Guest post: Treating Thrush With Acidophilus

Nursing can be a very natural, very convenient way to feed your new baby. However if you are finding that it is painful to nurse your little one you or your baby may have thrush. Now that I look back I began having issues shortly after coming home from the hospital, I was trying to ignore the pain because I thought it was just me trying to get used to nursing for the first time.  I dealt with over all pain, burning, itching and the shooting pain that had me yelping whenever he would latch on but nothing I did seemed to be able to ease the pain.

For symptoms that may show up in mom and baby check here: http://breastfeeding.hypermart.net/thrush.html

Then one day  I noticed white patches in my baby's mouth that would not go away when I wiped at them. The pediatrician gave me nystatin cream, since nursing had become pretty painful for me to endure, as well as nystatin to put in baby's mouth. I called my Obgyn at the same time since the pain had gotten pretty bad, our pediatrician had suggested I be seen as well. The Obgyn gave me Fluconazole/Diflucan pills to take by mouth. 

For a good picture of what thrush in a baby's mouth might look like, you can find a great picture on the  babycenter.com's website here: http://www.babycenter.com/0_thrush-in-babies_92.bc?page=1http://www.motherandchildhealth.com/Breastfeeding/Becky/thrush.html

Be aware that it is advised to continue nursing even through this painful ordeal (Newman, 2009). Thrush is a yeast infection (Dr. Sears, 2011). A yeast infection causes some inflammation, inflammation can lead to blocked milk ducts, which can lead to mastitis (Jones & Marshal, 2010). Continued nursing helps keep the milk ducts clear, and is important to do so even while taking any medicine to get rid of the thrush.

The nystatin worked to get rid of the visible signs in my baby's mouth, and the Diflucan helped get rid of some of it in me, I believe, as I was not hurting as much. I finished up both prescriptions but as soon as I stopped the symptoms came roaring back to life. I, once again, tried to change up my baby's latch to fix the problem but that did not help, and using any nipple cream seemed to hold the moisture in and make things worse! Another couple of weeks of nystatin was ordered, this time it didn't seem to work as efficiently. After almost two months of pain I was very frustrated, so I decided to work from the inside out and try to figure out what fuels the thrush. 

I learned that thrush can be passed back and forth between mom and baby unless both are completely treated of it (Baby Centre Advisory Board, 2011). So even when he looked clear of it, unless I was completely clear of it too then we would get it again. Besides the high heat and humidity that summer I could not figure out why the doctors medicines were not working... I went looking for answers. I found out that every person naturally carries some varying levels of yeast in their bodies (Stoppler, 2011). A yeast infection is an overgrowth so, I figured, the key must be to fight the thrush off more naturally by working to set things straight from the inside out.

Most of the treatment options I read about didn't work on the underlying cause. They treat the thrush on the outside but have little effect on what is going on inside your body. Nystatin for example is only used topically, it is only used to coat the mouth. Fluconazole/ Diflucan was not a good option for us as it can be as much as $300-350 per prescription (Newman, 2009). The other problem I foresaw was that the Fluconazole/Diflucan was only  killing off the yeast numbers but not working with my body to naturally help me keep the levels normal.  Genetian Violet stains horribly, is again only used to coat the mouth and skin, and has had some studies done on it linking it to cancer which made me worry (Dr. Sears, 2011). I was also very hesitant to try any over the counter anti fungal creams because I was not sure what was safe for my baby plus, again, they were all topical treatments. Garlic Supplements, echinacea supplements, or grapefruit seed extract are other natural remedies that are supposed to help combat the yeast from the inside; however I had trouble finding information on them (Flora, 2011).

So from my research, I decided to add a cup full of vinegar to my laundry as well as washing and drying everything on the hottest setting just to help make sure my nursing pads or bras would have no trace of thrush left in them (Julie, 2011). Then I went looking for some research as to where I could find this other pro-biotic/acidophilus supplement I had been reading about  that was supposed to prevent thrush from growing (Baby Centre Medical Advisory Board, 2009). The way it works is by helping stabilize the yeast numbers by recolonizing your body with the healthy bacterium that would normally keep it controlled. I knew that it could be found in yogurt but would I really want to eat yogurt every day... and then how much would I have to eat to get  relief fast enough? Nothing I was finding online was very helpful. 

