nipple thrush first now mastitis

they dont tell you about these joys of motherhood. 3 weeks ago I got nipple thrust from breastfeeding now I have mastitis and it is painfiul.They say to nurse through it but Fionn is such a vigorous feeder I am in agony What is worse is that because I am on an antibiotic I will probably get the thrush back. Has anyone been through this and is there anything I can do to make feeding easier?

[spade22]

I had mastitis twice but have never had nipple thrush.  It is differently important to nurse through the mastitis, even though it is painful.  Use warm compresses often -that will help with the pain.  Also, with both cases with me, I felt MUCH better after 1 day on antibiotics - be sure to take the full course though.

Mastitis is common in nursing mothers especially those that are nursing for the first time.  Cracked  nipples increase the risk of developing the infection in combination with engorgement and baby not draining the breast fully.  Do you have a pump you can use to make sure your breasts are being emptied fully after each feeding? That might help.    Also, try using Lansinoh on your nipples if they are cracked and make sure your nursing pads are changed regularly and are dry.

If you do get the thrush back, make sure that you and baby are treated for it.  Hopefully that will be the end of these "joys" for awhile.   Incidentally, I was on antibiotics during delivery, and three times since Jazmine was born and neither of us ever  developed thrush so keep your fingers crossed.

[babypooh]

Ouch! I didn't go through it, honey, but I sure hope you feel better soon :(

[AnnieBrooke]

Some things that you can use on your nipples that don't harm the child if he or she gets some of it in his/ her mouth are:

to heal cracking:

Lanisoh
PureLan100 (my fave rave, it works so well)


to clean them:

breast wipes (Medela makes them and I got mine at Babies R Us)
Lipton's tea in a concentrated amount (make a cup of tea with about 6 teabags -- our breastfeeding consultant gave us this one, said the tannins are great for strengthening and repairing the skin)
white vinegar (my fave rave.  Took down any kind of fungal thing like thrush immediately)

Good luck, honey, it sounds so painful.

[babyscience]

Oh I hate mastitis! The only thing that somewhat helped was to massage my breasts.  I pumped exclusively so when I pumped I would just rub and rub.  My milk supply deminished greatly in that breast, I am assuming because one of the ducts was clogged.  I had to get on antibiotics and I had a fever.  It su cks.....as if giving birth wasnt hard enough...then to have to deal with breast issues.  When you are a woman, it feels like it nevers ends!

[AnnieBrooke]

Oh, two other things.  

When I would get a blocked duct, I would kneel in the bathtub on my hands and knees, letting the breasts stay in the water.  It did help.  I don't know if that would touch mastitis, though.

And about the white vinegar -- I made a solution with water (about half and half) and put it in a little bottle, and dabbed it on with cotton.  It did a lot of good and you don't need to rinse your nipples to keep anything dangerous out of your baby's mouth.

[feather2e]

thank you for your comments I will try some of the things you have suggested

[tiredbuthappy]

i had mastitis once, and as you know, once you have it, you do anything you can to avoid it again. so, i panicked one day when i felt a clogged duct. i did NOT want to go through that again! I found a great trick for getting clogs out, and it worked many many times after as well. I found that the cheap, manual pump that i got from the hospital (same one came along with my pump in style advance) was amazing at sucking out any clogs i got. The suction on that thing can be so intense but controlled, it cleared everything up in a matter of minutes.
of course this won't help you now unless you're still clogged. thought i'd share in case you feel any clogs in the future.