Baby swollen lips after feeding

Blister on Baby Lip: Causes, Treatments, and More

Most likely, until you became a parent, the only blisters you worried about were the ones caused by a pair of shoes you knew weren’t a great fit but bought anyway.

Welcome to the world of blisters on your baby’s lip. These tiny bumps and marks might look a little scary, but rest assured, they’re often completely normal and nothing to worry about.

Your little one may develop a blister on their lips for a couple of reasons.

Babies suck (we mean that in the best possible way)

Blame it on friction: Most lip blisters in newborns are caused by the vigorous sucking they engage in to fill their tummies. These blisters may also be known as:

suck blisters
friction blisters
suck callouses

Babies begin to practice their sucking reflex while in the womb, and one 2013 case study even reported a baby born with these blisters.

In short, don’t be surprised if your little one gets a blister or two on their lips — it’s normal.

While lip blisters are more common in breastfed babies, bottle-fed babies can also get them.

So, what do lip blisters look like?

You might see:

a slight swelling on your baby’s upper lip — you might not even really be sure it’s there
a little peeling of their lip, sort of like when your lips get chapped
a single blister smack in the middle of their upper lip

More rarely, you’ll notice rows of blisters. Sometimes these can appear on both your baby’s top and bottom lip, and they may not be so noticeable unless their lips are open.

Lip blisters usually appear in the early days after birth, when babies are sucking every 3 hours or more. The good news is they usually disappear on their own.

Do they hurt? Nope. In fact, lip blisters may even help make your baby a more efficient feeder. That’s because the toughened skin may make it easier for them to latch on.

But here’s the catch: Blisters that don’t disappear could be a sign of a latching issue. If your baby doesn’t latch on correctly, they may compensate by using their lips to hold on to your breast.

And that equals persistent blisters.

If your little one continues to get blisters beyond the first few weeks, it’s important to address their latch, as we’ll discuss later.

Cold sores (another reason for lip blisters)

Cold sores are so common that most of us have probably suffered from one at some point. Remember those small whitish, pinkish, reddish blisters that appear around your mouth and on your lips?

While cold sores are common in adults and older kids, they’re not that common in babies who haven’t been exposed to the world yet.

But they can be passed to your baby if someone with the virus comes in contact with them. This is why it’s totally OK to discourage others from kissing your baby’s face and hands.

If you do spot a cold sore on your baby’s lips, it’ll most likely heal on its own within 1 or 2 weeks. Sometimes, though, cold sores in babies can lead to unpleasant health complications.

It’s important to talk to your baby’s doctor right away if you notice these three things:

you see a cold sore on your baby’s lip
your baby has fever
your baby isn’t feeding with their normal gusto

Treating a friction or suck blister on your baby’s lip involves a two-pronged approach: establish a good latch and encourage healing.

Tips to establish a good latch

Tickle your baby’s lip with your nipple to encourage them to open their mouth widely when latching. This could take a few tries. Patience — they’re still learning.
When you see that baby’s mouth is wide open, with their chin lowered and tongue down, you can ease your breast into their mouth. Aim your nipple toward their nose.
Try to get as much of the lower part of your areola into their mouth as possible. No go? Try again. It’s a learning curve.

With a deep latch and your breast further back in your baby’s mouth, their tongue (and not their lips) can do most of the milking action. This will help prevent additional blisters from forming.

Several things could make it hard for your baby to latch on well. Here’s what to look out for:

If your baby is tongue-tied, they won’t be able to raise their tongue sufficiently to cover the lower gumline and work against your breast.
If your baby is lip-tied, their lip won’t have the range of movement necessary to get your breast far enough into their mouth.

Either way, your baby will grasp your breast or nipple with their gums and lips. The result? A long-term sucking blister.

Also, don’t expect preemies to be ready to feed yet. They’ve still got some growing to do.

Their brains aren’t sufficiently developed, so they’re lacking the neurological backing. Plus, they’re missing the fat pads in their cheeks that support their tongue while milking.

If your bottle-fed baby is developing suck blisters, their latch can also be addressed:

Consider your feeding position. Make sure baby is able to take the bottle nipple fully into their mouth and isn’t straining to hold on to it with their lips.
Experiment with paced feeding to allow for a comfortable suck speed.
Check that the nipple size is appropriate for their age and development.

