Let's Breastfeed

So you think you have thrush!

When it is so cold outside, the very thought of sore nipples make my eyes water! I truly feel for any mum who is experiencing actual nipple pain rather than my imaginary ‘problem’.

This time of the year, many mums seem to develop thrush. If they come and see me, we quickly rule out thrush and get them onto a course of treatment that eliminates the symptoms pretty quickly. Want to know what it is?

Well it is called vaso spasm of the breast. If you are sensitive to the cold or suffer from poor blood circulation, you could very easily develop this condition and as it often goes undiagnosed, you could be stuck with it for a while. In fact, if you are treated for thrush instead of vaso spasm, you could very quickly find your symptoms getting a lot worse!

So, how do you differentiate between thrush and vaso spasm.

Shooting pains.

• Thrush shooting pains travel into the breast, away from the nipple.
• Vaso shooting pains, travel toward the nipple.

Burning.

• Thrush burning seems worse when the baby is feeding.
• Vaso spasm burning is usually worse after the feed.

Extreme sypmtoms.

• Thrush feels like broken glass being massaged into the nipple and usually results in baby being plucked off the breast quite quickly after latching.
• Vaso spasm starts with a vice like grip on the nipple and then feels like an intense dose of pins and needles restricted to a very small sruface area. The breast also feels itchy!

If you know how to differentiate sypmtoms you will be able to get the correct treatment from the start.

Much love,

Geraldine

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