I've been working with a mom who seemed to have a straightforward oversupply issue.  The baby had a white bloom on her tongue, and since mom had a small amount of soreness, I suggested gentian violet.  3 days, a rest, and a 4th day did decrease the bloom somewhat, but it bounced right back.  Since it wasn't clear that it was thrush and since mom's soreness didn't seem connected, we didn't pursue it.  But one thing did change during the gentian violet days: baby stopped clicking.  I attributed that to her decrease in supply - the main thing we were focused on.  Baby is back to clicking, and we continue to "sit on" her supply.

I recently got a phone call from a mom I haven't seen yet.  She's battled "thrush" with her 3 month old for a long time now, and was recently referred to me.  Since she hadn't tried gentian violet, I suggested it while she waited to see me.  She just e-mailed me to say that it didn't do much for her pain but that there was one interesting result: her baby's stools changed from green to yellow during the gentian violet.  They're now kind of a mixed bag.

Green??  I hadn't even *thought* to ask her about her baby's stools.  But the change sure implies a better milking of the breast when the baby's tongue was treated.

Has anyone else seen this?  An improved milking, or perhaps just a decreased clicking, with thrush treatment?  It makes sense to me, but I've never heard anything about it.  I've suggested to the clicking mother that, if that bloom is still there, she consider another round of gv and see what happens to the clicking.  She has complained that the clicking isn't comfortable.  Silly me, it didn't occur to me that the clicking could mean a thrush rebound that was causing the discomfort, rather than the clicking itself being an uncomfortable side effect of oversupply.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.

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