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What's All the Drool About?
Tips for Getting Through the Drooling Stage
By Shannon McKelden
Estes finally asked her pediatrician about it and he informed her that the swallowing muscles in her son's throat had not fully developed yet. "The kid just wasn't swallowing his spit," she says. "It resolved on its own a couple months later."
Young infants have also generally not learned to keep their lips closed and that, quite simply, leaves a "wide open" opportunity for drool to escape.
The most common misconception is that excessive drooling is caused by teething. This is actually a myth as evidenced by the fact that very, very young babies who are not yet cutting teeth still drool.
"[Drooling] is often thought to be a sign of teething," Dr. Wible says. "This is usually not the case. Although, tooth eruption may increase salivary production." More likely, your baby is just getting ready for some solid food to be added to his diet.
Drooling also does not cause acid reflux in infants. "Acid reflux into the lower esophagus will stimulate salivary production, even in adults, by a reflex neural mechanism," Dr. Wible says. "The drooling may actually be a sign rather than a cause of reflux.
Dr. Carol Steltenkamp, associate professor of Pedatrics at the University of Kentucky, agrees. "I am unaware of any studies that correlate excessive drooling with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)," she says. "Babies with true reflux may be spitting up some breast milk or formula as opposed to drool, which is saliva – clear and watery."
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