the problem is pediatricians don't really look inside babies or toddlers mouths. If there's a cold, they might, do a quick look to see if there's redness in the back of the throat or. do a little throat culture test, but this is why, it seems, that so many tongue and lip ties, a tongue tie or a tongue or a lip tie. That they're overlooked because no one really looks inside their mouth and even a lot of speech pathologists don't you have to get special permission if you're in a school program to look inside their mouth. As a private practitioner I did, parents were always looking through the one way mirror. but it's very important to. Look inside there and see what's going on. And don't assume all is well, Hello, and welcome to Talking Toddlers, where I share more than just tips and tricks on how to reduce tantrums or build your toddler's vocabulary. We're going to cover all of that, but here, our goal is to develop clarity. Because in this modern world, it's truly overwhelming. This podcast is about empowering moms to know the difference between fact and fiction, to never give up, to tap into everyday activities so your child stays on track. He's not falling behind. He's thriving through your guidance. We know that true learning starts at home. So let's get started. Hello, and welcome back to TALKING TODDLERS. I'm Erin Hyer, your host and this week's episode will help take the guesswork out of common toddler behaviors around teething and drooling, and it's sort of piggybacks on a couple of previous episodes where I discussed uh, pacifier use and how to wean your baby and how to deal with that fussiness during those first, 12, 16, 18 months. But the goal is always to increase your confidence while you support your baby through these very, very specific stages. And then overall it brings more ease and a sense of calmness or contentment to your baby, your toddler and your home life. A friend of mine, a colleague of mine years and years ago, Suzanne Evans Morris wrote a great book that was, titled pre feeding skills. And in it, she's pretty well quoted in saying that the mouth and the hand have the most sensory receptors per square inch in the whole human body. And what that means is that your baby's exploration of this world depends on her ability to develop, process and organize. All of the sensory systems in her body. So we as humans are pre-wired to use our hands and our mouth together for exploration, learning, feeding speech, and so much more. So it starts with understanding what, what are good mouth experiences and, how can we as parents, new parents, especially, but grandparents or primary caretakers, how can we support your baby and your toddler's mouth as her window into this world. Because we know that so many developmental things are going on at the same time. How do we understand how the pieces fit together? So I always have shared with parents. Think of mouthing as a means to both explore and learn and calm. And so if you go back to previous episodes, number 63 and 64, I talk a lot about the channel in which your baby can Self soothe and self com. So go back and listen or watch those episodes is called fussy, baby. Pacifiers and weaning. And part of it was introducing chewing toys that are designed just for that. And when it comes to drooling and teething, they go hand in hand, no pun intended, but. Right around that third month. That's an excellent time to introduce these chewing toys, even though she or he, your, your baby might be using a pacifier. We piggyback the chewing toys to help get them ready for weaning for the pacifier later on around 5, 6, 7 months of age. Um, and, and that's a process. It. It'll go all the way until 12, 14, 16 months of age, but go back and take a listen or watch those episodes for more detail as it really centers around fussiness, pacifier use. And then, how do I make a plan for weaning them once they're through this developmental stage, somewhere around 12, 14, 16 months. But taking a look at what are mouthing or chewing toys. And there's, there's a whole bunch on the market right there, and there are good ones and better ones. And I will have several of my favorites in the description down below. So you can just, look at different varieties for different reasons, but they have to be large enough. So your baby doesn't choke on them, right? They have to be small enough that they can bite in all areas of their mouth in the front, in the middle. So we want it to go back inside their mouth and in the back. So they would buy that on the side too. And of course, make sure you read The packaging because safe materials for your baby to mouth, the knock on all day, every day are pretty important. And as I said, I'll have a few of my favorites in the description below. But today's episode I really want to focus on this developmental phase of what is drooling and how does that help or hinder teething. And so it's very similar as I said to the pacifier, but I do believe that there's a lot of confusion or a lot of misunderstanding around teething and drooling as well as pacifier. But at this point, I always liked to make this caveat