I have self diagnosed the baby with Thrush. Weird white swirly looking stuff in his mouth. I got this strange GENTIAN VIOLET from the pharmacist. It made his mouth purple. And the other night I put it on my breasts, b/c I've heard we can give it back and forth to each other. The baby seems so much better. But I have a couple of questions, help if you can.

What would I look for on my breasts for thrush?

What does thrush feel like to the baby? Would it make him uncomfortable, like a vaginal yeast infection?

Do you think we're cured now, or should I keep this weird purple stuff up?

We don't have a pediatrician yet, so I'm just looking for advice.

my son has thrush right now too. i went through 3 weeks of nystatin liquid in his mouth and on my breasts and he still has it. my ped said we could just wait it out or get the gentian violet, but he said the violet would stain anything it was in contact with. i'm leaning toward getting the gentian violet soon.

this is what i found out at Babycenter.com

Gentian violet is a dye that will stain anything it comes in contact with. It's much more effective than Nystatin because it penetrates mucous membranes and kills yeast on contact.

If you'd like to try this method:

Buy a 1 percent gentian violet solution. You can find the dye at many drugstores or order it from the pharmacy. A 1-ounce bottle should cost around $5.
Use a cotton swab to coat the inside of your baby's mouth. Have someone help you by holding your baby's head and hands while you swab the insides of his lips, cheeks, and tongue.
To avoid stains while applying the gentian violet, undress your baby from the waist up and protect the surface underneath him with a towel that you don't mind getting stains on.
When you nurse your baby, some dye may get on your nipples, which is perfectly safe. (There's no need to coat your own nipples, though.)
Do this once or twice a day for no more than three days.

the rest of the thrush article is here http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babybreastfeed/8486.html

the article also talks about what how the east infection affects the breasts. hope this helps

My baby also had thrush. I used Gentian violet for about 4 days. You're not supposed to use it for more than 3 I think. Anyway, I took her to the pediatrician and he said that she didn't have thrush (so the Gentian violet must have worked) but that the alcohol in it had irritated her mouth, so prescribed liquid Benedryl to numb her sore mouth so that she could eat. She's totally fine now!

I would totally recommend being very agressive in treating thrush because if left untreated it can cause serious feeding problems. I was having to force feed Hannah. Not fun. My own mom gave up breastfeeding because of thrush.

I think that it causes white spots or something like that on your nipples.

Oh, and one great thing, yes Gentian violet does stain, but Spray 'n Wash dual power will get the stains out. Buy a bottle of that, seriously! It saved so many of our clothes when we had to use the Gentian violet.

thanks guys. That was very helpful info. So maybe we are cured!!!

By the way, missionarymom, I saw on your ticker that your son Luke is only 10 days difference in age from my Hannah. She was born on August 21st, 12 days after her due date.

I know!! I noticed. Wanna arrange a marriage?? Ha! J/k...kind of.

LOL! :)

For those of you who have struggled with thrush and think you might have conquered it I would suggest a bleach fest! When my ds was born I had a friend come stay with me and her daughter had yeast infection that was spread to me, my ds and my older dd. We had to use the violet stuff and it worked but it came back because we didn't disinfect EVERYTHING...anything that can go in the mouth can pass it...yeast is very hearty or at least it goes dormant (I was told) and so we ended up taking everything that we could put in the dishwasher and running load with bleach in the dispensor, we put cloth things in the washer with very HOT water and we hand washed everything else.

Another thing, the second time around we caught it early and so instead of the violet stuff we just ate LOTS of yogurt...and that worked the second time around.

As far as the question on the breasts...what I noticed was that they just looked milky all the time. Mine didn't get real sore but I think we caught it quickly. One way we checked it was that we put the violet stuff just barely and checked them the next day and the milky was better. Another description of what they looked like was pressure sucked...ya know how they can get white tipped...well it looked like that all the time.

As far as keeping up the treatment, I would go with the instructions, if there are any. I think we had to do it two times a day for three days. The thing with yeast is, if you don't get it all, it will keep coming back. So, I guess you could stop the purple stuff and just check to see if the white spots are still there or if they come back...but I wouldn't recommend fighting on your own too long or over treating either.

Hope there is some helpful stuff there for you. Melanie

Ok! Thanks for the advice! Very helpful. And the pressure sucked thing...I know exactly what you mean, that was a good word picture. HA!