I love when my daughter smiles, and I love making her laugh. She has yet to pop a tooth, and her gummy grins are almost too cute to take.
It was during a smile-fest last week that my husband and I thought we noticed a little white spot on one of her gums. At first we thought it might be a tooth, but realized it was something else. My first thought was that it might be thrush, and we decided to keep a close eye on her mouth.
Sure enough, a few days later, we noticed another white spot, this time on the inside of her lower lip. It wasn’t bright white or lumpy-looking. It almost looked like a little bit of dry skin that was going to peel off.
Still insure if she had thrush, we wanted to see if there were any more spots in her mouth. She must have overheard us talking and decided she wasn’t going to let us in without a fight. We tag-teamed the job; I pinned her arms and legs down and held the flashlight, and my husband got to work prying her mouth open. Ignoring her angry grunts and attempts to free her limbs, we finally got her mouth open and saw ANOTHER white spot, this one bright white, on the inside of her cheek.
I fought the urge to panic. I realize thrush isn’t a big deal, but I don’t like when anything is wrong with my baby. Not only do I feel bad for her, it’s also a pain for me.
We called her doctor, who asked a bunch of questions: How many spots does she have? (A few.) Do they appear to cause discomfort? (No.) Is she breastfeeding? (Yes.) Are the mother’s nipples sore? (No.) Does the baby have a diaper rash? (No.) Has the baby recently been on antibiotics? (No, only an Albuterol inhaler about a month ago.)
After hearing my answers, her doctor, surprisingly, was pretty sure she did not have thrush, but told us to keep an eye on it. I called family members who’d had experience with thrush, and they also felt like it probably wasn’t thrush, and said we should watch it for a few more days.
I, of course, spent the rest of the day reading up on thrush: the causes, the symptoms, the treatments. I’m praying the white spots go away and we don’t have to take any further action.