What’s going on with my baby’s thick tongue coating and red spots?

The tongue of a healthy baby is usually pink, tender, smooth and clean. Therefore, it is particularly important for parents to observe the tongue coating to observe their child's health status. So what’s going on when the baby’s tongue coating is thick and red?

Fever and cold: smooth mirror-like red tongue

Some babies who often have fever, repeated colds, poor appetite or chronic diarrhea will have a tongue that is crimson like fresh meat, with all the tongue coating falling off and the tongue surface as smooth as a mirror. This is medically called a mirror red tongue. Babies with mirror tongue often have symptoms such as loss of appetite, dry mouth and polydipsia, or abdominal distension.

"Prescribe the right medicine": drink more soy milk and eat more vegetables

For babies with mirror-like red tongue, do not assume that they are weak and give them large amounts of supplements or greasy food. This is mostly caused by spleen and stomach yin deficiency. You should eat more soy milk or fresh and easily digestible vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, white radishes, etc. You can also squeeze watermelon, apples, pears, and water chestnuts into juice and drink it, or cook porridge with yam, lotus seeds, and lilies for your baby in the morning and evening.

Gastrointestinal disorders: black tongue coating

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that black tongue coating is caused by extreme heat turning into fire. People with gastrointestinal problems are prone to cold and dampness, and their tongue coating will become thick and greasy, starting out white and gradually turning yellow or black. About half of the patients with black tongue coating have gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal distension, constipation, nausea, and poor appetite. Gastrointestinal dysfunction is one of the symptoms of poisoning. Due to the stimulation of bacterial toxins, gastrointestinal dysfunction causes the pH value of oral saliva to decrease, which increases the adhesion between tongue cells and lengthens the keratin protrusions of the filiform papillae, which are easily stained black by microorganisms, forming black tongue coating.

The tongue coating is black and sticky. If only this abnormal tongue coating is seen and the tip of the tongue is normal light red, and there is no other obvious discomfort, it is sometimes considered a "staining" phenomenon. The person may have eaten certain foods with coloring or taken certain medications.

"Treat the disease with the right medicine": The black coating on the baby's tongue is related to the food eaten, weak spleen and stomach function, long-term illness or long-term use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. It is recommended to go to the hospital for treatment, improve your diet, and take some digestive aids under the guidance of a doctor.