Hi everyone,

I have a question which may have been addressed before, but I cannot find
any information in the archives.  Please forgive me if this is old news.

A mother of a preemie (born at 28 wks gestation) has been pumping for her
baby.  ( I do not have all the details, so sorry if this is sketchy).  She
developed nipple thrush, and is being treated.  She does not nurse the baby
at all.  The baby is recieveing half formula and half breastmilk.  She has
been told that her baby is at risk for developing thrush from her milk.  I
would think the benefits of her milk far outweigh any risk of the baby
developing thrush himself, but I think she needs evidence to back it up.  A
few points to make, however.  The baby is somewhere around 2 lbs.  He is
now being kept NPO because as the mother explained, "he had blood in his
stools and they want to give his belly a rest".  (I would think the milk
would have more benefits than being NPO, but like I said, I don't know the
whole story.)  He is on TPN at this time.

So, IF the milk has any trace of yeast, can he somehow acquire a yeast
infection? And CAN the baby leach the yeast from his gut into his blood
because he is NPO?  (Any more likely than a baby on formula?)  She's ready
to stop pumping because she "doesn't want her milk to kill her baby".  It
all sounds crazy to me but I don't know if there's something specific to
preemies that I'm missing here.

Thank you  Trish Whitehouse RN,

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