Mouth Sores (Singaw)

It may only be the size of a pencil eraser, but a mouth/canker sore, more commonly known as singaw can be hard to ignore, especially on your little ones. Kids with mouth sore tend to be whiny and become very picky with food when they're usually not. For the breastfed, nursing is quite next to impossible. Expect a lot of crying, especially in the midst of sleep but after a good five minutes, it will stop and you can both get back to bed.

"It generally measures three to five millimeters in diameter and is usually located on the inside of the lip or cheek or, less commonly, on the tongue...The most painful phase lasts about three to four days, and the sores go away in about ten days."1

"What causes canker sores? No one knows for sure, though they frequently afflict people who are fatigued or stressed out or who have poor diets... Cankers may also occur as a result of a minor injury in the mouth, such as from a slip of the toothbrush or a jab from a taco shell. Certain foods, such as spicy dishes and citrus fruits, have also taken some of the blame."1

When you get the chance, you can apply solutions like baking soda or hydrogen peroxide mixed with water on the affected areas.2 However, for a fussy kid like mine, water and pain management are the best options. We composed a song that we sing together whenever there's pain. It goes:

"Mouth sores, mouth sores

Go away

Mouth sores, mouth sores,

We don't need you in our lives

Mouth sores, mouth sores

We will fight you til the end"

It seemed to have worked several times. It's a first time for my three-year old to experience mouth sores and I can imagine how dreadful it is for him. I had to explain what's happening and even showed him some pictures of what they look like inside his mouth. He asked me several times to "do a web search" for how to make the mouth sores go away. I make him sip water all the time so the healing process would be faster. We've also avoided some sour food that could aggravate the pain. Drinking yogurt juice and eating soft foods were quite helpful too. It's been two nights since he last nursed and although I have been complaining about this extended breastfeeding, his cries of excruciating pain make me want to just breastfeed him until the pain stops. But he just couldn't take the pain of nursing with his condition and so he refuses to even see my breasts. This morning he wanted to nurse so badly but I told him we could just cuddle. Thankfully, he fell asleep right away.