April 9, 2010

Causes and Tips for Baby Drooling

Posted in Category : Child Health

Drooling is a perfectly common and natural occurrence in all babies. While drooling might seem excessive to some parents the fact remains that all babies drool but some do happen to drool more than others. Remember that babies still have not learned how to adequately control drooling. In some cases, drooling could be a symptom of some other problem faced by your baby. For instance, at the time of teething, drooling could be one of many symptoms indicating that your baby’s tooth is ready to come up. In such cases, other teething symptoms such as fussiness, gum rubbing, sucking behavior and less interest in solid food is also experienced.

If the drooling is in response to a tooth eruption, you can follow the following home treatments for teething in babies. The little one might show a preference for liquids and very soft foods. Thus, food like soft fruits might be a good idea. Also, your baby will probably like cold foods better so options like a frozen banana could help ease the irritation and give your baby a nice sweet relief from the irritation of tooth eruption. Your baby’s gums could also do with a little massage to help ease irritation. You do not have to keep putting food in order to give your baby something to chew on. You could use a clean towel that has some ice in it to cool it. You could use teething rings as well as your infant’s bottle. In this way, the biting behavior associated with teething finds an outlet which also numbs the gums.

If the drooling is caused by some other kind of problem, you will need to check for other symptoms and report these to the pediatrician. In most cases, worried parents should remember that this could be a natural response and not linked to a serious problem. In fact, in most cases, a spurt in the amount of drooling is typically linked to teething issues. It is quite understandable that your baby will be rather irritable and cranky at such a time. Also, babies will generally grow out of the habit of drooling quite naturally without any particular treatment or help from you. In a few cases, however, the child might need a little help and encouragement to stop this drooling behavior. However, while the baby is still very young, there is little you can do to help the drooling other than wiping it when possible.