here. That the information I share on these channels are educational purposes, and to help you parents decipher through all this kind of noise, and all of these conflicting opinions that if you're ever concerned about your child's health or mental wellbeing or a very, very specific developmental milestone that they may not be hitting, please contact your family's healthcare provider. It's always best to check in with your family doctor meanwhile, continue to listen and watch these episodes because it will give you, it will empower you with more specific information that you can then bring specific questions to your healthcare provider and hopefully have a discussion. And that's key. And I have always said to all of my families that I've ever worked with for 35 years, that if you feel like you aren't being heard by your healthcare provider, or if you can't have a discussion, I know that, you know, they have these blocks of windows 10, 12, 15 minutes. But if you go in there armed with information and specific questions and data points, then perhaps they can address them more efficiently with you. So. Today's focus is to look at the timeline of these developmental. Stages or necessary developmental markers. What are the expectations? Let me walk you through them. in. Preparing for this episode, I realized that I needed a graph or a list of these. ages and stages. Right? So I did go back to the packet that I mentioned in a couple of previous episodes and added this to my packet. The packet is, a guide to soothe your baby and your toddler. And I added this information just so you could have the developmental ages and what, to look for and what, what you can do if it's not happening. Just click on it in the description below and sign up for my email list and then you'll have this informative guide and you'll have the opportunities to look at other packets that I'm that I've generated two. But this material for today is things that I've collected over my practice for 35 years. And that I look at a lot of different resources, other highly specialized speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, ENT, ear, nose, and throat doctors, dentists, and orthodontists that really focus on. on pediatrics, right. And then a whole field in chiropractor that really specialized in pre-birth birth and post-birth with helping them align and get in touch with their bodies and, and build that self-regulating systems. So the key issue that I have found with most parents or lay people that work with this population, but aren't aware of oral motor development. We assume that drooling a lot of drooling is just normal. But the truth is a lot of drooling is not typical. And so there are peaks and valleys and today that's what we're going to talk about. Because there are periods where drooling is increased and then there are periods when it stops altogether or is significantly reduced. And you need to see progress over time, like all developmental areas, right? that they. Shouldn't be constantly drooling and constantly dealing with that, that wet mass all of the time Some kids, I would see them at three or four and they're still significantly drooling and that's not typical or healthy. So the most challenging part is really learning how to differentiate, What is, what is normal expected amount of drooling and then what is too much? And we'll talk about that as I work through these steps. So think about your two to four month old, that there will be some drooling. When they are mouthing things. And I think most of us understand that they will mouth things. The key is for parents to be comfortable with that and to understand that is their primary mode of learning right now, besides their auditory canal. Um, in understanding how they interface with things and people in this world. But that two to four month period is really where you'll see the drooling start to appear prior to that. There's not typically not that much drilling going on. Um, Because they're not, they haven't really attached their cognitive awareness of their hand. But 2, 3, 4 months they have enough stability. And enough motor planning that they can reach and grab things and bring it to their mouth with intention. And then somewhere between that third and six month, you'll see some drooling with both mouthing. And teething because that's the window where teeth. teeth are starting to erupt, and there's a window, think of the bell curve where we're going to talk about 75, 80% of the average babies out there, and you're going to have outliers right. Um, they're an extreme cases. A baby has been born with a tooth already. That's pretty extreme. We don't want to see them too delayed. And we'll talk about that. But between that third and six months, the teeth will start to erupt. And usually around five or six months, that's typically when you start to really see the teeth. and that's when they really need to get a lot of biting and chewing practice to help those teeth push through. and lo and behold, that's also an ideal time to I have your baby be introduced to solid foods. And again, it's an introduction periods since