First time Thrush Part 2

The verdict:

Gentian Violet is worth the wild goose chase. One "dose" did the trick!

I diluted the Gentian Violet by mixing one teaspoon GV and one teaspoon water. (The internet said that 2% is too strong and can leave ulcers in baby's mouth). I used a Q-tip and "painted" the inside of A's mouth and tongue. Poor guy has never had anything other than breastmilk (and one dose of Tylenol at his last round of shots) and this weekend he has had Tylenol, a oral vaccination, and now Gentian Violet. He was not too pleased with the taste of it. He gave me the most pathetic look I have ever seen!!!!

Anyways, right after I painted his mouth I fed him. The intention was to pass on some of the GV to me. But when I took him off, I didn't see any one me. But I wasn't having any symptoms myself, so I didn't bother to go get another Q-tip and paint myself.

It wasn't as messy as what I thought it was going to be. I had no staining of A's clothes. But he is a spitter, so I am working on getting a few purple stains out of some burp cloths. :)

After about 24 hours, he didn't look like he ate a grape Popsicle anymore and the white had vanished along with the purple!

I did run all of the binkies and toys that he chews on through the dishwasher twice.

Looks like we made it through!

First time thrush

I've heard all about it. But it has usually just gone in one ear and out the other. Right along with everything about sore and cracked nipples. It just didn't apply to me. And if it didn't apply to me, I didn't really care that much. But now I'm regretting it a bit. Ok, a lot.

That's right. My poor baby has thrush.

I attend a weekly breastfeeding support group at a local hospital. They talk about thrush at least twice a month. I have only missed two sessions sense my son was born. So I have heard a lot about it. But I never really worried about it. I am past the sore and cracked nipples, so I didn't think I had anything to worry about.

And then Andrew got some white patches on his tongue. On a day that his pediatrician has off. So I went to KellyMom to find out everything that I could about it. There was a lot off good advice there, but sometimes, you can have too much information. So while I was waiting to the doctor's office to figure out which on call to call, my mom called. Apparently, my youngest sister got thrush all the time. As she was telling me all about failing with Nysatin and finally using the "old fashion" treatment that the doctor told her about as a last resort I remembered my sister having purple lips all the time.

Thus began the "wild goose chase" for Gentian Violet. My doctor told the nurse to tell me to use Lotrmin. When I asked her about Gentian Violet, she told me that my doctor said it was an option, but that it is very hard to find in this area.

He was right. I spent two hours on the phone. I started with every health food store in the area. After I called everyone, I moved on to pharmacies. I was working my way down my list when my husband called. He picked up a prescription at a pharmacy by his work, and they didn't have any in stock. He was going to try stopping by one more on his way home. On his way to the one he was going to try, he saw a Rite Aid on the same side of the road that he was on. So he pulled in there randomly. And they had it!!!

We will see how it works tomorrow!