[hannaheser]

Has anyone BTDT?, I need some advice. My 10 month old DD Maya had her first ear infection (pus filled no less, high fever), and the amoxicillin seems to have caused, surprise surprise thrush on the inside of her cheeks. I'm not surprised, she's always tended toward yeasty diaper rash too. 2 of my friends, both doctors (one general one pedi) said I could NOT treat the thrush, and that Maya's system might be able to knock it down once her antibiotics are done. I so far have NOT given her the Nystatin she was prescribed, just soy yogurt w/ the 6 active bacterial cultures (though I'm not sure ANY of those bacteria are the ones that populate a healthy mouth, I think they are good INTESTINAL bacteria, and I've been trying to give her water to wash down the amoxicillin so it doesn't sit on her cheeks.

But, I live in a bit of fear of getting thrush on my nipples- I've heard it's awful. I'm hoping it's less likely since I have 10 month-toughened nipples, not newbie nipples, so my nipples have no damages, and I don't leak EVER, so they are never wet, aside from when Maya is nursing.

Anyway, my getting thrush and being in hideous pain are the one thing that scares me about non-intervention, but in principle, it seems more reasonable than bludgeoning her body with more drugs, kwim?

Any experience? (the gentian violet that I've had suggested sounds possible too, if Maya doesn't knock off the thrush herself, but uggh, how messy) Furthermore, I'm not opposed to trying the Nystatin if I need to, I read up on it, it's quite innocuous, as drugs go, but I've also heard may not work. And swabbing her cheeks 3x/day for 10 days. She'd hate that. That's why I'm trying non-intervention first.

I cannot be the first person with this problem. Maya's otherwise healthy, and has never gotten thrush before. It's for-sure from the antibiotics.

Edited to add: And WHAT should I do about the EBM I pump every night? I pump EBM for her when her grandparents watch her, or she's at the gym daycare, she likes it for comfort sometimes. I hate to throw out weeks of EBM, but I keep them in the fridge 8 days. (we use them that fast usually), could they be yeast infested? I really need some guidance.

 

[bilbo333]

To help prevent yeasty boobs, add a cup of vinegar to your wash rinse cycle for bras, burpies, towels, sheets - anything your boobs or milk comes into contact with. This can help inhibit yeast growth.

For the milk, you can scald the milk to kill yeast spores. They will not die from refrigerating or freezing. Also make sure you boil/sterilize the nipples (silicone) and pump horns/accessories after each use. I use the Medela microwave sterilaztion bags. If you're using the rubber nipples, I think you'll need to replace then as they do not stand up to the high temperatures needed to kill the spores.

As for getting rid of the yeast without intervention (Nystatin or Genetian Violent), I don't know if that is possible.

Hope this helps.

 

[candiland]

Treat yourself even if you have no symptoms. Some women are asymptomatic but continue to pass the thrush back to the baby even after it seems like the babe is healed.
Get some type of powdered baby bifidus (sp., I know

: ) from your local health food store. Mix a tiny bit of water in to make a nice thick paste. Swab that around inside the babe's mouth a few times a day. For you... mix up two parts water to one part vinegar. After each feeding, swab off your nipples with two separate cottonballs (to avoid cross contamination) soaked in this solution, and pat dry. You can use OTC Lotrimin AF cream on your nipples and areola. It absorbs rapidly; it disappears almost immediately so there's no need to wash before the next feeding.
I would highly suggest that you treat it using at- home remedies instead of not treating at all. If you're uncomfortable using drugs such as Lotrimin, just stick with pasty baby bifidus, vinegar and water, and gentian violet.
Continue to treat for one week after the last symptoms disappear to prevent a reoccurence. Good luck!

 

[Quirky]

I would definitely treat both of you, once she's done with the antibiotics. Doesn't matter that you have tough nipples, you can get it anyway - it's not dependent on a break in the skin.

Probiotics for both of you are a good idea. I had no luck with Nytatin, and the second time we got it I went straight to gentian violet. Messy but effective plus only takes a couple days to treat.

Here is a great page of links on how to treat thrush; see especially the Pat Gima treatment protocol.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/...resources.html

 

[hannaheser]

Thanks everyone, and Jane, thanks for those links on the Kelly's AP site. I don't know how I missed that! I surfed through a bunch of the links, and I guess I'll get started on being more aggressive for both of us on knocking out the yeast.

I hope we aren't going to be a family that does ear infections and thrush as a routine cycle!!!

I shudder to think! (I got tons of ear infections as a child- but never ever had thrush)

 

[Quirky]

Do you have the Mothering issue with the articles on ear infections? I think they're probably posted on the main Mothering site (the magazine, not the forums). Also look in the Health and Healing forum, as there are a lot of threads on ear infections. It may be a little difficult to search as you can't search for words of three letters or less, but if you enter words like antibiotics, mullein, garlic, and eardrum you'll probably get some hits.

Hope your dd feels better soon!

 

[hannaheser]

Thanks again Jane!

I'll look into the ear articles too (tonight I'm going to sleep though). I wish there was a way to do antibiotics just IN THE EAR, and not orally, then this wouldn't be such a problem. SIGH!

 

[wombat]

Just wanted to add, I found it really helpful to rinse nipples after nursing with a dilute solution of vinegar. Grapefruit Seed Extract (DILUTED!) is also recommended but it burnt me - I have really sensitive skin. Just be sure to dilute it well if you use it.

 

[hannaheser]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone! I'm not ready to say the yeasty beasties are GONE, but her mouth looks waaaaaaaaaaaaay better, and I still have no nipple or boob pain, so we are going to keep at our treatment regimen, but I think we are on the road to NO infection for mommy, and disappearing infection for Maya.

I chose to do the following in case anyone is curious:

For me: acidophilus capsules 5-6x/day (as I remember)
1C H20/1T vinegar, swab boobs after every feeding
Clotrimazole on boobs 3x/day

For Ms. Maya:
Clotrimazole on her tush 3x/day
Nystatin in her mouth, I took the advice I read online from KellysAP links, and am giving her MORE than 3x/day, but less of it. (apparently yeast regrow within 1.5 hrs, so 3x a day is minimal)
Acidophilus capsule, 1/3 broken onto a spoonful of food, 3x/day.

Once we finish the 10 days of Nystatin, we are going to keep on keeping on with acidophilus and vinegar for another couple of weeks to make sure we stay in the clear.

Thanks again for the pointers.

We seem to have avoided the worst of it, and I HOPE we'll stay that way.