Painful, red, cracked nipples?

[PixieGoddess23]

I have a 1 year old nursling, and he had a bout with thrush a few months back (in September, I believe?). Anyway, my nipples seemed to have thrush back then for a little while (they were red and sore, but no white spots) and it seemed to get a little better after his thrush went away. His thrush went away and he has not displayed any signs of it since then. My nipples however, would start getting a little better, and then get worse, and then a little better and then worse again. I have a really high tolerance for pain, so of course I'm just going, it will get better soon, and if it doesn't I'll go to the doctor sometime. But, I'm always so busy, I of course never make it to the doctor. Anyway, they used to hurt just when he first latched on, then they started hurting through nursing sometimes, and now they just hurt most of the time. They are red and dry and the part that is red is slightly raised. I am pretty sure that it is thrush, but my MIL just told me today that she thinks that it's his teeth, since he nurses so often and has so many of them. He has his 8 front teeth and is getting his molars in. She thinks that I nurse him too much. I nursed my older son just as much when he was a year old and nothing like this happened. I need some advice as to what I should do. I'm not going to stop nursing so much, because I breastfeed him on demand. He hasn't had any latching problems since a couple of days after he was born, so I don't think it's his teeth. Ugh. I just need to figure out what it is that is causing the redness, soreness, etc and fix it. Any advice would help. Thanks in advance.

[ericswifey27]

ouch! that does not sound like just due to biting, we have a biting issue over here and that leaves bite shaped marks, not painful red inflamed areas. I have had that in the past- it was thrush and what helped it clear up was gentian violet (spelling!?), you can use a cotton swab and kind of "paint" it on the affected area. ask around at a CVS or Rite Aid Pharmacy, it was about $5 or $6. Also I took probiotics internally.

[PixieGoddess23]

Thanks! My MIL has some gentian violet, but it says not it's for external use only, and I've read that there are two different kinds of gentian violet, the one that you can use for breastfeeding and one that you can't and I can't find the one that you're supposed to be able to use for it anywhere. Should I use the one that I have available to me and just wash it off when I nurse him?

[Amber Lion]

I'm so sorry to hear you're dealing with something that sounds like what I've been dealing with since August!!! It finally got so bad and I had so many cracks that I finally went to the doctor and they prescribed me vidodin just so I could keep bfing - it was that painful. A few months later, a few docs later, and they decided it was a fungal infection. Now a lot of people think yeast = thrush = fungus, but the doc I finally ended up with was very adamant that it was NOT thrush, but fungus... even though she ended up prescribing me nystatin which is used for thrush too. My DD never had any symptoms of thrush either.

They nystatin ointment finally got it cleared up, but it's been back every few weeks since then. I've used just plain vinegar on my nips (stings, but works good!) and teh nystatin each time it's come back and eventually it goes away again. I think I'm not using it long enough after the symptoms are gone though and that's why it's coming back. I'm also going to add vinegar to the rinse and wash all my nursing bras/tanks in really hot water in case the fungus is living there and reinfecting me.

As for the gentian violet - I never used it b/c I had so many cracks and it says right on the bottle not to use if there is an open wound b/c it will tatoo your skin. I didn't want permanent purple splotches on my boobs.