Is it serious if the baby's tongue is black?

The human tongue is mainly composed of a muscle, and some people with well-developed tongue muscles can change their tongue into a variety of shapes. The main function of the tongue is that there are some small raised dots on its surface, which are the lingual papillae. They are mainly used to sense the taste of food in the mouth. The normal tongue color should be pink, but some parents find that their baby’s tongue coating is a little black. Is this phenomenon serious?

Black tongue coating is a symptom, and many factors may cause the baby's tongue coating to become black. In response to this situation, many parents don’t know what to do when their baby’s tongue coating turns black. Generally speaking, when a child’s tongue coating turns black it may be related to diet and requires appropriate treatment.

1. The normal tongue coating of children should be thin and white, with appropriate dryness and wetness. It is normal to see milky white coating in infants and red tongue without coating in newborns. When a baby has black tongue coating, first of all, you should rule out the possibility that the tongue coating is stained by eating black food. In addition, it may be caused by getting angry or being weak, or lacking vitamins. Make sure your baby drinks more water and eats more vegetables and fruits, and go to the hospital for a checkup if necessary. If the baby is in good spirits and eats normally, there is no need to worry.

2. It is definitely inaccurate for parents to check the tongue coating right after the child has just eaten or drunk something. The tongue will turn red after drinking hot water or eating spicy or other irritating foods; the tongue coating will be white after drinking milk; the tongue coating will turn yellow after eating oranges; the tongue coating will change after eating chocolate, drinking coffee and other colored foods. Therefore, parents must look at their children's tongue coating at least half an hour after eating, and it is best to look at it several times a day to make an accurate judgment and avoid mistakes.

3. When the baby's tongue coating turns black, are there any other abnormal conditions? Sometimes eating certain foods can cause the tongue coating to turn black. According to traditional Chinese medicine, black is the true color of the kidney. When the kidney yang is weak and the internal cold is extreme, cold water will invade the body and the tongue coating will be black and moist. If the internal heat is extremely strong, the kidney water cannot overcome the fire and is instead smoked by the internal heat, then the tongue coating will be gray and dry. If there is nothing abnormal with your digestive function, that is, your eating and bowel movements are normal, and there is no disease in your oral cavity, it is recommended that you seek treatment from a Chinese medicine practitioner.