How To Clean Baby’s Tongue In 6 Simple Steps

Keeping your baby healthy and safe is one of the most important things that you will ever face as a parent. You want to make sure that, from the very beginning, you are doing everything possible to achieve this goal and that starts with the basics. Proper bathing, proper dressing and even proper oral care are extremely important right from the start because improper health care when they’re small can lead to a lot of bigger problems when they start to get a little bit older, especially since you have to teach them to do it.

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One of the things that a lot of new parents don’t think about when it comes to oral care, however, is the tongue. In fact, most adults don’t think about this when it comes to their own oral care let alone their child. Still, figuring out how to clean baby’s tongue is going to be important to keeping their mouth clean, especially since most of the germs in the mouth are on the tongue. Here we’ll talk about why else you need to know this and how you’re going to make sure your baby is off to a good start on their health.

What You Will Need To Follow This Tutorial

In order to follow along you’re going to need only a few things. That’s because your little one is likely too small for harsh toothpaste or mouthwash. So what do you need to look for?

Make sure that the water you use is not too warm as this can be a problem for your little one. Keep in mind that even if the water doesn’t feel too hot to you it could easily be too hot for your baby as their sense of hot and cold is far more sensitive than yours is. You want a small bowl that has just a little warm water you’re going to use to do the actual cleaning.

There are actually some small cloths that are designed for this type of cleaning and will help you out a little more easily but in a pinch some soft cloth or gauze is going to work just fine. All you need to do is wrap it around your fingers and you’ll be easily able to clean off your baby’s tongue. Make sure the material you use is not too rough as your little one is very sensitive.

If you need something a little stronger you’ll want to look for a gum cleaner that is a little stiffer and provides a more stable surface. This will get rid of buildup that may get on your child’s tongue or teeth (you’ll be rubbing their teeth or the inside of their gums a little bit as well). These cleaners are sold specifically for infants so they don’t hurt their sensitive gums and shouldn’t contain any kind of fluoride that is harmful for small children.

Step-By-Step Instructions

This should be a fairly obvious one but you want to make sure that your hands are clean since you will be putting your fingers into your baby’s mouth. Remember, your little one is, well, little. They don’t have a whole lot of immunities and they need you to be doing everything you can to keep them safe at this point in their lives. Washing your hands is the most important and simplest step in this process.

In a small bowl or over the stove heat up some water. In most cases you can just use room temperature water as this is going to make sure you don’t burn the inside of your little one’s mouth. You don’t need a lot of water but keeping it in a bowl near you is definitely going to make things a whole lot easier.

Now take your gauze or cloth and wrap it around your finger. You want to make sure the material isn’t rough and you want to be sure that it’s going to stay decently well around your finger. You’re not going to have a lot of freedom to keep moving and trying to replace the gauze that you’re using or re-wrap it.

Via sirhealth.com

Usually you can get your little one to open their mouth by gently pressing your finger to their lips. However you do it, you need them to open their mouth enough that you can get your finger inside to start cleaning their tongue. This may be easier or more difficult depending on your little one but you’re definitely going to be able to get it.

Make sure you use gentle motions to start cleaning the tongue. You don’t want to ‘scrub’ too hard at their tongue as this can hurt but you do want to get any kind of debris out of their mouth. Watch and listen to your baby. You’ll be able to tell how they feel about what you’re doing and whether you’re doing it the best way possible.

For smaller children and infants they don’t actually have teeth but you can gently clean and massage the gums and the insides of their mouth to help get rid of any additional debris that can build up there. Make sure you’re careful to get everything you can.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you enjoyed this tutorial and you learned a few things as well. Your little one needs you and they definitely need you to understand the importance of their health care. By starting out well when they are little you’re not going to have to worry about how your little one takes care of themselves as they start to get older, and that’s definitely going to be a great asset.

We want to know what you think and we definitely want you to share this article with your friends and family. They may be able to benefit from knowing these simple tips as well (and their babies too).