Mum Shares Photo Of Her Baby With A Purple Mouth And We Had NO Idea What it Was! Do You?
Mum Shares Photo Of Her Baby With A Purple Mouth And We Had NO Idea What it Was! Do You?
A TIKTOK video showing a baby with a purple mouth has gone viral after the mum joked her son ate a purple sharpie. However, she captioned the pic with “Only mums know what this actually is.” Now I’m a mum and had NO idea! Do you?
BUZZFEED reached out to Christel Holland, who is a San Diego–based mum of a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son. She explained that a few years ago she took her daughter to the doctor after discovering the inside off her mouth was coated in a thick white substance. “At first I thought maybe her tongue was just coated from her formula, but I noticed it got thicker and it would still be on her tongue for hours after a bottle,” she told Buzzfeed. The doctor diagnosed her with oral thrush.
“Thrush is a yeast infection that anyone can get, usually caused by Candida albicans. It causes vaginal infections in women, but it is also prevalent in babies. In babies, it causes whitish plaques in the mouth and can make them fussy,” Doctor Bhargava said.
“Babies may get thrush because their immune system is less mature. Other reasons include nipples on bottles being contaminated or pacifiers getting contaminated. To prevent thrush, try to keep those clean, and if a pacifier drops to the floor, make sure you wash it before offering it to the baby again. Lastly, if you are breastfeeding, make sure you don’t have pain or irritation around the nipple area, as this may be a yeast infection too,” he added.
Christel’s baby’s mouth was purple due to the medicine used to treat thrush called Gentian Violet. “This is an antifungal medicine that helps get rid of the infection- it is used several times a day ina bay’s mouth for about 10 days. It does have a violet colour so it can look purple, Bhargava explained.
“I didn’t know much about thrush, since I was a new mum, but with my son, I noticed almost instantly that it was thrush and knew I needed to get the violet medicine as soon as possible because thrush can be a pretty big pain to get rid of,” Christel said.
Christel went on to warn parents saying, “If it gets on anything at all, it’s stained forever! I still have a shirt that’s stained from three years ago!” So if you use the medicine in the future, be careful!
Images: Instagram & TikTok
Chrystal Lovevintage
Chrystal is a writer and blogger who loves nothing more than watching back to back episodes of crime shows. Should she ever find herself needing to cover up a crime, she'll know exactly what to do! Her dream is to one day live in Palm Springs where she can do her writing poolside while drinking endless gin and tonics. Mum to the cutest twin boys in the world, she loves nothing more than the sound of their laughter (usually heard when they're conspiring against her). Entertainment writer and pop culture junkie, she will be bringing you all the celebrity gossip and news that your brain can handle. You can follow her blog at https://lovechrystal.com.au and on Instagram at Chrystalovevintage