Tips to encourage healing

Here are a few things that may help a lip blister heal:

Breast milk. Your breast milk is chock-full of hundreds to thousands of nutrients, fats, and vitamins primed to nurture and heal. For example, immunoglobulin A is a blood protein that contains bacteria to fight off infection, and palmitic acid is a super moisturizer. Dab a few drops of breast milk onto your baby’s lips to lower the risk of infection as well as to soothe and moisturize them.
Natural oils. Rub a few drops of olive oil or coconut oil onto your baby’s lips for an effective moisturizer.
Lanolin cream. You may already be using this to treat your nipples. A slight smear on your baby’s lips can help treat a lip blister, too.

If you thought that being a baby is all bliss, now you know it’s actually all relative. Your little one may be plugging away so hard they blister their lip.

And now that you’ve solved another child-rearing mystery, feel free to take a well-deserved break.

My baby has blisters on their lip

November 26, 2021November 26, 2021 - Julie Matheney

Most lip blisters in newborns are caused by all the sucking they’re doing to get their milk. They’re often caused by friction on their sensitive lips. The skin of the lip had 3-5 cellular layers, very thin compared to typical face skin, which has up to 16 layers. The lip skin is doesn’t have sweat glands, so it lacks the protective layer of sweat and body oils which keep the skin smooth and moist. This makes the lips dry out faster and become easily chapped.

Lip blisters, AKA:

Friction blisters
Suck blisters
Suck callouses

The sucking reflex starts around week 32 in the womb and is fully developed around 36 weeks. Occasionally a baby may be born with these blisters if they were super active at sucking in the womb.

Babies should latch by cupping their tongue around the breast and creating a vacuum seal in their mouth. The tongue then pumps up to compress the breast to squeeze out milk and then pumps down to generate negative pressure in the mouth to draw milk in like a syringe. The tongue is the dominant organ in effective breastfeeding. The lips actually play a passive role in feeding and should stay soft without the muscles engaged. They are only meant to prevent milk from leaking out of the mouth. Babies get suck blisters/two tone lips from overusing their lip muscles, specifically the one that rounds and closes the lips, called the orbicularis oris.

Think of it like this: try drinking from a straw. You usually put the straw in about 1-2 inches so your tongue and teeth help support it. This gives the straw stability so you can direct the flow of liquid in your mouth. If the straw is only touching the border of your lips, you need to use more of your lip muscles to keep the straw in place and from falling out of your mouth. Your tongue, cheeks, and teeth/gums provide needed support to keep the straw in without over working your lips. Same with the breast or a bottle nipple. The baby’s tongue is supposed to be the dominant muscle in maintaining the latch, with the cheeks and lips playing a passive, supportive role.

Very small blisters that go away in a few days are normal for newborns as they’re learning to latch and suck. Blisters that don’t disappear in the first week or two or that are extensive across the lips are a sign something is going on.

Reasons for lip blisters:

👄 Baby’s in a shallow latch (to breast or bottle) use their lips to hold on to prevent losing the latch. This is the simplest to fix. Fix the latch, the blisters go away. Usually baby is in a shallow latch because of how they’re positioned. Make sure baby is completely touching your body, tummy time tummy with their belly button touching you and not on their back. Baby’s face should be coming straight to your breast instead of turned toward one shoulder.

👄 Lip blisters are a classic sign of tongue/lip tie where the lips are compensating for the lack of range of motion/strength/coordination of the tongue because it’s being tethered to the floor of the mouth.

👄 Premature babies may also get lip blisters as they should still be practicing swallowing in the womb with no expectations. Babies born 34.0-38.6 weeks gestation may look like fully formed babies, but have a lot of maturing and growth to do outside the womb. Their brains would rather be sleeping than eating, and they can fatigue quickly at the breast. They also use those later weeks in utero to practice sucking and swallowing while being fed through the umbilical cord. Premies Also have under developer fat pads in their cheeks. The last weeks of pregnancy help fattening these up. The fat pads support the tongue to make sucking more efficient while decreasing the amount of space in the mouth, this means less suction is needed to draw milk into their mouth. Without the fat pads, babies use alternative muscles to maintain a latch, hence the lip blisters as they’re using their lips more than needed.

