[bec]

Is it possible for a baby to get thrush when she is only getting pumped breastmilk? Emily has a bunch of white spots on the inside of her lips and cheeks. She doesn't seem to be bothered. I am not having any symptoms of thrush either. Any idea what this is? And if it is thrush, what do I do about it?

Bec

 

[Quaniliaz]

It is possible - infact, it's also possible for babies that are formula fed to have thrush, for that matter...

Anyway - my understanding is that yeast continues to multiply in pumped breastmilk even if it has been frozen - and is a great medium for it. The only way to kill it would be to scald the milk right after you pump.

 

[bec]

Well, I'm not going to scald it as that would damage the milk. Besides, if I was nursing, I wouldn't be able to do that, so there has to be another remedy.

Bec

 

[Quaniliaz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bec Well, I'm not going to scald it as that would damage the milk. Besides, if I was nursing, I wouldn't be able to do that, so there has to be another remedy.

I agree, it's not a great solution. But, I don't think that the yeast is actually in the milk as it comes out of the body, it is from the nipple, etc. It just happens to thrive in breast milk - which if you use pumped bm, it is probably not used immediately, therefore it has more of a chance to multiply, kwim? So, one thing you could do to prevent that multiplication is to use the pumped milk immediately.

I would treat yourself as if you had thrush - do a search - there are tons of threads on it (eat lots of kefir/yogurt, cut out refined sugar, etc)! Make sure the pump and your nipples are as clean as possible. Give your baby acidopholis - again, do a search, I think there are some forms that are better for babies than others.

Good luck - sorry you are experiencing this...it's a pain in the rear!

BTW - my daughter and I had thrush, and it didn't really seem to bother her - and it only left me itchy. I'm sure many will disagree, but if it happened again, I would take a more laid back approach. I went on a very restricted diet that, in retrospect, didn't really seem to help. If it happens to me again, I will just make sure I am eating a very well rounded whole foods diet, with out cutting things like tomatoes, etc.

 

[april77]

DD and I both had thrush while I was ep'ing. My LC treated just like she would have if we were only nursing - which was nystatin for my nipples and dd's mouth. (I wasn't crazy about the nystatin and would look into something more natural if it happened again.) And I started taking acidophilus, at the time I didn't know I could have given it directly to dd too.

We also treated the bottlefeeding side of things. Everything that touched my breasts/milk or went in dd's mouth I washed, rinsed in vinegar and then put in the dishwasher. Everyday, until the thrush was gone. DD was a car pacifier user at this point, so we went ahead and phased it out also. If you don't kill the yeast on the bottles, pump, etc you will just keep reinfecting.

Also, the only reason I found out we had thrush is that my LC noticed that my nipples were unusually pink. Then we checked and DD had some white spots, but they didn't seem to bother her. Maybe you are catching it before it gets bad.

Good luck!