I hope someone will be able to help with this - it's becoming very frustrating and I can't get onto my LC til Monday! DD is 6 weeks old, and had oral thrush at 3 weeks which cleared up pretty quickly with Daktarin gel. I didn't notice any behavioural issues at the time and although I was also treating my nipples, I didn't have any symptoms.

Yesterday, I had excruciatingly sore nipples which looked red and shiny, which I put down to the fact that we're still learning to attach and feed without a nipple shield (day 10 shield-free, yay!) and my nipples are still a wee bit too big for poor DD to handle. However, DD today has a lovely white coating on her tongue. I then realised that my pain was from thrush so got onto the Daktarin for both of us right away.

My issue is - since 10pm last night, DD had been awful to feed. She is only opening her mouth a little bit (wide enough to fit the nipple & a bit of areola, but not enough for a good latch) and cries and screams when I get her into my arms ready to feed. Obviously I can't get her to latch like that - her arms go wild, her mouth is grabby and not wide enough, and I end up having to hand her to DH to calm whilst I get myself together. It's like trying to breastfeed a piranha. Last night (4am, eek) it took nearly 2 hours to get her calm and attached, by which time she was too tired to feed effectively.

Today I have been expressing so have bottle-fed her EBM and put her on the breast once she's calm. She is a little better at attaching then but it's still not perfect, and I'm worried that I may damage my already traumatised nipples.

Would oral thrush cause DD to have these sorts of issues with attaching? It's probably worth mentioning that she has silent reflux and has been on Losec for 6 days now (appears to be working) and also has awful trouble with wind pain (which I know can cause fussiness at the breast, but I thought only once she was on and sucking).

Hopefully there is someone here who has experienced this before - I am a bit worried that if it's not thrush, then what on earth is causing this behaviour?! Thanks for your help!