they have good stability in their body. And they're able, they have better control to, to reach and grab things and bring them to their mouth. The idea now over the next several months is to differentiate what's you know, food and eatable stuff and what's just toys and playing stuff. As those teeth start to begin to appear five or six months. That's when you can really step in and make sure they're getting a lot of chewing biting practice. Right. And so then between five and nine months, you'll see some drooling. And again, we'll talk a little bit. What's the difference between some drooling and a lot of drooling, but this, this will happen if your baby is on his back on the belly. Sitting up and babbling and talking with you, making a lot of oral motor patterns and sounds using his hands during feeding. And certain foods will, will elicit more of a drool right trigger that, that salivary gland. But the key is, and here's the most important that it's some drooling. And that's important because what happens cognitively and what's happening neurologically with them is that they're involved in these activities right there. They're. They're active, both gross motor and fine motor, whether it's hands or their mouth right there, eating or talking. Or plain right. And gross motor, whether they're on their belly or they're on their back, or they're sitting up in the high chair. And so your baby is learning how to integrate all of these things and synchronize gross motor. Fine motor movements. None of these movements or these patterns are automatic or smooth or graceful yet, right there. It's still pretty like impulsive almost and, and jerky. But you'll see the smoothness improve over time. The reason why you'll see some drooling happening is because they can't synchronize or smoothly integrate all of this pattern. So even though most. Of our swallow is a reflex, right? That we have. Uh, sensation back there. Oh, I have saliva in my mouth. I better swallow up. We don't always think about it. And so when your baby's just beginning to integrate or synchronize fine and gross motor skills then the saliva takes a back seat, right? And so what I really want to highlight today is that there is this rhythm of maturation of being able to to fluidly do whatever activity I am doing, right. Playing or eating and manage my slide at the same time. So what's a little or some drooling versus a lot, a lot of drooling means that the shirt is always wet. Or that there's so much drooling that he gets a rash on his chin. That is not typical, or that is not some drooling. And In a few minutes, I'll cover. what are the time periods? Right. And it really does sync up with teething, but it also syncs up with where they are developmentally with biting and chewing and swallowing. and speech. So, and we'll talk about how that framework fits together. But it's important for you, mom, dad, grandparents, primary caretaker, to be able to gauge what is too much from what is just some. And it's important between five and nine months of age. So perhaps he's still using the pacifier, which is fine, but your. you've been introducing these chew toys to him and you've introduced solid foods to him in this and this developmental stage. And, you know, or you're hoping that teeth are beginning to cut through. So there it's all happening together. Right. and the idea when you go. Looking at pacifier and weaning them is as you introduce the chew toys, then you slowly but surely wean away the pacifier because they get two different sensory perceptions or feedback to a sucking pattern, which is back and forth. Right. And a biting pattern. Uh, both are calming and both are important in this developmental stage, but. But as you're hitting 5, 6, 7, 8 months, that sucking pattern needs to be weaning away. So between five and nine months, there's a lot of teeth cutting going on, and there is a sequential pattern to that as well. So typically you'll see the two bottom central incisors pop up. Right. And they usually come and pair not in total sync, but they usually come in pairs and then you'll see the two bottom central incisors, right. Usually stops. Or I'm sorry, the top ones usually starts at the bottom and then go to the top. And then you'll see the two lateral incisors, right. Um, and again, they typically come in pairs and then you'll see the two lateral. Top incisors. Right. And this all happens. It starts around. Four or five, six months of age. And then these four sets of of teeth, top and bottom, will come in around 10 months, 12 months. So by their first birthday, you should ideally right in this I think of the bell curve. Again, the vast majority of kids, if they're progressing right along, then you'll see all of these things coming together. Lo and behold, that's the same time that he's really stepping into the solid food. He's still getting a lot of nutrients from breastfeeding or bottle feeding but this is why you have to have a plan. This is why these very important, critical steps need to be a thoughtful and planned. Okay. So here's the interesting part is that the months span can vary quite a lot, but the