Any ideas on how to help DD (2.9 yrs) to stop dribbling? Not teething - all teeth been through for ages!

[TattyCatty]

Over the last couple of months, DD has turned into an almighty dribbler, despite the fact that all of her teeth are now through and have been since the beginning of the summer. Have been to the GP who has checked for and ruled out obvious ENT and facial muscle problems, and can only offer "she'll grow out of it eventually". In the meantime, we are faced with 2 or 3 clothes changes a day, and don't really want to resort to a bib for such a big girl!

Have tried to Google for self help suggestions, but there is very little out there. We are encouraging DD to ask for a tissue to wipe her chin when it is wet, and are trying to explain to her that she needs to "suck" the saliva back into her mouth but as she has a cold at the moment, she just ends up sniffing instead.

Does anybody have any wisdom that they can share with me, or do we just need to sit it out and wait for her to grow out of it? GP has promised to discuss DD at the surgery's weekly "odd illnesses" meeting but not holding my breath on that one.......

Is her nose blocked? If she can only breath through her mouth then it might explain the bribble. Try these

I bought three of ebay for my son and they are fantastic and of course don't look like bibs at all. Apparently they are on every German toddler!

Apart from the fact that she has a cold at the moment, her nose is usually clear so don't think that's the problem. The Skibz are sweet, but think that DD would just keep pulling it off, as she barely tolerates a bib on at mealtimes, and whips it off the second that she has finished eating.

Any other ideas ladies?

My dd was the same - so many wet tops - finally stopped around 3. Luckily she was quite into her bandanas

I thought my son wouldn't tolerate them but he doesn't seem to notice now and they do save his clothes. Perhaps clothes with pockets and her own special hanky? TBH I don't know why they do this but my son is the same( MiL says dh was the same when little).

My dd was very similar, someone (I think it was on here) suggested using straws a lot for drinks. It is supposed to exercise the mouth muscles a bit more, I think it worked or she could have been about to grow out of it anyway.
If nothing else it is a cheap & "cant do any harm" remedy

Hope this work

Have seen the tip about straws elsewhere, so think we wil definitely try that. DD also loves putting things in her pockets (which makes for some interesting things coming out of the washing machine!), so think I will definitely try for the "special hanky" idea as well. I could ask MIL if DH was also a dribbler, but given that she can't remember what day of the week he was born on, and doesn't know what colour eyes he has, I'm not convinced I'll get any joy out of her!

The most frustrating thing is now knowing what causes the dribble, although thankfully it doesn't seem to bother her - think that's half the problem, as it means she doesn't appear to want to do anything about it herself.

hi might be low in zinc or glutathione, you could give a pure multi vitamin like 'biocare' brand with trace minerals in it as well as zinc.
when my son has zinc he stops dribbling and chewing thingshe is 6.
bio care available from health food stores, don't but in boots they have sugar and additives in them!

if you ask your hv they should have some exersices for your dd. they are things like the sucking from a straw and blowing bubbles and making expressions in the mirror. my ds has always been a bad dribbler, and we are hoping to get a refferal to a salt to check everythings ok as its not improved. could be worth asking for something like this, i think the waiting list is pretty long so worth loooking into now.
good luck

possibly look at reducing milky intake, yoghurts, milk, as there can exacerbate dribbling. teach concept of wet/dry in regerd to chin to increace awareness of when wet and ask for tissue. try travel sickness bands from chemist, these decrease sali=va production.
hth

my nephew was a terrible dribbler until a nursery nurse taught him how to suck back the dribble when he was trying to talk. Even now at 9 you occasionally hear a slurping noise.