👄 When babies are born, there is a lot of pressure on their head and neck. Babies are also supposed to move their head and body around in the womb and again during delivery to help themselves be born. Sometimes they get stuck in a certain position and this can put extra pressure on the baby’s body. If they sat low in pregnancy, we’re always positioned in a certain way, or have little room to move around, we can some times see cranial nerve dysfunction. This can also happen when a baby is pulled out (cesarean, vacuum, forceps). Proper nerve function allows correct muscle movement. If a nerve involved in sucking is temporarily squished, pinched, or strained, certain muscles (tongue, cheeks) can’t function properly which can lead to compensations. See the videos on my YouTube channel for stretches to help baby move their muscles better. If you think baby may have a stretched nerve, chiropractic care, craniosacral therapy, physical or occupational therapy can definitely help.

Posted in Uncategorized

Why lips swell and what to do about it

November 4, 2021 Likbez Health

Edema may be a sign of a life-threatening condition.

1. Injury

Swollen lips can be caused by any injury: a blow, a cut, an insect bite, a burn, irritation caused by inappropriate cosmetics or food high in salt and pepper.

What to do

If the injury is minor, apply a cool compress to your lips, such as a steel spoon, gauze soaked in cold water, or a tissue-wrapped bag of frozen vegetables. This can reduce pain and swelling. It can take up to several days to completely get rid of them.

If the wound is deep, more than 6 mm, or bleeding from it that cannot be stopped, contact the nearest emergency room or surgeon as soon as possible.

2. Dry lips

If you constantly lick your lips in windy or sunny weather, or just stay in a room with too low humidity for a long time, they become cracked. And this is also a kind of injury that can provoke edema.

What to do

Use lip balm and don't try to tear off peeling skin.

So that the situation does not repeat itself in the future, you will have to get rid of the habit of licking your lips. It is also worth protecting them from ultraviolet radiation. To do this, lipstick with sunscreen properties or a wide-brimmed hat will come in handy.

3. Tears and strong feelings

The autonomic nervous system reacts to such emotions by increasing blood flow to the face. Therefore, when crying, the eyes and nose turn red.

Due to the influx of blood, the lips become swollen and reddened, because they are especially full of blood vessels.

What to do

Just wait, the edema will go away by itself.

4. Anaphylaxis

It is very dangerous if the lips are swollen severely and suddenly. So a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) can manifest itself, which develops in response to food, drugs, an insect bite.

In addition to swollen lips, there are usually several symptoms from the list:

Tingling in the fingers, hands, feet, around the mouth, all over the head.
Severe weakness, dizziness.
Weak rapid pulse.
Pale or reddened skin.
Swelling in the region of the neck or tongue.
Sensation of a lump in the throat.
Difficulty in shallow breathing. It may be accompanied by wheezing or whistling sounds.
Urticaria. This is the name given to pink blisters that appear on the skin. They look like nettle stings.
Abdominal pain, sudden vomiting or diarrhea.

What to do

At the slightest suspicion of anaphylaxis, immediately dial 103 or 112. If you have an adrenaline auto-injector, give it immediately. Anaphylactic shock develops very quickly and without timely medical attention can lead to suffocation or cardiac arrest.

5. Cross-allergy

Swollen lips are a characteristic symptom of oral allergy syndrome (OSA). This is a cross-allergic reaction that sometimes occurs in people with plant pollen sensitivity when they eat foods that contain similar allergens.

For example, a person allergic to birch pollen can experience OSA when they eat an apple, carrot, celery, cherry, peach, pear, plum, kiwi, hazelnut, or almond. And with an allergy to grass pollen - celery, melon, orange, peach, tomato.

COA - the reaction is not bright. You can usually notice it by tingling and itching in the mouth, as well as slight swelling of the lips and tongue.

What to do

Most often, unpleasant symptoms disappear immediately after a person swallows or spits out the allergenic product. In rare cases, oral allergy syndrome can develop into anaphylaxis. Then you need to call an ambulance.

6. Infection

Herpes and other infectious lesions - viral, bacterial, fungal - can also be accompanied by swollen lips.

What to do

Depends on the disease. If swelling and discomfort on the lips do not go away for several days, consult a therapist. He will prescribe medications to help reduce the inflammation.

