Tongue Trauma

Today was an interesting day.  Last night, the babies woke up around 2 am to eat.  Vivienne was unusually fussy - almost crying like she was in pain, but we couldn't see anything wrong and after just a few seconds of snuggles from Daddy, she eventually settled down, ate and went back to sleep.  This morning, she nursed as usual, but then she refused to eat any of her oatmeal.  I thought she was unusually fussy, but just figured she was tired.  After her morning nap, I went to nurse her again and I noticed this little while splotch on her tongue.  I looked more closely and realized that the entire underside of her tongue was solid white, with a little bit coming around the tip of her tongue.  I immediately called the pediatrician and left a voicemail for the advice nurse and then jumped online to see what I could find.  I looked up yeast and thrush, but they looked very splotchy and white, like little patches of white.  Vivienne's tongue was completely solid white - very alarming.  After the advice nurse called back, she said she thought it was yeast and that I should take Vivienne in for an appointment.

This was the best picture I could get of it.

I loaded both babies up in the car and we headed to the pediatrician's office.  The pediatrician said that it wasn't thrush or yeast, but rather that it was probably some sort of trauma.  She asked whether Vivienne had fallen with a toy in her mouth or something like that.  Vivienne still isn't even crawling, so she doesn't really do much falling (unless she falls from a standing up position if we don't catch her).  I cannot for the life of me figure out how this would have happened.  I can't remember any recent falls, and she doesn't have any toys that are obviously sharp.  I also would think that if this had happened during some sort of fall, Vivienne would have cried bloody murder.

It's very odd, because it's not a very regularly shaped area (it's wider at the base of her tongue and tapers as it moves out).  It doesn't seem like she would have done this with her teeth.  I'm totally baffled by this.  Hopefully it heals up quickly, though.  Until then, we're feeding her lots of ice cubes in the mesh feeders, apple sauce, yogurt (foods that aren't acidic or hot) and giving her a little bit of dye-free Benadryl (topically), which the doctor said would provide her some relief.