Should I Be Concerned if My Babys Tongue Has a Black Coating?

Whether the black tongue coating of a baby is serious depends mainly on the specific situation. If it is caused by eating chocolate, prunus mume, or other substances that can dye the tongue coating, it is usually not a serious issue. However, if the baby's tongue coating is black and accompanied by symptoms such as fever, it is usually more serious and requires medical attention as soon as possible.

In this case, the black tongue coating of the child is caused by, for example, the child eating prunus mume or chocolate. Since the color of prunus mume and chocolate is black, there will be food residues on the child's tongue coating, resulting in the black appearance. This situation does not require special treatment. Just give the child a little more water to drink, and the black tongue coating will improve.

This situation is often seen in children who have a prolonged fever that does not go away, poor mental state, or severe infection. In this case, the child should be treated promptly, and it is recommended to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Parents should not delay the child's condition at home.

If a baby's tongue coating is black and accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal distension, constipation, nausea, and poor appetite, it may be caused by gastrointestinal dysfunction. Generally, when the bowel movements become smooth and the fever resolves, the black coating will also gradually disappear, and the appetite will improve. Gastrointestinal dysfunction is also one of the symptoms of body poisoning. The stimulation of bacterial toxins can cause gastrointestinal dysfunction, reduce the pH value of oral saliva, increase the adhesion between tongue cells, prolong the protrusion of the filamentous papillae, and make it easy to be stained black by microorganisms, forming a black coating.