CM Club: Constantly dribbling 5 and a half year old

[NumberFour]

I am hoping someone can give me advice about a little boy I have been minding for a year now. He dribbles constantly but was 5 earlier this year. He dribbles to the point of the front of his t-shirt being wet as a baby's who is teething.

His table manners are really bad too, with him squashing a whole large banana in his mouth given half the chance. He constantly puts his hand in his cereal bowl while eating and makes more mess than my nearly 4 year old son. I have known him to walk away from the breakfast table with cornflakes on the seat of his shorts.

His mum does not seem to be too concerned about the table manners saying that he will grow out of it, but I have not raised the matter of dribbling with her mainly because I don't know how to. I am sure that at some point or other he will be teased about it.

What should I do???

Has he seen a paediatrician? Some types of health/development problems can cause this, it's due to the lack of tongue movement/control as the children affected are unable to swallow. How's his speech?

I would suggest to mum that she mentions this next time she visits GP or HV (if still has one).

Avena's question about speech relevant I think too.

Thanks for the replies: no mention has been made of a paediatrician so I reckon that has not happened. His speech and general development are 100% fine. He is either reaching or surpassing generally accepted milestones. In fact, his reading is very impressive. He does not enjoy crafts or drawing etc and tends to shy away from that in favour of far more boisterous activities, but perhaps that is due to him being a healthy and lively 5 year old!

Do you think I should mention this to his mum? It is not bothering her otherwise she would have mentioned it (we have become very good friends over the past few months).

If his speech and development are all OK then I wouldn't say anything to her about what I've posted above. I would tell her to take him to the GP though. Maybe his saliva glands are working overtime so he may be able to shed some light on the problem. He sounds like he needs a hand with the table mannars though. Some children don't grow out of it and ha may find himself in trouble at school if he doesn't improve. Mum needs to support him on this aswell.

thanks, avenalife. mum is having a bit of a tough time at the moment so i will wait til she is more settled.

thanks again

My son had constant drooling due to enlarged tonsils/adenoids blocking the rear of his throat. I would recommend that she gets him to a paediatrician soon.

My son has a problem called Sensory Integration Delay and had terrible dribbling problems - he's now approaching 6 and almost stopped but has other problems. Gets in a real mess eating, constantly on the move, avoids drawing tasks etc because he finds pen control difficult.
It might be worth asking Mum to see an Occupational Therapis to see what she thinks as well as GP for assessment of adenoids.