6 Months Old Daughter Always Has Her Tongue Out

My nephew has been and is still the same way. He's two now and it hasn't stopped him. He is very bright and fun.
M.

I played with my tongue constantly, and it was out all the time when I was a baby. I eventually earned the family nickname "Charlie", based on a character in the book Flowers for Algernon. The older I got, the less it stuck out. I met all my milestones and had a normal childhood. I attended school all the way through college graduation, and and am now a mother of a handsome 7-year old son and beautiful 5-year old daughter.

My kids had big tongues as babies - but their mouths grew and everything is fine - NON STOP TALKERS! ;)

My son did this- he actually sucked on his tongue while it was out, like a comfort thing. He did it until about 6 months ago- he is now 6 years old! He did have some speech delays which "may" have been related to the tongue sucking, but he has totally caught up to all his age-appropriate milestones and is doing great in school. I wouldn't worry about it...

Later on you might check with an orthodontist to see if it's a tongue thrust. If it is, it's no big deal because there is therapy to fix it.

Hey! My nephew did the same thing, accept his tongue would stick out to the side and up. But he did it for almost a year, he's a little over two now and we haven't seen the tongue for almost a year now! So, not to worry. The doctor explained it and said his tongue has grown faster than his mouth so its easier for him to let it out then keep it in all scrunched up. Weird but apparently it was true!

HI K., I agree with LP, it's sounds like it may be tongue thrust. I'm not sure how early they will identify it. I would talk to your pediatrician. Watch to see where her tongue is when she is drinking, eating, and swallowing. If she is mashing her food with the body of her tongue and the tip is still out, when she uses her bottle and you can see her putting pressure on the nipple with the tongue more toward the middle, and especially watch her when she initiates a swallow to see if you can still see the tongue tip as well as the tongue pushing forward/outward, all these things may be signs of a tongue thrust. Good Luck.
As LP said, if necessary, there is therapy available to help that when she is older called myofunctional therapy. This site gives more detailed information about tongue thrust and therapy if that is what you are in fact dealing with: www.hear-more.com/myofunctional.htm

My best friend had the same thing with her daughter for about a year. The doctor said something about her tongue just being too big for her mouth (how scientific!). She's 2 1/2 now and the problem is long gone.

Take lots of photos of this tongue phenomenon--I bet your daughter will love hearing about this little quirk and seeing cute photos of it as she grows older! We all love hearing about the goofy little quirks we had as babies, right? It's always so nice to hear pre-memory stories about oneself!

Good luck!

My baby girl (10 months) has done it since birth but usually only when she's really tired. Sometimes it's cute and she looks like the Gerber baby, and sometimes she looks like she has a problem. She's meeting all her development milestones and is super smart and happy! Don't worry.

cute and completely normal...My 4th daughter does this, and I was worried, because none of my other kids did it. Took her to a neruologist, turns out its normal! He said tongues have 1000 times more sensors then even your fingers. He siad that there is even research that babies who stick out their tongue all the time become exceptionally bright. Some people talked about tongue thrust and I don't know anything about that, but my daughter sticks it out almost to a point, and that was normal and totally cute. I worried like you too though, but I feel much better now, and of course preparing her for USC Medical school at only 9 months!

My son did this for a few weeks when he was 6 months old, too! We thought it was pretty funny actually and have numerous pictures of him with his tongue sticking out. No need to worry though. I think it's just a function of them growing and discovering things about their bodies, and in this case, your daughter has found her tongue. She'll probably stop doing it soon.

My daughter did this as well and grew out of it. She did it for about 4-5 months (I forget exactly how long) but she doesn't do it anymore and it's been a long time since she has.
It seemed to coincide with teething and her front teeth (top and bottom)...
We too have pictures and thought it was pretty cute at the time. Sad how quickly those things go away. I honestly had forgotten about "the tongue" until I read your post. :(

My niece had her tongue out for the first few years of her life. Then she stopped. She is a beautiful 8 1/2 year old now.

Consider that it's most likely normal, but it's not a bad idea to check for a couple of "zebras." Ask your pediatrician to check her for a sublingual thyroid. This can be missed with the standard hypothyroid screen given to infants and can result in other problems later on. Also, check to see if there is any other anomalie in her throat or nasal passage that might make it necessary for her to stick her tongue out to breath normally.

My grand daughter is 4 months old and although she has started to ease up on the tongue thing, she was doing it when she was in the womb. My daughter had a 4 D Ultrasound at 7 months and we laughed at how much the baby had her tongue out during the 45 minute to 1 hour session. The screener at the Ultrasound place put us at ease by thinking it was sooo cute, so we gathered it must be normal and nothing to worry about, since she sees babies all day long. She did it a lot at birth, and it was so cute to remember her doing it in the womb and now seeing it live. It seems to be easing up now at around 4 months, but she is perfectly normal, healthy and advanced in her skills. I think for your daughter, it has probably become habit for her and she likes the feel. Take lots of pictures because once she stops, you will want to remember that stage!