7. Miescher's granulomatous cheilitis

This is a rare chronic disease in which one or both lips swell.

What to do

Consult a physician if swelling of the lips persists for a long time. The doctor will determine the cause and refer you to a specialist.

8. Melkersson-Rosenthal Syndrome

This is a rare neurological disease that causes paralysis of the facial nerve, swelling of the lips and face, and grooves on the tongue.

What to do

Call a doctor. He will prescribe treatment. These can be drugs to reduce swelling and pain, or even surgery.

what they are, symptoms, types and treatment in children and adults

January 26, 2022

Cheilitis is an inflammatory disease of the lips, skin around the lips and lip mucosa.

ICD-10 code cheilitis

K13.0 Diseases of the GUB
K13.01 Heil the ch howlar apostemate
K13.02 Heit Exfoliative
K13.03 Heit without additional clarifications
K13.04 Heilodinia
KA13. 08 COMP .09 Disease of the lips, unspecified
K13.1 Cheek and lip biting

How common is cheilitis

Cheilitis occurs in about 38% of the population, and is more common in people aged 45 to 64 years. The most common exfoliative cheilitis. Among young people under 34, men are more prone to cheilitis, but older women get sick more often than their male peers. ¹

The structure of the lips

The visible part of the lip, which women are painted, is called red border
under the red border is The mucous membrane of the lip 9004
skin, the surrounding lips 9004 9004 Causes of cheilitis
- adverse weather conditions
- allergies
- lack of vitamins
- bad habits (lip licking and biting, pen biting)
- anomaly in the structure of the lips
- emotional and physical overload
- infections
Cheilitis often occurs against the background of diseases of the digestive, endocrine, nervous and immune systems. An important role is played by poor oral hygiene, multiple caries, since in this situation the number of microorganisms in the mouth increases. ² Cheilitis often occurs in children with bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus. ³

Cheilitis classification
itching, burning
redness
soreness
fissures

Less commonly: blisters, blood crusts, exudate (liquid release).

The severity of symptoms and their presence depends on the type of cheilitis.

More about each type of cheilitis

Cheilitis (only the lips are affected)

Meteorological cheilitis

Most of us have encountered it, it occurs due to weather conditions - wind, cold, high or low air humidity, its dustiness. Men are more likely to get sick, because women usually protect their lips with lipstick or balm, and also because men tend to work more outdoors.

Manifestations : lips bright red, dry, tight and covered with small scales, in simple terms "chapped". Dryness of the lips leads to their constant licking, which exacerbates the disease.

Contact cheilitis

Caused by an allergy to cosmetics, toothpaste, ointments, crown materials, braces, etc. Often women encounter it when they are allergic to a new lipstick.

Symptoms: dryness, itching, burning, redness, peeling appear at the site of contact with the allergen, bubbles may appear that burst, leaving cracks and erosion (a superficial defect of the skin and mucous membranes). When contact with the allergen is stopped, the disease disappears, spontaneous relapses do not occur.

Exfoliative cheilitis

Is a chronic (ie, lasts for many years) disease that is accompanied by scaling.

Causes: : disruption of the nervous and immune systems, genetic predisposition and psychosomatic disorders (depressive states), young women are predominantly ill. Exacerbations of the disease often occur in the fall, and in the summer the symptoms subside.

It occurs in two forms: dry and exudative (exudate is a liquid released during inflammation).

In dry form the lips are dry, scales form on them, itching and burning are sometimes observed. After about 7 days, the scales are easily removed, leaving a bright red surface without damage in their place. People "bite" the scales, but after a few days they form again.

Exudative form of cheilitis

Lips swollen, painful and bright red, more often only the lower lip is affected. Large yellow or brown crusts appear on the lips. After removing the crusts, a red surface of the lips with milky exudate is found, there are no erosions.

With this form, the process never goes to the corners of the mouth and the skin around the lips. The dry form can become exudative and vice versa.

Actinic cheilitis

Caused by increased sensitivity to sunlight. Men from 20 to 60 years old are more often ill, exacerbations appear in summer and spring. ⁵ The lower lip is more commonly affected than the upper lip and may rarely be accompanied by facial eczema (a skin disease characterized by inflammation and itching).

