Should You Be Cleaning Your Baby’s Tongue?

If there’s one thing new parents know, it’s that babies don’t come with instruction manuals. So, every question you have about keeping this itty-bitty person safe and healthy is likely to send you down a rabbit hole searching for information. Opinions vary, and so do the qualifications of the people providing them.

Sound familiar?

Advice about cleaning your baby’s tongue is one of those topics. What do the experts have to say about it? We asked pediatrician Shannon Thompson, DO.

When to clean baby’s tongue

You don’t need to regularly clean or wipe your baby’s tongue in their first few months, unless:

• They’re teething or have a tooth. “One of the first signs of teething is that the baby’s gums get swollen,” Dr. Thompson says. “That typically happens when they’re around 4 to 6 months old. And that’s your cue to start regularly cleaning their teeth and gums.”
• You suspect they may have thrush. Thrush is a fungal infection that can leave creamy white spots on your baby’s tongue or inside their cheeks. Tricky thing is that it can look something like milk residue.

Otherwise, consider cleaning your baby’s tongue one of those things you don’t have to do.

“As long as you’re being very gentle, there’s no risk in cleaning your baby’s tongue once a day if that’s something you want to do. But it’s not something we typically recommend because, until they have a tooth, it’s just not necessary,” Dr. Thompson clarifies.

Some people will tell you that cleaning your baby’s tongue or gums prevents thrush, but that’s not true. Thrush is a common infection in babies. But a milky tongue isn’t the cause. Thrush is an overgrowth of Candida fungus. Babies pick it up when nursing or drinking from a bottle. And cleaning your baby’s tongue after feedings or at the end of the day isn’t going to prevent it.

How to clean baby’s tongue

If your baby is teething or you’re concerned they may have thrush, follow these steps to clean their mouth:

1. Wash your hands well.
2. If they aren’t teething, wrap your finger in a clean washcloth. If they’re teething, use a small, soft toothbrush and a grain-size drop of toothpaste.
3. Use a tiny bit of water to get the cloth or toothbrush damp.
4. Gently swipe their gums, tongue and inside their cheeks. Use circular motions and don’t go too far back. You don’t want to activate their gag reflex.
5. Don’t rinse their mouth. Babies shouldn’t have water until they’re 6 months old.

If checking for thrush is your goal, look to see if the milky residue wipes away. If their tongue is clean, all is well. “If it’s thrush, you’ll still see white lesions or residue after you clean the baby’s tongue,” Dr. Thompson says. “Thrush doesn’t wipe away.”

Thrush is typically treated with prescription antifungal medications. Call a children’s healthcare provider, like your pediatrician, if you suspect your baby has thrush.

Bottom line

Until babies are teething, their mouths don’t need your intervention.

And chances are, they're not going to love you sticking your fingers in their mouth. (Can you blame them?)

And despite what you may hear, regular tongue-cleaning isn’t likely to make a difference in them “getting used to it.” Cleaning a newborn’s tongue isn’t going to make the transition to toothbrushing any smoother.

“It’s important for babies to get used to toothbrushes because it’s important for oral hygiene moving forward,” Dr. Thompson acknowledges. “But cleaning their tongue and mouth in the first few months of their lives, before they have teeth, isn’t going to help them develop a tolerance for it.”