Excessive Drooling

Hi M..
just wanted to add that another mom asked this question not too long ago.. maybe you can retrieve it if you go back a month or so..and read those comments just FYI.,.
I have taught preschool 12 years. I had a boy who used to drench his shirt with drool every day he came to school.IT would get all over his art work and toys and so forth. He was such a sweet little boy.. he just drooled a lot..!

His mom said that her mom said.. oh, you used to be a drooler.. its fine..and so on and so forth and I too know it is common for children to drool. I talked to his mom about my observations.. and at first my concern was about the health issue.. he would drool all over the toys and table and so forth and I was concerned about the germs and so forth.. I mean I had never seen a child drool this much. I recommended he go to "pediatric place" in crystal lake for a free screening for speech therapy issues. as he wasn't using a lot of language either and that was even more of a concern for me as his teacher than the possible spread of germs. I mean.. working with toddlers.. they just put things in their mouths and we do all sorts of things to help keep everyone clean and germ free as possible.... we take the toys and bleached them.. wash hands.. we do what we can but it was hard keeping up with this little guy.

Sure enough, he qualified for services and they started working on tongue placement for him and other issues to improve his muscle tone/control in his mouth. I dont' know what all they did with him but he did qualify for therapy. Don't mean to cause alarm as your child may just be your run of the mill drooler but I wanted to share my experience with you.
good luck and take care!

My first son was a big drooler and I too asked the peds about it. He did outgrow it (he's now 3.5). Like the peds office said, some kids just drool more than others. Maybe the preschool teacher hasn't worked with kids that age for long to know the wide range?? I don't know, but I'd say it's fine and it will just take a little longer for him to outgrow it. I want to say it was about 2.5 before my first son outgrew it.

MY son is slowly growing out of it. He was a HORRIBLE drooler!! He is 17 months & only could stop wearing bibs a few months ago. Talking is NOT an issue for him - he is quite the talker! I do think I will take some of the previous advice & have him do the applesauce / straw thing because he does hold his mouth open a lot. As soon as you tell him though, he closes it.

My ped also said to wait & see if he grows out of it & not to worry. Encourage him to close his mouth & wipe it when he eats - this worked for us & he is getting extremely better as he gets older.

i agree with pam. it maay be nothing, but i think it he definitly should be evaluated. my friends daughter did the same thing and she to needed speech therapy. and it helped so much. good luck

My son was an excessive drooler too! I talked to the speech therapist at work and she said to have him suck applesauce through a straw so it will tighten his bottom lip. It seemed to work as crazy as it sounds.

I have a 39 month old little boy who was an excessive drooler until about 3 years of age. Our pediatrician really didn't think anything of it. Just something he would grow out of....

Have you treid calling first steps of Allen County to have him tested for anything? If he has medicaid they will do it for free. If not they go on your income. Feel free to come join us in a great chat and get some other ideas.... http://www.a-mommys-world.com/chat.php