My 2-yr old dribbles a lot!

[8rubberduckies]

I always used to put his excess dribbling down to teething, and then it stopped for a while, but it has come back with a vengeance the last couple of months, even though all of his teeth are now through.

He is 2.8 and dribbles all the time - his tops are always soaked and he is beginning to be aware of it himself. He is too old for bibs and I am worried about it becoming an issue for him, especially as the other older children at his childminder's have started commenting on it too.

I'd love to know if anyone has any suggestions of what could be causing it? We have recently swapped him to lactose-free milk as normal milk was giving him a bad stomach, and he has always been quite chesty, but no other health problems.

It must be uncomfortable for him, can you slip a bib under his t-shirt so at least it'll stay off his skin a little longer, or get some trendy neck-tie ones?

My (parental ie non-medical) thought is maybe he's having to mouth-breathe.

Have you had his adenoids checked out?

Sometimes they are so enlarged they prevent a child breathing efficiently through the nose, so they'll keep the mouth open - often resulting in dribbling.

Checking his adenoids sounds like a good idea - thanks for the suggestion

How is his speech? Is he clear (for a 2yr old)? My DS2 drools and has speech clarity issues and was diagnosed with oral dysphraxia last year (he's 4 now). It's a problem with strength and co-ordination of the mouth muscles which makes it hard for him to manage both speaking and swallowing the saliva that builds in the mouth.

Could be an avenue to explore if the adenoids are a dead end.

His speech is not the clearest, although he is bright and his vocabulary expanding, but he was a late starter with speech, so I have always put it down to that. Another avenue to explore!

I was worried about going to the doctors in case they thought I was being a bit pfb.