sequence typically needs to be consistent. and if it's not, then you need to start looking inside his mouth and, and figuring out why and look at his oral mouth play and exploration and all of that and see what can we do to help support that and get him back on track. And as I said, these four sets of teeth and the molar is the first molars will start to come in. And my not finished until 16 or 18 months. And that's okay. But the sequence, you don't want teeth coming in arbitrarily. and so that's important to take a look at. Now that those first pair have erupted somewhere between nine and 12 months. And you have the central and the lateral incisors. There should be no drooling with movements that they've already mastered such as rolling around or crawling or sitting. And so that's important. This is one of those important markers where you say, okay, now that the teeth are in. And we'll talk about what's that window look like. And he's. He's using gross motor skills to, to get around in his environment. You shouldn't be seen drooling. and that's important. So you take a look and say, okay, where are, where are his skills with gross motor? Right. Rolling around crawling scooting. Pulling up to stand and that kind of stuff. And then if all of his teeth are in, why is he still drooling? Right. So up to this point, there's a lot of practice with all of these gross motor and fine motor skills. And that's another reason to push Tommy time to push pre crawling. To get on the floor and practice crawling with them because the more that they can wire their body and their mind, their brain, their neurological pathways together then the more fluid all of that becomes, and then they can focus on those fine motor skills of biting, chewing, swallowing, and speech. So all of this. The tummy time, the crawling strengthens their torso as we've discussed before. Um, they're back the neck muscles, the shoulders, the arms, the hands, right with pushing up on Tommy time, the hips and the legs. getting higher and higher up on their chest and their belly. And then once they're on there, their hips they're ready to, you know, go to that plank position. Right. This all leads to stability. And dis association. And we've talked about how that's important, where you have to have a stable trunk. This is why you know, it's 4, 5, 6, mostly five and six months where they're stable enough to hold their head up. And sit in their high chair and safely reach and grab to start to be introduced to foods, to solid foods. Right. And, but that support for breath support for speech production. So now I can sit and be stable, my shoulders and my neck, and now I can move different parts of my mouth to get different sounds. And the jaw. And the lips and the tongue can move separate from one another. And that's the same developmental pattern with eating. And so all of these things work in this beautiful synchronized developmental path. It's not always, you know, On, exactly four and a half months, he's going to do X, Y, Z, but we have a range of a couple of months, but we don't have a range of six months and we have a range of when they, when they start and when they finish, but we don't necessarily. Have this arbitrary a little bit here and a little bit there. That's the important part. So then toward the end of his first year, you know, nine to 12 months, some drooling will appear while teething, especially when the bottom first molar start to cut through. But there won't be any drooling with previous learned movements like crawling and walking. If, if by his first birthday he's a pretty good Walker give or take. Right. We're. Looking at 12, 14, 16 months. And if the molars have already I popped through and some of these can pop on the early end of this developmental window because you've been giving them a lot of oral motor play. Right. And then later on between 12 and 15 months the top two molars will begin to erupt through the skin. And I'll talk about ways that you can test it out and help them. Right. So here's a rule of thumb when the, teeth will erupt and how long it takes, and then you can gauge. Both discomfort and or pain, right. babies have different thresholds of what is pain or discomfort, but also when that drooling will, will peak. And then when it will subside. So overall, it takes about a week for a tooth to erupt through the gum line. And it's pretty measurable in the sense that if you feel that the teeth are coming in. That that's a really good time take up the ante with those biting and chewing toys and give them a little bit more CHEWABLE food, right? and there's some, people out there online and I'm sure some doctors. I say, oh, he's so uncomfortable. Give him soft foods. No, what you want is you want them to work that through the gum line? so, because then it will erupt more efficiently. Think of, all of this talking and playing and chewing and, all of this really helped massage it, and that, that window. they'll be a few days in the beginning. So that's when you'll see the drum. Uh, the drooling increase and then you'll maybe see, they might be a little cranky. And then usually it