How to Treat Mouth Sores in Babies
Mouth sores (Mouth Ulcers or canker sores) in babies are actually a rare condition. However, if the baby suddenly refuses to drink milk or be breastfed, you need to be careful because he could be suffering from mouth sores. This condition can certainly interfere with the nutritional intake of the baby. For that you need to do how to treat mouth sores in babies as soon as possible.
Before discussing further about how to treat it, it is important for you to know the cause of mouth sores in babies. For that, here we will discuss first about the causes of mouth sores in babies.
Causes of Mouth Sores in Babies
The cause of mouth ulcers in infants is not known for certain. However, there are several things that can trigger the appearance of mouth sores in babies.
Some of the causes of mouth ulcers in babies include the following:
- Accidentally biting the tongue or the inside of the lips while feeding, resulting in mouth sores.
- Allergy to certain foods or substances.
- Sensitive to fruit that tastes sour, such as strawberries and oranges.
- Deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B12, folic acid, and iron.
- Fungal, bacterial, or viral infections.
- Certain diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease or celiac disease.
- Heredity factor.
- Babies are stressed.
How to Treat Mouth Ulcers in Babies
Mouth ulcers in babies generally get better on their own within 7 to 10 days. Meanwhile, the stinging will subside within 3-4 days. Even so, that doesn't mean you can just let it go. Mouth ulcers cause a stinging and uncomfortable feeling in the baby's mouth so it needs to be handled.
How to cure mouth ulcers in babies can do the following things. This cure step will help relieve the stinging, so that the baby becomes comfortable and can breastfeed again.
1. Take advantage of breast milk
For babies under 6 months, breast milk is the best medicine to treat mouth sores. Therefore, continue to give breast milk to the baby slowly.
2. Use a spoon or glass
The movement of sucking milk can make mouth sores painful. As an alternative, you can express breast milk and then collect it in a glass and give it to the baby using a special baby spoon. In this way, the mouth sore experienced by the baby will not be touched by the nipple.
In addition, the use of this spoon can also be applied to formula milk given to babies. If the baby is able to drink through a glass, milk can also be drunk directly through a glass.
3. Avoid giving acidic foods and drinks
How to treat mouth sores in infants that must be considered is to avoid giving acidic foods and drinks to babies because they can make the soreness of mouth sores worse.
4. Compress with ice cubes or give cold food
Compressing mouth sores using ice cubes can relieve pain. Compresses using this ice cube will numb the canker sores and not cause pain when the baby is feeding or eating.
If your baby has started eating solids, you can try giving him cold foods. For example, pieces of cold fruit or ice cream to reduce the stinging and discomfort in the mouth.
5. Increase nutritional intake
By increasing the intake of nutrients and vitamins, it can help speed up healing while preventing canker sores, starting from the intake of nutrients that contain folic acid, vitamins B2, B5, and C.
6. Give soft food
To be more comfortable when eating you can give soft foods to babies, such as porridge or oatmeal. If you want to give fruit, you can process it first into juice.
7. Use teething gel
How do you treat mouth sores in babies can be by applying teething gel to the canker sore area (a gel that is usually applied to the gums to reduce discomfort when the baby is teething). Be careful when applying it to the canker sore area because usually the soreness of the canker sore will be felt when touched.
8. Keeping baby's teeth clean
In babies who already have teeth, dental hygiene must be maintained. So brush your baby's teeth regularly at least 2 times a day. Because the condition of the mouth that is not clean can worsen the condition of canker sores (mouth sores).
If after doing how to cure mouth sores for babies it still doesn't improve, you can take the baby to the doctor. In addition, if baby mouth sores is accompanied by fever, skin rash, weight loss and swollen lymph nodes, immediately take your baby to the doctor for proper treatment.
