Please help my nipples!!

[FiveLittleMonkeys]

DS is almost 10 months old, and we've been battling this off and on since birth. I thought it was just a persistent thrush problem, but now I'm not so sure. It had been better for awhile lately, but just came back with a vengeance today, and I'm in agony.

They are always pretty flaky, left side more than right. I can deal with that. But what is that awful thing are the deep, deep cracks. Right at the base of where the nipple meets the areola, on both top and bottom. They are about 1/4'' long and 1/16" deep. I've tried long course Diflucan, gentian violet, APNO, just plain Lansinoh, APNO with Lansinoh on top, antibiotic ointment (thinking there was an staph component going on). It's awful.

I'm committed to nursing my son until he is ready to wean, but this hurts SO much that I am avoiding nursing him right now. They are so painful. The last time it happened, I had the LC at our peds office take a look and she was stumped. Told me to get a derm referral from my doctor. It cleared up around that time (other than the flakiness) so I never did.

Any help or ideas anyone can give me would be appreciated.

[ShwarmaQueen]

That sounds awful mamma.

I would suggest getting a different LC's opinion.

[pink_emerald77]

I just recently had a bout of thrush with my son; he's 21 months old and still nursing. I suspected it was from my inhaler that I recently started using after suddenly finding out I'm allergic to my cats. =P Anyhoot. I had to find new homes for my cats cause the symptoms were getting too much for me to bear and I can't stand being on the inhaler 24/7. It gave me bad headaches. The thrush went away on my nipple but the pain was excruciating. I sprayed my nipples 1x/hour at all waking hours and swabbed his mouth several times throughout the day. It went away in about a week.

DS was just prescribed abx for an ear infection and apparently got thrush again. At the first sign, I sprayed some grapeseed extract and let it dry on my nipples a few times and it was gone in the first-second day.

The first time, I waited about 2 days before I treated it because I wasn't sure what it was.

Good luck, mama. I've heard great things about gentian violet and have some but never gave it a try yet. Hope I don't have to.

[MonkeysRUs]

Cracks that won't heal usually indicate a bacterial infection. I would suggest asking your doctor to swab the cracks and send the swabs for culture and sensitivity. You may need oral antibiotics to resolve the issue. I hope you're feeling better soon!