takes a whole odd whole day for the tooth to actually erupt through the skin. And then there's a couple of days after where the gums are healing. And there everybody's getting acclimated. So there's about a window of few days of, of more drooling and pain. One day of eruption and a couple of days of kind of recovering. And what that typically means is the drooling comes into play. You may or may not be aware of this. To soften the gums. Right? And so part of it is your body is producing more saliva on purpose to soften the gums. And then. He's at this developmental phase where, you know, you can't handle it all and it's, it's difficult to swallow all of this all the time. And so it, it falls forward. Right? And so. If you notice your little guy you're a little Gail is beginning to drool more then the best way is to check inside his mouth to take a look and to take a feel and I'll walk through a couple of strategies to use that. play the tickle game, right where they're on the bed and you can look inside their mouth or literally turn, you know, kids like to be turned upside down. So flip them over. And see if you can take a peak. Uh, shine a light in each other's mouth in front of a mirror, cheek to cheek. Right. And I have always used in my private practice and then recommend. Uh, parents all the time to, to get a couple of penlights you can just Google it and at Amazon. Kids love to play with them. But it's a great way to shine in your mouth and his mouth. Sit in front of the mirror or play some funny games and really feel, um, you also need to very carefully with a clean finger, you know, go in there and feel and see if you can feel the bumps, right. Or if the teeth are breaking through. and hopefully. Uh, up to this point that you've been checking in his mouth anyways, and hopefully gentle wiping down after breastfeeding or, or bottle feeding, maybe even brushing his gums with a little gauze. helping set the stage for, you know, teeth brushing once they erupt. This also helps desensitize their whole oral motor cavity. And then you can gauge where they are with their sensitivity, right. And I've shared with you in other episodes where that gag reflex is maturing and moving further and further inside their mouth when they're first born. And when you guys, the first couple of weeks are getting used to this whole breastfeeding or bottle feeding. The gag reflex was at the tip of the tongue and it was pretty easy. and that is by designed to help babies latch on pretty easily. But now you want to see them, especially 5, 6, 7, 8 months start to recede that gag reflex to the second half of the mouth or the tongue. And the reason being is now you're putting food in the mouth and he starting to bite and chew it. but if they're there gag, reflex, hasn't. Migrated back then. That's when kids will gag and spit food out and, and all of that kind of stuff. So the best answer to that is chew toys. And if you you know, look on the links that I share with you, you'll see that. They'll be big enough to really put in their mouth and, and that's important, which is very different than the pacifier that is just designed to suck and just designed to push that tongue forward and backward. So the gag reflex and it's maturation is very, very important in that second half of that first year too. And a dear friend of mine, years and years and years ago, who's a dentist and had six children. He was a nice Italian, catholic, young man. at the time he's now a grandfather, but he always suggested that parents sit on the bed. And then have the toddler put their head on their lap so you can see inside their mouth much easier. It's so hard to get on your knees and you know where to sit the baby up. Uh, sometimes if they're compliant and they can stand on the The bathroom vanity, but that can be dangerous, right? That the bathroom is. The most dangerous room in the house with all the hard surfaces, right. But it also acclimates the child to leaning back and opening the mouth and having the dentist look inside their mouth once they, decide once you decide to go get, their first teeth check, then the children get used to opening wide, shining a light. You can even take it. And, you know, pull the cheek. To the side. So you can see in the back do it to each other, and it really helps the child feel more at ease with, okay, what's happening inside my mouth, some, if you haven't been doing this and you have a two year old, then just start to introduce it. Little by little again in front of the mirror with a little pen light and checking each other. But the problem is pediatricians don't really look inside babies or toddlers mouths If there's a cold, they might, do a quick look to see if there's redness in the back of the throat or. do a little throat culture test, but this is why, it seems, that so many tongue and lip ties you know, when a tongue tie or a tongue or a lip tie. That they're overlooked because no one really looks inside their mouth and even a lot of speech pathologists. Don't you have to get special permission if you're in a school program to look inside their mouth. As a private