Oral Health
sooo… what are we doing about milk tongue? i clean her tongue as best as i can and yet it is still white. My biological mother keeps telling me to give her on oz of water between feeds (my daughter is only 6 weeks that sounds insane and i will never do it because it makes me uncomfortable like can infants/newborns even have water? probably not, she swears she can drink the baby nursery water, im not allowing it).
Rn i use a silicone tongue brush thing i got from amazon, i tried using a rag, & i tried cotton swabs but her tongue is still white
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Do not give water. Get a gauze and wet it and wrap it around your finger and clean the tongue with your finger. That’s how my pediatrician and my own mom told me.
No water! But the silicone things were shown to not work. Best that would work is cleaning with a rag or gauze around your finger. It might not be fully un-white. So don’t worry about out that. Unless you’re cleaning after every feed, there’s a good chance the whiteness won’t go away.
There's no need to clean their tongue I don't understand why this is a concern?
thrush could happen. That’s why it’s recommended to. But it’s not like a you must do it perfectly type thing. It’s just to prevent it from growing
Also not sure if you know why they can have milk, but you can tell your mom it’s because their kidneys aren’t ready to deal with water. And water intoxication will happen. As well nutrients loss.
wow this is never recommended as standard newborn care in the UK.
oh wow. That’s surprising to me. I thought it was everywhere. Ik it is here in the USA
I think it's because thrush is easily treated and not that harmful, and not that common either so no point trying to prevent something that is easily treated and doesn't happen very often. Maybe there isn't good data to suggest cleaning the tongue does decrease chances of thrush, just a thought.
I’ve heard cleaning the tongue can actually introduce more bacteria it’s not needed to clean the tongue or typically recommend at all until they get teeth
I live in the US and my pediatrician didn’t tell me I need to do this. She said if she is sick to do it and when she starts to get teeth obviously start to “brush” but I was never told to clean the babies mouth at all until teething
6 kids and I've always left their tongue alone. Never dealt with thrush or any other problems
- is it possible your daughter has oral thrush and that’s why her tongue is white and not going away? Are your nipples sore?
Also - you are 100% correct. No water for baby. Trust your gut, mum is wrong x
It’s not necessary to clean their tongues tbh.
Don't give her water babies kidneys aren't formed until a certain age. Have to talk to your doctor to see if she has thrush that tends to leave a white residue on her tongue that you can't wipe off.
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