Something seems stuck in my toddler's throat

[Tatiana_e43]

My baby is 21 months old. When she sticks her tong out I can see something sticking out at the back of her tong. At first I thought that she swallowed something and took her to ER, where a doctor looked at her throat and didn't see anything. He assumed that she must have swallowed it. The x-ray didn't show anything either. 3 days later I saw it again. It looked like something was stuck at the back of her tong, and you could only see it when she stuck the tong out, but when the doctor pushed on the tong it wasn't visible. She sticks her tong out, so I think that it bothers her, but she eats, drinks and talks fine. She had this for a week now. And a week earlier she had stomach flu. When her doctor looked at her throat, he didn't see it. He thinks that it might be a piece of food that got stuck to the tong when she was vomiting, and suggeted waiting for a week and then if it's still there take her to a throat specialist. I don't think that I'll wait that long. She will only open her mouth for me, so I try to figure out what it is, but she won't stick her tong out for too long, so it's hard to see. At first, it seemed like a foreign object, because it was orangy-red in color and laying on the tong at the back of the throat. Today it seems different, the same color as the tong, but it's not laying on the tong, but is up against the throat, in the center. I'm afraid that it might be some growth on her tong, or something got swollen. But the doctor said that her tonsils looked fine. Did anyone hear about something like that before? Do you know of any similar cases?
Thank you!

[Chicpea]

Did you ever discover what this was? I see something similar in my daughter's throat.

[mammo]

I agree, see an Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist.  Get some kind of second opinion!

[ggreg]

Thanks for the link.  No, you can't see quite that far down into the throat by looking in the mouth.  That's the flap that covers up the opening to the lungs so food or water doesn't go down there, it's way down about where the neck connects to the chin.

I suppose she may have swelling or mucous or bump either on the back of her tongue or at the back of the throat.  But since two docs have looked in there and don't see it, might just be her throat is a little swolled up and you're just seeing the membranes of the throat really close to her tongue.  You could take her to an ear nose throat ENT guy, maybe he will see what you're talking about and then explain it better than your doc is doing, or could be he can figure out if something is actually amiss.

[Tatiana_e43]

I was also wondering if it could be Epiglottis that I'm seeing in her throat. Is it possible to see it in a toddler's mouth? I can't see it in my mouth. But when she pulls out her tongue, what I see seems to match the description of Epiglottis. I'm just wondering why her doctor didn't mention epiglottis to me, if it is possible that this was what I was seeing, when she pulls her tongue out.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19595.htm

[Tatiana_e43]

Thanks, ggreg, for your post, but it's not uvula that I'm seeing there. I can see uvula, which is hanging from the top, but there is also something sticking out right under the uvula and seems to be stuck to the tong.

[ggreg]

I'm wondering if you're talking about the uvula, a bit of tissue that hangs down in the center of the throat.  You've got one too, look in the mirror.  Here is a government website that shows the parts of the inside of the mouth, look for the uvula:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/oral/page2/print?page=&keyword=

Sorry if you already know about that, but it's what I thought of when you described the problem your child is having.