What's All the Drool About?

Tips for Getting Through the Drooling Stage

By Shannon McKelden

Babies drool. It's a fact of life for all parents of infants. But there are times when it seems to run like a faucet, leaving clothes and bedding a mess. What's all that drool about? What causes it and when should you be concerned?

"Drool, or saliva, is important to the digestive process as it serves to moisten food, making it easier to swallow," says Dr. Kenneth L. Wible, Chief of General Pediatrics at The Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. "It also contains amylases and lipases, enzymes that initiate the breakdown of nutrients in the food so that they can be absorbed by the body."

In addition, saliva is a natural lubricant, moistening the esophagus and helping to neutralize acidity. Infants and children, as well as adults, produce saliva as part of the normal course of digestion. However, older children and adults have developed the ability to control their saliva that young infants simply don't have.

"Infants have not learned to swallow the saliva being produced, so it simply overflows the mouth," Dr. Wible says. "Salivary output commonly increases sharply at about 4 months of age and some experts see this as a natural sign that the infant is ready to begin digesting solid foods."

Kelli Estes, a mother of two from Woodinville, Wash., first noticed her youngest son's excessive drooling when he was about 4 months old. "I'd always thought drooling was a sign of teething, but in this case it wasn't," she says. "He would drool so much his shirt would be drenched and I'd have to keep a bib on him all the time."

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