Saturday, February 14, 2009

Ugh, Thrush

Well, the good news is that the apple cider vinegar dilution seems to take good care of thrush. Put that on your list of kooky, but effective home remedies. The bad news is that we will be using it regularly for a while. I'm so frustrated. It reappeared very obviously yesterday afternoon (of course, after 5:00, when the pediatrician's office was closed). Again, we treated with the vinegar and again it retreated and he ate well through several feedings. Spots retreated, I slacked on the treatment, and it again reappeared this morning with a vengeance.

Why, you ask??

I have had no previous experience with thrush and my ignorance has really botched things up this time. Crew presented with it in the hospital when we started non-nutritive breastfeeding back in December. I knew enough about it to know that I was possibly involved somehow. Then again, he has been on antibiotics several times since birth, so who knows who it started with. We treated him and moved on. I didn't realize that I could/would continue to be a carrier because I didn't exhibit any interesting symptoms myself. A quick search on the internet this morning confirmed our fears: frozen breastmilk can absolutely recontaminate a baby. My milk dried up 2 weeks ago, so there is no more milk to be pumped for this little guy. As far as I know, my entire frozen milk supply may be contaminated.

So, I find myself faced with choosing between giving him milk that probably will continue to give him thrush until we get through the supply, or throwing out a month's worth of golden, precious breastmilk. Throwing out the gold makes me want to vomit. For now, if we can keep him asymptomatic with regular application of the vinegar and then Nystatin when I can get my hands on it, I'm going to power through with the milk. If it becomes unmanageable and he is unhappy, or it goes through his system and give him a bum rash, I don't really feel like I have much of a choice. Ugh!! What a mess!

4 comments:

Christensen Kids said...

Advice: Take it or leave it; The thrush I know is caused by yeast. (anti-biotics will kill good bacteria, blah, blah) anyway. Something we use is acedopulus (sp?) You can by it powder form at the health food store. You put a tiny bit on your finger and rub it around in their mouth. I don't know much about preemies, but for other babies it works WONDERFULLY!
Call for more info :-)
Good Luck! I happy to hear for the most part things are good!
Good luck.

Christensen Kids said...

PS. I know this is long sorry, but the yeast is why it is WAY more common in breast-fed babies. Don't throw it out after all it IS gold!

Lukasmummy said...

If it's in his mouth badly, glycerin gets rid of it you just dip a cotton bud or your finger into it and rub it around the inside of his mouth. Both my boys were premature and got it really bad, the doctor wouldn't prescribe anything because they weren't sure if it was safe that was a suggestion my great gran used on her kids and it worked great. Unfortunately I know nothing about breast milk since mine dried up before they came home Lukas ended up having to have liquid formula due to some allergy to the powder and Leo had a special formula from the doctors to help him put weight on quicker. I have been reading your blog since the beginning but I don't comment much. Hugs Crystal xx

Krisi and Adam said...

Good luck ... and praying you don't have to toss the liquid gold you have stored.

Grow, Crew, Grow!