There are two forms:

Dry: with this form, the lips become dry, covered with white scales.

Exudative: in this case, the lips are swollen, bright red, bubbles appear, then they burst and crusts, cracks, erosion form.

Important! This cheilitis can lead to complications. Requires urgent treatment and observation.

Glandular cheilitis

Occurs due to the movement of the salivary glands into the lip tissue, their enlargement and strengthening of their function, and a congenital anomaly of the structure can also be the cause. Those. Normally, there are no salivary glands on the red border of the lips, and with this disease they appear. The lower lip suffers twice as often as the upper lip; people aged 40-60 are more likely to get sick. Allocate simple glandular cheilitis and complicated by serous or purulent inflammation .

With simple form there may be no complaints or there may be roughness and tuberosity of the lips.

Serous inflammation is manifested by swelling and redness, as well as the release of drops of a clear liquid, this is called the “dew symptom”. Due to the constant wetting of the lips with saliva, they peel off, cracks and erosion form. The purulent form occurs due to infection in the salivary glands. The lips are covered with brown or yellow-green crusts, there is pain and enlargement of the lips. Cracks and erosions appear around the salivary glands, and purulent exudate is released from them. May lead to the formation of an abscess (purulent inflammation of the tissues).

If this form exists for a long time, it can turn into fibrous form , i.e. proliferation of connective tissue occurs, while the salivary glands become clogged, their contents cannot exit, and cavities with fluid - cysts - form inside the lip. With this form, the lips greatly increase in size, their surface becomes bright red and bumpy.

Chronic fissure of the lip

The causes of this disease are not fully known. It is believed that with a chronic crack of the lip, psycho-emotional factors, vascular pathology, bad habits, the structure of the lip with a longitudinal crease, and chronic trauma take place.

Manifestations: solitary, painful deep crack, usually on the lower lip, may involve the lip mucosa but never extends to the skin. A feature is the constant appearance of a crack in the same place. With prolonged existence, the edges of the crack can become denser, and with improper treatment, complications are possible.

Symptomatic cheilitis

This is a symptom of atopic dermatitis (atopy is a tendency to allergic reactions). It is more common in children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years, equally common in girls and boys. People suffering from this disease are allergic to many foods and medicines, and close relatives have similar symptoms. As a rule, this disease has a genetic predisposition. In most children, the symptoms disappear over time, in others the disease recurs for life.

The red border is affected, especially the corners of the mouth. The skin around the lips and the mucous membrane of the lips is never affected. Itching appears, the lips become red, slightly painful and slightly swollen, redness, peeling and small cracks also appear in the corners of the mouth, at the same time a small area of the skin around the lips becomes inflamed. When the inflammation subsides, peeling, dryness appears. It can also be accompanied by skin lesions on the elbows, under the knees and on the cheeks.

Eczematous cheilitis

Has a neuro-allergic nature, often accompanied by facial eczema. The disease can have an acute and chronic course. In the acute course of , first itching, swelling of the lips, redness, it becomes difficult to open the mouth, small bubbles filled with liquid appear, which merge with each other, burst and become wet, then straw-yellow crusts appear in their place. The entire red border and a significant area of the skin of the lips are affected. If the action of the allergen continues, the process becomes chronic.

In the chronic course of , the edema is less pronounced, the lips are slightly reddish, peeling, cracks and blood crusts are observed.

Rossolimo-Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome

This is a chronic disease, its causes are unknown, women are somewhat more often ill. It is manifested by three symptoms:

paresis (decrease in muscle strength and limitation of mobility) and paralysis (complete lack of movement) of facial muscles
edematous-folded tongue - macroglossia
persistent swelling of the lips - macrocheilia The syndrome is manifested by edema, reddening of the lips (sometimes with a blue tint), the lips are dry, flaky, and cracks appear. Lip augmentation is asymmetrical. In rare severe cases, there is a shapeless swollen lip that lags behind the teeth, a distortion of the face and a drooping corner of the mouth appear.

Misher's granulomatous cheilitis

The disease is manifested by severe inflammatory edema of the lips, usually the lower lip, the edema never disappears completely. Subsequently, the lips steadily increase in size, the disease can pass to the cheek.

Cheilitis in case of hypovitaminosis

Vitamin A deficiency dry lips, cracks appear.