practitioner I did, And, parents again were always looking through the one way mirror. Um, but it's very important to. Look inside there and see what's going on. And don't assume all is well, just because they look like they're growing and developing and that's, a hard gauge, right? Also, remember, please subscribe to be notified when critical topics and guests. And so I have a guest schedule for the next quarter with a dentist, who's talking about tongue ties and lip ties. And if you're subscribed, then you'll make sure that you won't miss any of those episodes. And, you know, my goal is to really bring the latest and the best research and. The newest and most successful tips and tricks for you to be successful and for your toddler to thrive. So you could also look, as I said, side by side. in the front of the mirror, with your mouth open. but it was interesting that someone on my Instagram, posted a question about learning to take turns and I responded to say that's a great way to introduce turn-taking, especially to an 18 24, 30 months old. Who are still working out this whole turn-taking, but to go in front of the mirror. And share with a pen light or, I'm going to make a face and then you make a face or, um, I'm going to check, after I brushed my teeth and you, and then you get to check after you brush your teeth. So it's a nice. Nonthreatening way to take turns. Who's going to go first and then you do what I do kind of thing, you can think along those lines. As you're building some of these daily habits in these daily routines. that, that can be very helpful. Um, And then, go ahead and think about the penlight because that can also be helpful, right? But always with your babies and your toddlers, keep it light hearted. Um, start to weave these new strategies into your evening routine, and then they'll become acclimated to it. Right. and we all want to practice good oral hygiene. So. Now I want to talk about four very specific tips that help when they're in this phase, when you see some drooling happening, you know, that the teeth are coming in, how can I support this? And really mitigate the pain and the discomfort and really nurture mother nature. Right? So the drooling is to soften the gums and help the teeth erupt. The biting and the chewing is a very natural calming reflex, right? So it's going to help them kind of chill out and relax, more, help them get more focused. So how can we enhance that or take advantage of that? And then I'll talk about when we differentiate, what are more serious signs or symptoms, right. When do you have to maybe do something differently or perhaps call someone right. So the four tips that will help when your child is in this state of teeth eruption and, and drooling. Is like, I've been talking about number one is always these teething toys. That makes a world of difference. And remember, there's a link below of some of my favorites. Number two. Is very similar to what I've always been talking about playful activities, right. That you can build distractions during the day and keep them busy. Singing. and motor planning movements, all those nursery rhymes that have gestures, right? The wheels on the bus go round and round. Or it's an, itsy bitsy, spider, or ring around the Rosie, all of those things that have motor gross motor and fine motor speech. Right. And you're building that. And I always say to parents to really slow it down. Because you're building the auditory language processing, your building, encouraging him to sing along right. And then you can pause. You can take a swallow of your saliva. And show them how it's done. And then you're also building the neuro networks to do fine motor gestures. Or even, you know, head, shoulders, knees, and toes. And if they're not sure. If they're not going to a daycare or preschool, then you do the hand over hand with them. And all of this every day kind of playful practice helps build these networks, so they get in sync together and that's, that's the important part. Right. But you can also distract him by reading books, going outside my favorite thing, right. But that, distraction and, oral speech and practice singing and all of those nursery rhymes that will really, really help during the day of that five day or week long uh, eruption period, right? The third tip is so you have your biting or chewing toys, you have your distraction, you know, singing and playing activities. And then you have the good old fashioned rub the gums. And that really, really helps just a couple of minutes nice circular motion. I have never been, an advocate of, using a cream and I think a lot of pediatricians discouraged that. I asked a couple of dentists and they they're like, no, just, Let, Your finger, do the, do the work right. if you've been exploring in his mouth already, then this shouldn't be a big deal. And it's sort of like, you can just say, oh, it's sort of like, if you have a booboo, mama rubs it. So I'm just going to rub it and he can, you know, rub your teeth to again, learn how to take turns. You do mama first and then I'll help you. Right. But the mirror work, as I mentioned earlier. Showing