Ouch! Cracks and needing help!

I guess this is more of a vent as I have a bit of a plan of attack but would love feedback and ideas :) (This will be jumbled!)

My DD is 7 months old and we have been exclusively bfing the whole time. We have never had any issues, no grazes etc until the past week :wall:

Background of recent: I have been on ABs for the past week, she is starting to teeth (teeth are only moving down right now, not actually coming through), too interested in what everyone else is doing while feeding and getting frustrated when she can't just flick the tap on and have instant milk!

My little miss is getting quite annoyed that let down is taking "too long" as she is coming on and off all the time. She still keeps the suction while she is pulling off to which can bl00dy hurt! I wasn't concerned and was trying to help my let down along for her but since Tuesday my nipples have started going downhill! I have 1 crack on my right side and 2 on my left. They've only just appeared so aren't too bad yet but man they hurt if I knock them etc. I took my bra off this afternoon and my nipples had stuck to my bra :o

I have been on a course of ABs for the past 7 days which I finished taking last night. I was told they could cause thrush which I now have "downstairs" and I was thinking that I had it in my right breast as it felt quite itchy on the "inside". So I have bought some oral daktarin gel to apply for feeds but I can't help but thinking I could have an infection of some kind. So I am thinking of heading to the Drs tomorrow to err on the side of caution and getting some swabs done.I did call the ABA today and we both agreed that it could be a number of things but that I should watch attachment, try and feed with little distraction, help the let down to avoid pulling on and off and for me to try and relax during feeds (while getting stressed over her crying and a 2.5yr old running riot :lol: ) I have been airing my breasts as much as possible and letting breastmilk dry on them to try and heal them. I've not used anything else besides the daktarin.

I still want to continue breastfeeding and have no intention of stopping anytime soon!

Any idea/feedback is much appreciated!

Edit: I have also started to have a slight shooting pain in my right breast to add to the fun!

Yeah, I saw ABs and thought thrush. It does sound like that. And probably worsened by damage from your DD.
Sounds like you're doing all the right things! Hope it gets better soon - those nipples needs some serious tlc from the sound of things

Has af returned yet? They can get weird with feeding the first time...

Sounds like you have probably diagnosed yourself. You might need to use the daktarin on DD's mouth as well, if it looks like she has thrush too. Get your dr to check.

:hug: hun, it's hard having problems at any stage. You're doing such a fabulous job of feeding Miss M! Totally agree with Jennifer. If you do have thrush DD will need to be treated as well, otherwise it just spreads from her mouth back your nipples, IYKWIM. The shooting pain could well be from thrush.

You sound like you have a brilliant plan hun :D. Just be really careful in the meantime when handling your nipples that you hands are nice and clean, so as to reduce the chance of introducing any nasties into the cracks.

Let us know how you go at the Dr, and how things progress over the next few days :hug:

Thanks for the replies girls.

I didn't end up making an appt today as we had a pretty good night and she slept 8 hours so that gave my nipples a chance to heal. Still have the cracks but they are much better than yesterday. I ended up taking Miss M to the Dr tonight though as she was VERY unsettled and not herself today. Drs diagnosed thrush in her mouth. I had been checking and saw nothing but she said it was right up the back which would have made it hard for me to see. So we have nilstat drops to use!! I'm just glad this hurdle will be dealt with quickly and I can have my happy booby baby back and a happy Mumma to boot! Bring on the next 6 months of breastfeeding!

Sounds like things are sorting themselves out but thought I would add my experiences with thrush as well just in case it helps in any way!

I had cracked and bleeding nipples from two weeks after birth of DD. I used lansinoh which helped for a while but I eventually developed thrush. DD had it in her mouth as well. I used nilstat drops for her and d but who knows)aktarin on my nipples. She hated the nilstat at that age!

The thrush cleared up reasonably quickly. I really didn't want to stop bfing (and actually I felt some pain relief during feeding anyway) so used other methods such as washing my nipples in vinegar (supposedly kills the thrush) making sure to wash it off before DD fed!!

It actually cleared up quicker than I thought it would!

But it has recently come back (I don't know why!!) so I am back on the inner health plus tablets, daktarin for DD's lips (and my nips) and nilstat, the latter which she doesn't seem to mind as much anymore!

Good luck!

Just a quick tip - I had really bad cracked nipples when DS was first born. I would mix up a salt water solution, put some in a medicine cup and then put the cup over my nipple so that I gave the crack a salt bath. I'd do it after each feed. My nipples were really bad, but it worked to stop me getting an infection.

Sounds good, hun. :hug: Hope things are improving now.

This drama is still going on! Crack is slight on the left side but the right side is about 1/3 of my nipple and boy it can hurt. Miss M is still being fussy with feeds but not as bad as she was. So some days are good and others bad. Thinking of calling for help again tomorrow. Dr has put me on ABs as he agreed there was a fair chance of an infection and we're using nilstat for 2 weeks to make sure the thrush has gone. Ahhh the joys!

PS. Female Dr I saw the day after my last post (feeding turned to cr@p overnight) had no idea about breastfeeding and read from a book and told me to rest the nipple and NOT feed from that side and if it doesn't improve then to put Miss M on a bottle. Lovely to see that some Drs have NO basic training in breastfeeding! Very frustrating I must say! Lucky my usual GP is fantastic!