
It’s easy to clean your newborn’s tongue. Just use a soft cloth or clean piece of damp gauze to do so. If it’s milk tongue, the patches will come off easily. Image: YouTube screengrab
When you have a new baby, your whole world changes. Along with motherhood comes a range of new experiences you must learn… including identifying various health conditions. One common issue many new mums face relates to a white coating on their baby’s tongue. Is it just a milk coating? Or could it be a more serious issue, namely newborn thrush (or oral thrush)? If you too have a newborn thrush vs milk tongue dilemma, we’re here to help.
Newborn thrush vs milk tongue: How to tell the difference?
Almost all newborns will have a white coating on their tongues — known as “milk tongue". This is not surprising given that their main source of food for six months is milk. If a little one is formula-fed, the coating might look a bit thicker.
However, more often than not, the “milk tongue" coating gets automatically brushed off as your baby nurses, and his tongue brushes against the hard palate of his mouth. When the tongue does not reach the hard palate, some babies might develop persistent “milk tongue".
This lack of friction between the tongue and hard palate might be caused by:
If you have nipple thrush, this could morph into oral thrush in your baby when you breastfeed.
Before you panic, please know that oral thrush is a very common condition in newborns and even older babies.
Oral thrush is caused by a fungus called Candida Albicans. According to medical experts at the National Health Service, UK (NHS), this fungus is present in the mouth of healthy people and it usually doesn’t cause problems. But sometimes, it can overgrow and infect the membranes in the mouth.
What causes it?
If your baby has recently been given antibiotics, a “side effect" might be oral thrush. This is because the levels of “good" bacteria in your baby’s mouth are reduced by the antibiotics, allowing the growth of fungus levels.
It’s easy to clean your newborn’s tongue. Just use a soft cloth or clean piece of damp gauze to do so. If it’s milk tongue, the patches will come off easily. Image: YouTube screengrab
Which is it in your newborn thrush vs milk tongue dilemma?
It’s actually quite simple to spot the difference. If it’s milk tongue, the white residue will easily come off when brushed gently with a soft, damp cloth, revealing a healthy, pink tongue underneath.
But if it’s newborn oral thrush, the white patches will not come off easily and may even bleed if you try too hard to remove them. Untreated newborn thrush may even be painful, resulting in your newborn being fussy at your breast.
Mums, you’ll be relieved to know that oral thrush in most instances, is not dangerous. The treatment of oral thrush may be in the form of an oral anti-fungal gel which is applied to the inside of the mouth. An antifungal suspension may also be prescribed to be taken orally.
You can also help your breastfeeding baby by reducing your sugar intake while he is being treated for the thrush.
We hope this article has helped solve your newborn thrush vs milk tongue problem. To learn about nipple thrush in breastfeeding mums, click this link.
References: National Health Service (NHS), Livestrong
Got a parenting concern? Read articles or ask away and get instant answers on our app. DownloadtheAsianparent Community on iOS or Android now!