Feeding while treating nipple thrush

Hi all,
I'm after some advice for someone in my mothers group. I'm going to visit her today and she's in a bit of a bad way.

She's been diagnosed with very painful nipple thrush. She's seen her GP and is in the process of treating it. I've read up about the treatment but there doesn't seem to be much about how you keep feeding during this time. From what I understand she's in quite a bit of pain.

She mentioned on advice from her GP that she's using formula to top up feeds. I'm aware that can affect supply so I just wanted to double check.

Any advice on how continuing to feed goes whilst treating nipple thrush would be great.

Cheers, Fiona

Dear Fiona,

I think your friend needs to see a skilled LC - she's doing a great job, sticking in, under difficult circumstances. It sounds like, ith the pain, she is not able to feed her baby often enough/long enough, and the baby's weight is suffering.
In terms of breastfeeding, she just needs to keep feeding. If it is really too painful to continue, she might consider trying a niplple shield, or if that is unsuccessful, expressing for a day to rest the nipples. for this it would be best if she hired a pump from the Australian Breastfeeding Association, so she had the support of trained counsellors.
In many cases these sorts of problems are not thrush at all, but a staph infection. The symptoms can often be very similar. You often here of thrush infections that go on for months - but I think in those cases it is usually a staph infction, misdiagnosed so the mother is actually following the wrong treatment plan