With a lack of vitamin B2 , cracks appear in the corners of the mouth, the so-called "jams", burning and dryness of the lips, then blisters and crusts appear. Rarely, the lip may swell, it becomes shiny with small scales, painful cracks appear and glossitis (inflammatory disease of the tongue) develops.

With a deficiency of B6 , cracks appear in the corners of the mouth, and redness appears on the red border.

With a lack of vitamin PP , the lips are swollen, dry, cracks form, which are covered with blood crusts. The tongue is also affected, it is crimson in color, shiny and smooth.

Infectious cheilitis

More often manifested as angular lesions - jam.

In the case of an infection caused by staphylococci and streptococci, erosions appear, covered with yellow crusts, and the skin around the mouth is often captured. Opening of the mouth is painful, making speech and eating difficult. It is also not uncommon - this is an increase and soreness of the lymph nodes.

Viral cheilitis

Most commonly caused by the herpes simplex virus. The disease begins with redness and itching, then a group of blisters appear on the lip, they burst and form erosions, which then become covered with a crust. At the same time, stomatitis and swollen lymph nodes may appear. Herpes is a chronic infection, so this cheilitis appears again and again. Usually, it reappears with a decrease in immunity (ARVI, influenza, etc.) and stress. The frequency of relapses is individual and depends on the strength of the immune system.

Candidal cheilitis

This is a fungal disease caused by the fungus Candida. Characteristic is the presence of white plaque in the oral cavity and a bright red mucosa under it. Lips become red, swollen, dry, covered with gray scales. Possible combination with lesions of the oral mucosa ( stomatitis ) and tongue ( glossitis ). It can also appear in the form of candidal infection - deep cracks in the corners of the mouth, covered with white plaque and scales, more common in older people. ⁶

Important! With long-term non-healing wounds on the lips or with constant relapses of the disease, you should immediately consult a doctor!

Treatment of cheilitis

Treatment should always be complex and depend on the form of cheilitis.

General treatment:
- Normalization of nutrition, adherence to a diet that does not contain allergens, avoidance of spicy, irritating food
  Important! These drugs are taken only on prescription!
- Antiallergics
- Sedatives
  Prescribed strictly by the attending physician!
Local treatment:
- painkillers (if necessary)
- Antiseptics
- Proteolytic enzymes for cleansing Erosion
- after subsidiating inflammation and pain - healing ointments
- Corticosteroid ointments
  
  Important! They are rarely prescribed and only by a doctor, because they have many side effects
- Physiotherapy
- Surgical treatment
Also, in case of actinic cheilitis, it is necessary to reduce exposure to the sun, it is necessary to use cream and lipstick with SPF.

Treatment of cheilitis is carried out by a dentist, often together with a therapist, a neurologist.

Tantum
^® Verde for the treatment and prevention of cheilitis
An important step in the treatment and prevention of cheilitis is the observance of oral hygiene: removal of tartar and plaque, caries treatment, mouth rinsing and lip treatment with antiseptic solutions. Proper hygiene can reduce the likelihood of recurrences of cheilitis.

For these purposes, as well as to reduce pain and inflammation, the solution and spray Tantum ^® Verde ^16.17 are recommended. The composition of the drug includes the substance Benzydamine, which has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal and analgesic effects. ^12,13,14,15

It should be noted that often candidiasis affects both the oral mucosa ( stomatitis ) and the lips ( cheilitis ) - in this case, complex treatment with drugs of multidisciplinary action can give a long-term result.

Spray Tantum ^® Verde Forte

Special for adults

Read more

solution Tantum ^® Verde

Read more :
- strengthening immunity, maintaining a healthy lifestyle
- using creams, lipsticks with SPF
- using hygienic lipsticks
- healthy diet
- regular visits to the dentist
- competent cleaning of teeth at home, as well as professional removal of dental plaque in the dentist's chair
- avoidance of contact with allergens
- annual medical examination to identify common diseases
- treatment taking antibacterial drugs should be carried out exclusively as directed by a doctor and in conjunction with a course of probiotics
1. Can cheilitis be treated surgically?

Yes, some forms require surgical treatment (Mischer's cheilitis, glandular cheilitis, chronic fissure), but most cheilitis is treated conservatively.
Learn more
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