>  Peds prescribed Nystatin (without seeing the baby). .... Her doc puts her
on Nystatin cream.  Nipples get progressively worse,
>as do white patches in baby's mouth.  The entire areola is excoriated & weeping
>yellow gunk.  Bright deep red.  Swollen.......  Looks like an allergic reaction
>-- to the Similac.  Is that even possible?  Is the juxtaposition of giving
>the formula and baby getting white patches just a red herring?  (In this
>case, a white herring).  Could it have started as thrush and then progressed
>to something else?  It could be an allergic reaction to the preservatives in
>the cream, I suppose.
>This is a plea to NOT diagnose over the phone!

Jan, I agree: nipple problems must be seen, not diagnosed and treated over
the phone (or even the internet).
Certainly sounds like dermatitis / eczema. Probably a reaction to either the
formula or the nystatin, so stop the nystatin and ??change formula.
Dermatologist will probably prescibe steriod ointment which should help in a
few days.
Does the baby still have oral thrush? Did the baby really ever have thrush?
Sometimes one has to treat thrush and dermatitis at the same time. But in
this case the diagnosis of thrush is still unsure isn't it?

Lisa Amir
GP / LC in Melbourne, Australia