Pediatric Pearls: Infant's Mouth Part 1 - Blisters, Bumps and Clefts

April 25, 2023

Sucking Blister

My second grandson was born during the week when the 2020 COVID lockdown started in the US. Sadly, I didn’t get to meet him in person for months but, thanks to smart phones, Facetime, and texting I was able to “see” him a lot. One day my son sent me a picture wondering what was on his upper lip.

The answer – a sucking blister (or sucking callus). This was due to his vigorous sucking while breastfeeding. Sucking blisters can occur with formula feeding infants, but are more common with breastfeeding infants. Once in a great while they can indicate a problem with the latch, but usually they will just go away with time.

The first picture is of our little guy.