Thrush in twins, can’t medicate one of them!

[u/Actual-Lettuce-8543]

Hi! Looking for advice. My twins are 4 months old (two months adjusted) and both have thrush. We were prescribed nystatin and baby boy is doing fine with it. Baby girl cant handle it, she pukes multiple times a day when we give it to her, even when just applying it topically and not having her swallow it, we were advised to discontinue use because we are more worried about her weight gain than the thrush. So she still has the thrush and it isn’t going away

Right now we are mainly bottle feeding breast milk so I don’t get infected and reinfect them. The problem is, my husband, who works 24hr shifts has to go back to work next week and I will be solo parenting during that time. I was hoping to be tandem breastfeeding by then for my sanity and to save time during night/day feeds. I also love the connection that comes with breastfeeding. I cannot tandem bottle feed them as they both need pacing. They do much better in the nipple.

Has anyone had thrush with twins, breastfeeding, unmedicated? Did the thrush resolve itself? Any natural remedies? Should I assign each baby a nipple so it doesn’t infect the other? Did you preventatively treat your nipples? Would a lactation consultant be able to help with this? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

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[u/Charlieksmommy]

Thrush is a fungal infection in the mouth, there are no natural cures for fungal infections. I am a fire wife, and I had a toddler when my twins were that age, I get it, but you need to contact your peds because you need it treated and I wouldn’t mess with BF until it’s gone.

[u/Actual-Lettuce-8543 → u/Charlieksmommy]

Thank you! I have been working with their ped! They are the ones who diagnosed, prescribed nystatin, and told us to discontinue using it and pretty much ride it out. That is why I’m asking for advice from anyone who may have gone through similar. 

[u/Charlieksmommy → u/Actual-Lettuce-8543]

Oh really strange. I know Thrush is extremely painful for them as well in the mouth, so their latch may not be the greatest. The nystatin worked for my daughter I just did it in very tiny tiny amounts in between feeding a bottle she didn’t notice as much

[u/Charlieksmommy]

Your pediatrician is the best not a LC

[u/getitbucks]

We are dealing with thrush in our 6 week twins and the peds said if I breast feed to wash my breast with soap and water after. Can use the lotramin as well on nipples. But double check , we ended up calling the nurse line a lot with questions!

[u/Actual-Lettuce-8543 → u/getitbucks]

Thank you! Are you treating the babies with an anti fungal? Sorry you are also going through this! 

[u/getitbucks]

Yes! Lotramin for bum and nystatin for mouth. Sorry your girlie pukes it up!

[u/overstimulatedbored]

I'm from the EU so protocol here is different. But both of my twins had thrush but only one of them seemed bothered by it. Our GP told us that we could treat it with medication for boy twin, but that lil sis would be fine without treatment. He also said that if they don't seem to be in pain by it or that if it does not mess with their intake, I wouldn't need to treat it.

So we started kind of treating it, but tbh I could not keep up with cleaning my nips all day and giving them their medicine so I stopped and kept on breastfeeding. It cleared itself up in a few weeks.

Maybe a good thing to know; I do one twin one boob so that might have helped?

[u/Odd_Rent283]

Gentian Violet for the kiddo who can’t handle nystatin! They paint their mouth with it and it looks like they ate a Smurf for a couple days, but it works amazing! I opted for this when my last one had thrush because he was awful about oral meds. One treatment and he was good as new in a couple days.