My 3 Year Old keeps Drooling

[admin]

I may be going out on a limb here since your daughter has an injury, but...
One of my moms best friends has a child who also had this problem in his toddler years. It was due to severe asthma. Do you know if your child has asthma? Asthma is usually worse in the Winter months for most people also.
The drooling came about when he couldn't breathe as well as he should have been. Good luck finding out what causes this!
~Krista~

[admin]

I am sorry...I thought I read "her"
I will correct myself here and say, your son..not daughter! =)

[CW1992]

Hi, I just had an idea that might help to minimize the drooling. Maybe you could try getting your son to drink as much as possible thru straws to help build up mouth and tongue muscles. Both of my daughters are in speech therapy and have been told that staw use will help strengthen those muscles - so it seems that might help with your sons drooling too. I hope others offer their ideas and thoughts too.
Christy

[admin]

It could be BELLE"S palsy. This could be minor or severe. BELL"S effect's the facial muscles. I knew someone with this. As far as drooling goes, my son still drools at 5. It is not uncommon. I worked as a teacher in a preschool and we had to put bib's on some of the kid's. Does he have a speach problem too, this often makes kids drool? Some of these kids did this real bad and when we'd go out in the winter, the drool would freeze to their chins. BELL"S palsy happen's for unknow reasons, mostley.

[Tami]

My 4 year old daughter has a left obpi and she has some speech problems and some drooling. I am wondering too what the problem is. I have been told that it is not the same nerves.

tami

[Josh'smom]

My son Joshua who has a left BPI has been getting speech since he was 2. He use to drool a lot when he was younger, but now only every once in a while. Once of his many speech teachers told me he had poor muscles in his mouth and that is why he drools. We have done the straw, applesauce/pudding in a straw whistling lips and even gum to help strengthen the muscles. I am sure the 4 1/2 years of speech therapy help too. Good luck

[Connie&Andrew]

My son who has a LOBPI drooled a lot when he was younger. The drooling seemed to stop all of a sudden when he was about 3 1/2 years old. He is now just turning 4. He also was kind of late in talking. I think that they could go together and be caused by lack of strength in the face muscles. I don't know. I don't know why he all of a sudden stopped, either. I don't have any answers, just thought you might like to know other's experiences.
Good luck. I know how frustrating all of these unanswered questions are.

Connie

[Mommyanders]

What your therapist is talking about is called Horner's Syndrome. The side of the face that the affected arm is on is paralysed. You will see his eye is a bit smaller and the lid is heavier (especially when tired). He will drool because that side of his mouth is weaker. I have also found with Caleb that the Horner's affect what textures he wishes to have in his mouth and he has trouble chewing and has to have special cups (straw cups) to help with making it easier for him to drink as well as for therapy.

HTH,

Kari

[Kathleen M]

Kari

I have Horner's and the texture of food was always a major issue in our house. No one understood that I could not chew properly nor my fussy ways about the material in clothing, tags, or why my face was so cold I always slept with the covers over my face. I still do! I use flannel pillow cases so that my face is warmer on the right side now that it is cold out...
I hate the cold on my face arm ear...

Has anyone checked out the ear canals... mine are not equal and I had to have an MRI because the ENT never read any information on the fact that the ear is also impacted when OBPI is present...

Drooling... I had to be reminded to swallow my saliva as a child and it becomes a habit eventually. I also have some swallowing issues. I really don't notice it because it is part of who I am... not something that happened later in life... I just wondered when I had children because I did not have to pay attention to so many things - I thought my Mother was over the top I did not realize it was from the OBPI... not until I found UBPN did I realize how much I have in common with all of the other OBPI families.

Kath

[claudia]

Juliana also drooled and was the "silent child" for a long time (ah, that is NOT true now!!hahaha). We did speech for about 2 years. We constantly reminded her to swallow her saliva and occassionally we still do if she is tired.

The food issues are real, as are the clothing issues, but I don't think they are Horner's as much as they are just sensory issues. Juliana has a bunch of them and we have done all of the sensory things...brushing, ball work, ballpit, aquatherapy, you name it. I believe in it and believe that it works. For a few years she couldn't wear a winter coat because it was too uncomfortable. Thankfully, we don't live in Montana. Now she can wear the coat without complaint. However, she prefers NOT to wear a coat. She can't walk on the grass barefoot though! When we put the little pool outside, she wears waterwalkers!

She is 4 now, and things are improving.

I recommend finding an ot who is trained in Sensory Integration. You can make a lot of progress in dealing with SI if you start early.

I hope it helps,
claudia