Hi there from a mother of a five month old baby that has been battling thrush/yeast since 2 weeks old!
I have done lots of reading and research on this topic- you might want to check the forum on "tips for beating thrush". The best information available on the web for this is Dr. Jack Newman's site-
http://www.thebirthden.com.
I have never seen any blood from using GV (I have used many, many times!!), this could be something else unrelated- maybe check it out with a pediatrician. I did read that sometimes they do get sores in their mouth with GV. I think at one point my DD might have got a sore in her mouth because I was using a Q-tip to apply it around her mouth and got a little too vigorous with my swabbing. I have applied it to my tongue to see what it is like and it did not sting or burn me, but I had to wonder because sometimes she did get quite fussy at the breast and would latch and unlatch when the thrush was especially bad.
It should be no problem to have casual contact because candida albicans (this is the name for the organism that causes thrush) is present in all of our bodies. It is normally held in check with a healthy immune system and enough "friendly" bacteria that fight it off. This is why it frequently occurs after childbirth or after a course of antibiotics (immune system gets lowered). Some of the information you can find on the internet advises boiling all toys after usage, bras etc during treatment but to be honest I did not find that helpful- I had to boost my own immune system to be make my body less hospitable to candida. It really is not something you can "catch" exactly. Of course, it's always important to practice good hygiene and handwashing to protect against a variety of organisms. Good luck, hope this helps.
