked the first time and had to be used for no less than 14 days
2. 10-14 days of 200mg of diflucan with a 400mg loading dose the first day. It was ok to take while nursing. I took this in conjunction with the nystatin. I had to ask for it as they don't like to give it unless the infection is really bad.
3. Over the counter Lotramin - you have to wash it off. I used a vinegar and water mix and sprayed it on my nipples and gently wiped it off and then let it air dry. I read to do that and that the vinegar helped to kill the fungus too? ....wether or not it helped I don't know. I did however learn that if I did that before I pumped it would curdle the milk in the bottle.... that was disturbing, I thought I was lactating chunks of stuff before I put the two and two together!
4. Gentian violet - this was my last hope before I gave up. It is supposed to be a really quick fix. You only need to do it once a day and for a max of 3 days. It is a deep purple dye and Rudy looked like the Hambergler from McDonalds for a day or so after I used it. I wish I would have done this from the start. You can get this without a prescription. Just ask at the pharmacy.
5. Sun bathe topless.....this was really hard to do since we live on a corner lot with really close neighbors so I would open a window that the sun was coming through..... a pharmacist told me that this was the best thing to do.... I also read that but again, it was really difficult for me to be topless in the window!
6. Plain yogurt with acadiphilis - I read this, you put it on your nipples...if anything it felt really good when they were burning! They also say to eat yogurt and/or take acadiphilis supplements.
7. All Purpose nipple ointment..... I did not try this but I heard it worked and read about it as well. It has to be made at a pharmacy and prescribed by your doctor.
If you do go get the nystatin don't start using the lotramin and then stop and use the nystatin. Only use one or the other...... I learned the hard way and that was one reason mine would not go away.
Here is a website my lactation consultant recommended to me. This page is about the Gentian violet, but if you do a search for nipple yeast on the main page there is a lot of great info. http://www.kellymom.com/newman/06gentian_violet.html
