# Can't get rid of thrush!



## natesma (Jan 4, 2007)

My ds is almost 10 months old, and we have been struggling with yeast (his mouth, my breasts) since he was a week old. We've tried nystatin for him, for me, I've taken a probiotic, nothing seems to help. For months I boiled, sterilized everything (though since have stopped since it's not working). Sometimes it will get better for a little while, but always comes back. It's not horribly painful, more uncomfortable than anything when i feed him. It doesn't seem to bother him. The pediatrician doesn't seem all that concerned, keeps prescribing nystatin.

Any one else had to deal with this? Any suggestions????


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## Vikingmama (Jan 22, 2007)

My son and I had thrush for a few months and I went through the same thing with the nystatin. I had great success with a combination. I stopped using the nystatin, but that of course is your decision. What I did (as advised by my La Leche League rep) was after every feeding, I mean EVERY feeding, I did a vinegar wash on my nipples (one tablespoon vinegar to one cup water. No more vinegar than this or it will burn). Vinegar is a natural anti-fungal. You can also use a diluted grapefruit seed extract solution, but that's a lot more expensive than vinegar. Also, I stayed on the probiotics. Try jarrow if you haven't. I'm still on them. Now, for the baby, I bought Jarrow Infant formula (it's just powder). I poured some onto a spoon, dipped my finger into it, and rubbed it on the patches in his mouth. I did this four times a day. I also dabbed some on my nipples before feedings. Also, try to cut back on your sugar intake until you get this cleared up. Lay off yeasty beer too if you occassionally drink beer. My thrush cleared up in about a week with the vinegar wash/probiotic combo, and my son's in about 12 days. I did 5 rounds of nystatin to no avail. Let me know how it goes!







: :


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## AmbeeDL (Jan 5, 2007)

I had a terrible yeast infection in both breasts as a result of antibiotics during labor. Diflucan worked wonders for me. I did the vinegar washes until I could get to the doctor and that really helped with the pain. You don't take just one Diflucan like you would for a normal yeast infection. I think between two runs of the medicine I took about 12 of them. It's been almost five years ago so I don't really remember but I know it worked so much better than the Nystatin.


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## oregongirlie (Mar 14, 2006)

200 mg fluconazole daily for 6 weeks, probiotics, changing pads after each feeding, apno, soaking everything in vinegar, nipple shields to allow healing, grapefruit seed extract, vitamin C and occasional drying of the nipples with a hairdryer is what worked for me.


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## katies_mama (Jun 9, 2005)

I had thrush for four months. I finally got rid of it.

Have you tried Gentian Violet? Grapefruit seed extract?
Follow Dr Jack Newman's protocol. You can do them together. They are over the counter and very cheap.
http://www.kellymom.com/newman/c-candida_protocol.html

If you are using any sugar suspension drugs with your baby (like tylenol or motrin for teething) realize that if you nurse him soon thereafter, you are coating your nipples in sugar, and sugar feeds yeast like nothing else.

You may also find it helpful to change your diet. Sugar, white and wheat flour feed yeast. If you're going to eliminate one thing, it should be sugar, two things include the white flour, three things include the wheat, four include products with vinegar and yeast. Add them back into your diet in the same order you took them out. I did eat fruit, but no other sources of sugar, so, no flavored yogurt, etc.

I also tried diflucan for 45 days, nystatin for me and for her, washing everything in vinegar, but in the end it was diet changes, grapefruit seed extract tablets and gentian violet that worked the best for me. I also used probiotics regularly. I was told by numerous sources that the refrigerated kind is the best as it has the most live cultures. You can also switch from Nystatin to Lotrimin for your nipples (recommended by LLL and OTC as well).

Good Luck!


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## MomToSusannah (Dec 2, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *katies_mama* 

You may also find it helpful to change your diet. Sugar, white and wheat flour feed yeast. If you're going to eliminate one thing, it should be sugar, two things include the white flour, three things include the wheat, four include products with vinegar and yeast. Add them back into your diet in the same order you took them out. I did eat fruit, but no other sources of sugar, so, no flavored yogurt, etc.


I've also heard that cutting out dairy can help as well to eliminate sugar in your diet. One of the women in my local LLL group cut out dairy for a year because she had so much trouble.

I had thrush, both surface and ductal, for 6 weeks (though I do think that it's always lingering a bit; I've always been very yeasty) and took Diflucan for 2 weeks, used a compound cream with Nystatin, a steroid and Aquaphor, took 6-8 acidophilus caplets a day, did a vinegar rinse with every feeding and pumping, sterilized anything that came in contact with my breasts after every use (I use Medela's microsteam bags), and watched my sugar intake. I didn't try grapefruit seed extract or gentian violet, but those would've been my last step. DD never had thrush so we didn't treat her.


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## tulsidas (Jun 2, 2006)

i am with you!
my dd is 10 months and we have been painfully (oh so painfully fighting thrush).

there is a support thread for thrush in MDC.
you can search for it when you get to breastfeeding challenges. there is a lot of good info.

for me the gentian violet gave me the most relief but i am about to go FULL ALL OUT and do all of the suggestions for my persistant 3 month case.


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## RoadWorkAhead (Sep 8, 2005)

We beat ours after 9 months by doing a 3 wk. course of diflucan, a 2 weeks course of nystatin at the same time and then a full week of Gentitian violet *I'd tried each seperately to no avail* I also boiled every pump piece, bottle nipple, sippy cub, etc. after dipping them all in GSE water. We've stayed thrush free since


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## mkmama (Jul 9, 2006)

First of all,







s to you. i had thrush for 4-5 months and it was horrible. I Private Messaged you some thoughts that worked for me.

Main advice...from Dr. Newman's office (who helped me a lot via email)
www.rockwellnutrition.com is worht the money to buy their acidophillus replete and superpowder, as well as get GSE liquid diluted in water for the nipples, and put some of the superpowder with olive oil and put that on your nipples after every feed. Expensive but worth EVERY penny.

read the PM, its packed full of ideas through my experience.


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## Amris (Feb 27, 2006)

I had yeast and thrush for the first 10 weeks solid. I took FOUR ROUNDS of the highest amount of difloucan you can take... 6 rounds of antibiotics because the difloucan kept giving me bacterial infections...

For the last two weeks, i've been taking Candex and a probiotic pill called Probiotic 10-10 by Nutraceutical sciences institute.

She hasn't had a single case of even diaper rash (which was for me, the first indication of incoming thrush), and my nipples are vastly improved. They're down to just a red ring around the nipple now, and decreasing.

The feminine over-sensitivity I've had is starting to improve, my over-all feeling of health has improved, etc. So I have the feeling that I have a wide-spread candida infection, and nothing was going to help because I'm so filled with it that every time some dies off, more comes along to replace it just as fast.

However, I've also started a raw food diet, as well, and although I am only about 75% raw (I'm cleaning out the last of my pepperoni and buffalo meat), that could well be contributing as well. Hard to say for sure.


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