I decided to head to walmart to see what I could find in the supplement isle, having already struck out before when searching for garlic, echinacea, or grapefruit seed extract. To my surprise I found the acidophilus in two strengths! One bottle with one billion live cultures per pill and one with two billion live cultures per pill. They both said to take one pill a day. So I started with the one billion per dose jar. I took one in the morning and one in the evening. That seemed to help but I still had symptoms. So I bumped it up to one in the morning and two in the evening, 3 billion total. Therapeutic Research Faculty (2011), lists effective studies on giving as much as 6 billion cultures to infants to ward off diarrhea so I knew I had some room to work with on the dosage. Acidophilus Supplement Central (2011), recommends 1-4 billion cultures per day.  Bear in mind that I personally observed that a side effect of this supplement is looser bowels, which could affect both mom and baby as the acidophilus cleans out the intestinal track.

Later, I also noticed around the time for the end of my menstrual cycle  my soreness would get worse again. So I bumped it up to two billion in the morning and two billion at night for about a week and then dropping back down to three billion afterward.  Around this time (the end of the second month of having thrush) I ran out of the nystatin and our pediatrician refused to refill it as long as the baby was showing no visible symptoms. So I kept up with the Acidophilus and the laundry washing regiment. I was feeling lots better with only the occasional 'end of my cycle' flare ups.

As my symptoms continued to go away I dropped down to one dose a day of the two billion pills. Then, as my baby turned 5 months old I realized that I had not experienced any symptoms for about a month and decided to discontinue the Acidophilus. I was so relieved! I have been off of the Acidophilus for two months now and we are both doing great!

Yes, thrush can be quite a hassle to deal with. It can be painful, and you may even want to quit nursing which, bear in  mind, may not even solve the problem. I will offer this as a word of encouragement, I saw a great amount of relief from my thrush symptoms within just 48 hours after starting my Acidophilus treatment! I also had a bad case of it. If it is caught fast than it will be easier to get rid of.

Guest post by Virginia Lori Jennings www.virginiajennings.webs.com

References

Baby Centre Medical Advisory Board. (2009) Probiotics and prebiotics  in pregnancy. Babycentre.com.uk. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/nutrition/probiotics-and-prebiotics/

Baby Centre Advisory Board. (2011) Thrush in babies. Babycentre.com.uk. Retrieved on December  29, 2011 from: http://www.babycenter.com/0_thrush-in-babies_92.bc?page=1

Bonyata, K. (2011) Thrush resources. Kellymom.com. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/thrush/thrush-resources.html

Dr. Sears, B.(2011) Thrush. Askdrsears.com. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/childhood-illnesses/thrush

Tiran, D. (2007) Thrush, natural remedies. Babycentre.com.uk. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from:  http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/naturalremedies/thrush/?_requestid=6649240

Newman, J. (2009)Fluconazole. International breastfeeding center. Retrieved on December 29 , 2011 from:  http://www.nbci.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18:fluconazole&catid=5:information&Itemid=17

Flora, B. (2001) Could we have thrush. Breastfeeding essentials. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://breastfeeding.hypermart.net/thrush.html

Jones, K., & Marshal, S. (2010) Mastitis while breastfeeding. Cigna. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://www.cigna.com/individualandfamilies/health-and-well-being/hw/medical-topics/mastitis-while-breast-feeding-hw98039.html

Julie, (2011) The 411 on Vinegar: Is it safe for cloth diapers? Cloth diaper blog. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://www.clothdiaperblog.com/the-411-on-vinegar-is-it-safe-for-cloth-diapers/

Stoppler, M. (2011) Vaginal yeast infection. MedcineNet.com. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://www.medicinenet.com/yeast_vaginitis/article.htm

Therapeutic Research Faculty. (2011) Lactobacillus. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. Retrieved on December 29, 2011 from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/790.html