Cleaning of newbornbaby mouth

It is advised to clean the mouth of the new-born after it gets its first oral feed. The person who cleans the baby mouth should be free from all the contagious diseases and should not have any cuts on the palm or fingers. Caretaker’s nails should be trimmed.
Normally the mouth of the new-born till 6 months of age has no teeth and the upper and lower alveolar ridges are covered with gum pads. Hence the concern should be given for cleaning the baby’s gum pads, sulcus and tongue region.

Figure 1 Gum Pads



Figure 2 Baby mouth cleaning

First, the baby should keep calm and awake. Later, the caretaker should thoroughly wash their hand and dry it with clean towel/napkin. Then, they should hold and place the baby on their lap by holding the back of the neck and support from occipital region of the head. This position should ensure that, there should be complete or direct visibility of the baby’s oral cavity. Next, the care taker should wrap their index finger with a clean and wet gauze piece or smooth cotton cloth. Later, slowly place this wrapped index finger at the corner of the baby’s mouth and slide it inside along the cheek and then gently move towards the sulcus area.  Following which the finger should placed over the buccal and lingual area of the gum pads and it should be moved from back to front area (distal to mesial area) of the gum pad. This should be done at least two times a day till the milk teeth are erupted.