My son has a thick white coating on his tongue, at first I thought it might be thrush but it's really really white and the white coating is coming off in some spots on his tongue. The areas where it's coming off are bright pink and look completely normal. I was thinking it may be a coating of formula or something as I am unfortunately unable to breastfeed. Has anyone else ever experienced this or have any ideas what it may be?
Thank you all so much for your wonderful advice. The white coating suddenly resolved on its own and I haven't seen it in a couple days.
Yes, it sounds like formula build up. Brush his tongue with a baby toothbrush (even the one that goes on your finger) and it will clear up. :)
The same happened to my daughter and to my nephew. You just need to wet and clean clothe with water and baking soda and clean the tongue very gently. Do it around 4 times a day but always very gently, forget the scrubing, that will just hurt your baby. It will eventually clear up.
Try wetting a washcloth and gently scrubbing his tongue with it. If it comes off and doesn't appear anywhere else then you're safe. If spots appear elsewhere it's probably thrush.
All of my babies had white tongues from breastfeeding for at least their first six months (milk mouth). The doctors always suspected thrush and prescribed nystatin, but it didn't change anything. Since it was not anywhere else in their mouths or throats, and there was no discomfort when nursing, we just stopped worrying about it, and it eventually went away as the babies grew. If there were any other symptoms besides the white film, I would have continued to seek answers.
My son is 7. He had a white coating, too. Swirling white spots, patches I was concerned and they said immediately that he's dehydrated. Two weeks later it happened again...I took him again to the doctor. They said that it's nothing. The thing is it came with a headache. I found articles saying it's a vitamin B deficiency. I have to take him for bloodwork. Today there is a big round spot on his tongue. Its so frustration! !
This is going to sound weird, but I had always heard if your tongue was white you needed to poop.
Look for white patches on the inside of his mouth, lips and gums. If it is other places beside just this tounge it could be thrush. If so it is treatable with nystatian prescribed by your doctor. Thrush is in the family of Yeasts and is common in infants.
I does sound like thrush. One of my daughters had it off and on the first year of her life. If you find that the Nystatin doesn't work, you can also get Gentian Violet over the counter. Ask the pharmacist. It is bright purple and will turn your baby's mouth completely purple as well as anything the baby drools on but it works great!
