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What Causes White Coating On The Tongue In An Infant?

Posted on Thu, 12 Jan 2017

Question: My 5 months old girl baby got thick white layer on her tongue since she was 10 days old . It's there on the upper pallet and both the chick .i did use candid mouth paint for last 3 n half months . But it seems not working . And now she got few red spots on tip of her tongue too .There is no problem with nursing.What to do now ?

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Please upload an image.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

I have gone carefully through your query and understand your concerns. The first thing that I would need to ask is whether your baby is exclusively breast fed, mixed fed or whether she is formula fed. It is possible that the residual milk is forming the white coating. I would really appreciate if you could upload an image of the inside of the mouth. Most often the white tongue is due to candidiasis but in that case application of candid mouth paint (clotrimazole) should have resolved the issue. Furthermore, candidiasis usually occurs in case of depressed immunity and such children usually suffer from frequent cough and cold. I assume that is not the case here. Try taking a wet cloth and wiping off of the inside of the mouth and tongue after the feeds.

I would await your uploading the image.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (14 hours later)

She's a mixed fed .. And used to suffer from cough from the birth time itself. But we checked it is not in the chest part only in throat. Her head used to sweat lot while feeding and sometimes in sleep .. I don't know whether because of that she's catching cold !!

And one more thing I forgot to tell , after her birth I did not clean her mouth for 1 n half month .. After that when doc checked they told its oral thrush n gave medicine accordingly. But by the time it became very thick layer and now I used to clean her mouth the way you told after every feed and apply mouth gel . In between for some days it seems reduced but onece she got fever for 2/3 days and again the thick layer came back . Now the problem is I can only clean or apply get at the little beat of front part ..at remain part she's nt allowing . So the back part is getting thicker ..please help me out ..Thnk u

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Oral thrush

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back. I have checked the attached image. It is definite that the child has oral thrush possibly due to Candida infection as already mentioned. It is not due to milk. Treatment would comprise of topical miconazole and/or nystatin, preferably after feeds. If that does not help, oral intake of fluconazole might be needed. All these are prescription medicines and so you need to consult your doctor. He also needs to evaluate if there is a possibility of underlying immunodeficiency.

Please go through the following:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/179069.php

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Veerisetty Shyamkumar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (2 hours later)

Is it harmful ??? If suppose she has immunodeficiency!! Can it get cured fully after medication !!?? How long wll it take !!?? N is dere any recurrence onece get cured ?

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (4 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You need not panic.

Detailed Answer:
I would request you not to panic. Let us go step by step. The first is to try the topical medicines as suggested. The next would be to go for the oral medicine. Hopefully that would take care of the situation. Depending upon his findings the doctor might choose to investigate further. Further answers can be given only after that.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Veerisetty Shyamkumar