<On the subject of thrush and discarding things, LLL [1] suggests that all bottle nipples, pacifiers etc be discarded after one week of thrush treatment. This is no small change for someone frequently expressing and using high-quality, high-cost silicone teats. Surely boiling these items for ten minutes would be more than adequate to eliminate any live yeast?> Lara, the concern is that objects like dummies (pacifiers) which spend long periods of time in the infant's mouth develop microscopic cracks that can harbour the fungus. I think silicone is less likely to crack than cheaper rubber (or whatever they are). And I imagine teats don't spend as much time in the baby's mouth and so don't get as damaged as dummies. I have seen dummies that have fungal growth visible to the naked eye (and confirmed microscopically) - as some parents don't think about changing them. So, I think common sense is needed. Objects that spend a lot of time in the baby's mouth should be replaced regularly (I would say weekly until the mother is over her thrush problem). Objects that are used infrequently don't need to be replaced as often. A short report in Archives of Disease in Childhood, titled "Oral candida: is dummy carriage the culprit?" reported on a 16 week study of 95 healthy children (1-24 months). They found that children using dummies were almost twice as likely to be colonized with candida than non-users (52% compared to 28%). Silicone dummies were less likely to be carrying candida (22%) than rubber latex dummies (75%). They show 2 scanning electronmicrographs of silicone and rubber dummies after 16 weeks of use - the surface of the latter is "markedly fissured". (Sio et al Arch Dis Child 1987; 62: 406-8). Lisa Amir MBBS, MMed, IBCLC in Melbourne, Australia *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html