Nathan is a drooly kid. Super drooly. We have put up with it, accepted it, and washed many bibs and at 2.5 years old, this kid is still drooling, profusely. I've googled this for a long time and over time, I have thought about many reasons why he may be so drooly: low muscle tone; sensory processing issues; teething; enlarged adenoids or other glands; and food allergies.
Well, over the past few months, I've been able to slowly cross out the possible culprits. He doesn't have low muscle tone. We've been having him drink from straws, blow bubbles, and bite popsicle sticks to perhaps improve his muscle tone, but he seems to have no problem in that department.
We can't quite rule out sensory processing, but it seems like he is getting less over-stimulated by his environment. People have suggested that we use an electric toothbrush to "wake-up" the nerves in his mouth. Well, he has no issues with brushing his teeth with the vibrating toothbrush and he can speak quite clearly.
Teething is the classic cause of teething in young children. Nathan has been teething since he was 6 months old. A few months ago he got the last of his 20 baby teeth. So we can cross out teething.
This leaves enlarged adenoids or other glands. I've made an appointment with and ENT to check out the hardware in his sinuses and throat. This will be my next step.
If everything checks out at the ENT and nothing is wrong, I will try to figure out if Nathan has a food allergy. Many people also have said that a milk allergy caused their kid to be really drooly. It's going to be tough if Nathan can't have his cheese or milk, but I'm sure we will be able to find alternatives.
If food allergies are not the culprit, I will try taking him to a chiropractor. Someone on-line said that their kid had a pinched nerve that was causing him to drool a lot. After a few adjustments, his drooling improved and eventually stopped. The experience with turning Hannah in the womb made me a believer of the effectiveness of chiropractics.
We have an appointment in 13 days to see an ENT specialist. Maybe in the next week or so I can try to cut out diary from Nathan's diet and see how he does.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll keep you posted on how things are going.
No comments:
Post a Comment