Excessive drooling

[Sunchimes]

I have a 15 month old that drools cupfuls all the time. She has been with me since July, and it hasn't gotten any better. I know kids drool, but I've honestly never seen anything like this. If she wasn't eating and drinking normally, I'd wonder if she had some swallowing issues. There is a constant string of drool coming out all the time, and about every minute or two, she opens her mouth and a whole mouthful comes out. I seem to be spending most of my time putting toys on the worktable or wiping them down, and the other kids are completely grossed out. I keep drool bibs on her, but I'm having to change them out every half hour just to keep her clothes reasonably dry.

She has a lot of allergy issues and had almost chronic ear infections until she got tubes, so I wonder if this is part of it.

Does anyone have any tried-and-true suggestions for handling this? She's a sweetheart, but I need to do something if not for any reason but sanitation.

[MarinaVanessa]

I have an excessive drooler too. I just give him his own toys to play with (the other kids seem to avoid the toys that he does play with on their own) and constantly change his bibs to keep his clothes from getting sopped. It's happens.

My DCB is 1 year and a half and he's cutting teeth though so not much that I can do about it. If it gets on his hands we wash them, if he gets it on other toys then I just wash those too or remove them and wash them later. I know that this isn't much help to you though, sorry .

I'm interested too if anyone has other ideas.

[emmajo]

I have a big drooler that age, teething, also. At least he's good for entertaining the other kids. He makes HUGE spit bubbles from the drool and the others think it's hysterical. But yes, bibs, constant cleaning, separate toys, etc.

[sharlan]

Have the parents discussed it with their pediatrician?

[Sunchimes]

I don't know, but she just attributes it to teething. She sees a doctor often because of her other issues, and he has to have noticed. No one is concerned. I'm not concerned that something is wrong really, especially since others have had the same issue, I was mostly hoping for pointers on dealing with it and hope that it would end soon!::

[Abigail]

I've had experience with that! He was 15 months and had been doing it all summer and now is probably close to 17 months and still does it. Mom is well aware of it and brings her own supply of bibs. He has most of his teeth though, so it's not JUST teething no matter what anyone says. I know what the constant dog-like drool out of the mouth is. We tried to remind him to close his mouth since it's always open a bit. We also talked to mom asking if she brought him in to find out if it's typical since we've never seen it before. She was a little brought back by us bringing it up, but not offended. We were wondering if he had a broken sulivary gland or something....I don't know how to spell it, sorry! Maybe he just hasn't gotten down the close-your-mouth-and-swallow routine yet either. I'm not sure if he has changed as I haven't seen him in a month now.

[Meyou]

I've had two droolers. One was my 12 year old. That child had a faucet running from her face for over a year. I kept stacks of bibs in my purse and only used the ones with the plastic backing so her clothes would stay dry. NOW she drools at night and can soak her pillow if she's not on her back.

The other was a DCB and he drooled heavily for about a year and then stopped mostly. He's 4 now and still seems to have alot of saliva.

I wonder if some kids produce more?

[MichellesKiddos]

My ds was like for the first two years. I brought it up to his pediatrician and he didn't seem too concerned about it, so I did some research on my own. Most of the information that I was finding said that they have underdeveloped muscles in their mouths and don't process that there is too much saliva in their mouths and to swallow it. A few of the things that were suggested were exercises to work their oral muscles. I bought an electronic tooth brush to stimulate his mouth and we switched to cups with straws because that is supposed to help as well. So far I've seen a drastic improvement happyface He still drools some but it's not nearly as much as it used to be and he can wear the same shirt for a whole day! He also was a late teether so that didn't help matters either. I would try a few of those things, and maybe recommend to the parents a few of the exercises as well. Hope that helps!

[Sunchimes]

We do have her using a sippy cup with a straw. She isn't talking as much as the other kids-maybe 2 or 3 recognizable words, (mine and ball), and then only if prompted. I'd bet that in some way, her allergies, ears, and delayed talking are all connected some way. Ok, let me amend, I don't mean she is really delayed in a concerned way, but she doesn't jabber as much as the others). Thanks for the suggestions. I'll share them with her mom. Maybe show her how to swallow--make a big show of it so that she imitates.

[MarinaVanessa]

You know, now that I think about it I did have a 2yo that constantly drooled. He didn't have any other issues whatsoever, no delays, no medical issues etc and he was actually quite bright. He had an amazing vocabulary and you could talk to him in complete sentences and he could follow instructon easily etc, but he always drooled.

I had always just attributed it to teething (he always had at least one tooth coming in) I'm wondering the same thing that Meyou mentioned ... I wonder if some kids just produce more drool than others? Or maybe some kids just don't learn to swallow their spit as early as most kids. In any case it really didn't really bother me that much unless he mouthed toys. I always had to wipe his chin but he was nowhere near as much of a drooler as the other child that I have now. This DCB can litterally drench the entire front of his shirt from his collar to his pant-line within an hour if I don't constantly switch out his bibs.

[Sunchimes]

Well, I didn't learn any trade secrets to deal with it, but I feel better that I'm not alone. I guess it isn't as unusual as I thought. I'll just keep on trying to keep her dry and dodging the river. Isn't it fun when they come up and hug your leg and you are left with a soggy pant leg? ;-) Even that's ok, I'll take a baby hug over a dry pant leg any day.

Thanks y'all.