Speech delay relating to oral aversion?

[ilovetosleep]

I hope I'm being anxious over nothing but just wondering if this is possible. DS2 was severely tongue tied at birth, had 3 snips over the course of 5 months an it kept regrowing. He had oral aversion, was on long term nursing strike and consumed all his calories through the night when drowsy. He struggled with weaning, and only really started to eat well at 11 months. He is now 16months and eats very well, but will not open his mouth for anyone. He also barely speaks. I know he's very young still, and he can babble, but will only really do it in certain situations. eg in the back of the car when I can't see him, we will chatter and he will copy me, but when face to face or actually trying to communicate with me, his mouth is firmly shut and he just says 'hummmm mmmmmmm uuurrrrmmmmm' over and over while pointing frantically with his whole hand. He does call mama when he wakes in the night and understands huge amounts of what we say, so I'm not too worried about his ability to communicate, just his reluctance to open his mouth to actually speak. Also he resists tooth brushing with a firm clamped mouth shut and does the same if I want to check for teeth or anything like that.

Could it be linked to his earlier oral aversion? Is it cause for concern yet and if so what should I do about it?

[AnotherTimeMaybe]

We had a few cuts in a short period of time so I sympathise!
If it's an oral aversion best thing to do is give lots of kisses on that area, cheeks face lips, and lots of touching giggling cuddling.. He will learn to associate the touching of the face with good feelings!!

Good luck

[MelanieK123]

Hi there, I have a 15 month old with oral aversion. I'm so pleased you got through it and DS2 is eating.
Although DD talks well she attends speech and language sessions and they've told us speech delays are common with these children.
We have the same thing with teeth cleaning and touching face.
Because of their aversion they are especially sensitive to other sensory things especially around the mouth.
One thing we've been asked to try is to massage the body eventually building up to touching around the face over a period of time.
Also incorporating playing with toothbrushes at play time in a non threatening environment.
Lastly, we play lots of games where's mummy's nose, mouth etc. Lots of kisses and cuddles are good too.
Good luck!