When a child is not feeling well, although he cannot say it clearly himself, his tongue will tell you in a special way on his behalf. This is why Chinese medicine is concerned with the observation of the tongue, and looking at the tongue is one of the important things. Now let’s see what is included in looking at the tongue and how to observe the child’s tongue in general. Look at the tongue mainly to observe the tongue texture, tongue coating, the shape of the tongue and the degree of moistening and dryness, etc. Tongue texture – look at the color The normal color of the tongue is pale red. A pale white tongue? It indicates deficiency of qi and blood. If you find that your child’s face and eyelids are light in color, or even low in hematocrit through laboratory tests, you can correct it by replenishing qi and blood, such as taking some ingredients that benefit qi and nourish blood, such as jujube, yam, lean meat, and animal liver. Red tongue? You can give your baby some fruits and vegetables that have the effect of clearing heat, such as watermelon, cucumber, winter melon, etc. If there is also a sore throat, you can eat a small amount of orris to clear the heat and throat. Of course, it should also be seen in conjunction with the tongue. If the tongue is red and there is no tongue coating, it means the child is Yin deficiency with heat, so you can give him some lotus root juice or water chestnut juice to nourish Yin and clear heat. Tongue moss – look at the color and thickness Tongue moss is a thin white and moist layer of moss covering the tongue, mainly composed of shed keratinized epithelium, saliva, bacteria, food debris and oozing white blood cells. According to Chinese medicine, changes in the tongue moss can reflect the health of the internal organs. When healthy, a child’s tongue is of moderate size, with a light red tongue and a thin white tongue coating. In a normal state, the tongue moss looks thin and white due to chewing, swallowing and the flushing of saliva and diet, which constantly removes material from the surface of the tongue. When a child is sick, the tongue becomes thicker due to the decrease in eating, the subsequent decrease in chewing and tongue movements, and the decrease in saliva production. White and greasy tongue? It indicates food stagnation, phlegm or dampness. If your child has been eating a lot recently or has a cough with phlegm, you can eat some radish to help eliminate food, stagnation and phlegm, or use a small amount of Chen Pi to boil water for drinking. If your child has a poor appetite and a white, greasy tongue in summer or early autumn, he or she should be feeling dampness, so you can use barley porridge, winter melon soup or red bean soup to strengthen the spleen, dispel dampness and promote water circulation. TIP What does a greasy tongue look like? Greasy: It means that the tongue is thick and damp, like puttingty used for decoration.