MASTITIS, THRUSH, OH MY!

When Sula was born I got thrush in my breast. It was the most terrrible pain I have ever felt (way worse than childbirth as childbirth came and went this stayed!). When I would nurse her it felt as though a million shards of glass were trying to make their way out...OUCH! Thankfully our midwives were so supportive and helped me to find a natural remedy to cure the trush. I tried everything! I started with echinacea, vitamin C, probiotics, and garlic in high doses. That wasn't strong enough. So I tried gentian violet (purple dye you "paint" inside the baby's mouth and on your nipple). They are not kidding when they say it is messy...literally dyes everything purple and spreads when the baby nurses! I cried the first time I had to put it in Sula's mouth. After a week of using that with very little success and Sula having a reaction to it that made her refuse to eat (poor baby) we decided to not put it in her mouth and instead just on my nipples. That was much better. There was no way I was going to use Nystatin on my little baby- have you read the side effects? I will only use natural treatments. We used the gentian violet for two weeks because it is the best solution for getting rid of thrush. We also washed everything that touched her mouth or my breasts in HOT water and vinegar. Only letting each thing touch us once. It was hard but helped. Finally what really helped in addition to all the above mentioned things was taking 1000mg of grapefruit seed extract and a yeast cleanse supplement from New Seasons Market daily. It only took a couple days to kick it once we started taking the grapefruit seed extract. After over 3 weeks it was finally gone. I hope it never, ever, ever, ever returns!

Argh masitis! Everything was going so well with nursing and my breasts until about 2AM this morning when I woke up shaking with the chills. I also had a fever of over 102, felt nauseus, had a pounding headache, felt super light headed and weak. Amazing how quickly it hits a person. It was very scary as all I could think about was taking care of my baby. I don't want anything to happen that would prevent me from taking care of my baby girl. To cure the mastits I am using cold compresses made of cabbage leaves and wear them in my bra. I am also take 5,000mg of vitamin C, eat lots of garlic, take a tincture of echinacea, rest, and nurse, nurse, nurse!!! I hope it goes away soon!