Infant Baby Bad Breath
Can babies have bad breath too? Hey, anyone with a mouth can have bad breath. To a mom though, baby bad breath is disturbing phenomenon. Take a few precautionary steps before running off to the doctor.
If your child sleeps with his mouth open this could be one of the culprits. This would dry your child’s mouth, reducing the saliva which is our body’s natural mouthwash. You see everyone has bacteria in their mouths – even babies. And the higher bacteria count, the high chances of bad breath. Adults call this morning breath. In babies we call this baby bad breath.
Thumb sucking may be another culprit. The more your child sucks his thumb research has shown the drier his mouth becomes. This, of course, may increase the bacteria in your child mouth.
If you baby has a favorite toy or pacifier she sucks and chews on, or she likes to suck on her blanket, these become covered with old, dried saliva, filled with mouth yuckiness. If you don’t wash these items regularly, all of that dried up saliva, bacteria, and bacterial waste products go right back into your baby’s mouth.
Most babies don’t have bad breath. If these suggestions don’t seem to relate to your baby and she still has bad breath that is unusual in an infant, check with your pediatrician to see if there is a medical problem.