them. Oh yeah. Tooth is coming in. You're such a big boy. You're such a big girl. again, pulling them into the whole mix. You're teaching them what's going on. You're getting them engaged and, and being an active child, right. An active participant in this growth process. But as always ask your doctor, if you want to use any over the counter stuff. as I said, my professional opinion, it doesn't work. The manual stuff, chewing rubbing works a lot better. Um, and then the fourth one, you can chew and bite. toys, and then here are some other two or biting alternatives. I I'm sure many of you have seen the mesh sacks that you could put ice chips in. they don't suggest that you actually freeze the, the teethers, but that you just really cool them. And what I've suggested to families over the years was, to put it in a bowl full of ice water, that it gets really, really cold. Right. it only takes a couple of minutes to. Too cold up that much. Um, one that we used in our family was to get a baby washcloth and get it wet, and then you put that in the freezer that's something pretty safe and pretty soothing for the baby then to chew on. Also baby toothbrushes are a great thing. Again, getting them acclimated to what a toothbrushes, the bristles are pretty soft and the baby can rolling on. Again, giving them a lot of feedback to calm down, but also helping encourage that The teeth to come through and push through the gums. Right. Uh, good old fashioned one is to chill uh, spoon. And I remember my mom telling me about this, so of course we tried that numerous times. Then you can also make, do it yourself, frozen popsicles. I recommend that you do it yourself then, you know, The exact ingredients. I also recommend to all of my families that they make it tart. So lemon or lime, not sweet. that the sugar doesn't really help them, but, even if you want to, you know, Smush up some blueberries or strawberries, and then put a couple of drops of lemon or lime and it makes it a little tarter. And, you're, we're building the sensory awareness in their mouth too at the same time. And as I'm talking about this, my mouth is salivating, right. But frozen or very cold foods some people like bananas or apples. I always used cucumbers again, I would put a couple of I have lemon on it. I think lemon on cucumbers, sliced cube converts are awesome. But you have to judge where they are in their eating journey, right? If they're 5, 6, 7 months, and they're just getting used to it, then using the mesh might be helpful. Some kids really like crusty bread to kind of not and gum on a. It gets wet, but if it's not, you know, crunchy word, it falls apart in your hand. but it's, it's pretty still meaty. You know, some of that, crust that you have to rip off with your teeth, right? And then the good old fashioned meat bones are great to gnaw to they're not cold. So there is giving a different sensation. But, if you remove all the meat and make sure there's no. Slices of low bones or something, but a chicken bone or steak bone, again, babies really, really like chewing on that stuff. So focus in on. The eating and chewing, where are they on that journey? A lot of speech and vocal play. with some gestures and motor distractions, but it also helps that wiring of the brain. So there they're going to have and develop that mature window or mature, swallow pattern much quickly and with ease, right. The idea is that when they are teething, Um, you'll see the, the drooling spike and there's discomfort for about a week long, and then it should dissipate, right? And so, that's the key is that you're going to see it peak and valley. So I know the big question is always well, what's too much drooling. And so like I shared before, if you have chronic wet shirt or you have a rash around the chin that is not typical. and so that, that could be telling you that symptom is I need more gum stimulation. And so what I do want to isolate here today, there are two different types that may then Cause you to pick up the phone and call somebody, right? So there are medical problems. And then there are developmental problems. So the medical is the whole teething and drooling are isolated. Right. But if you have congestion or they have a cough. Or they have significant sleep disturbance, runny, runny, poops, right? A rash on his bum. or true disinterest in eating. So typically if your child is just teething they're okay with eating for the most part. They might be eating a little, a less, just because they're uncomfortable and they can't sit up or focus as much, but they're still interested in eating. And if there's a fever or vomiting, all of those signs means that you have a sick child and it has nothing to do with teething. Right. And so make sure that that's when you call your healthcare provider. The other area to look at is when it could be suggesting some oral motor or developmental delays or problems. If the teeth aren't coming in at all or if the sequence isn't quite as smooth, the windows could be elongated, right. But you still want to have the central incisors and the bottom. Two of the central incisors on the top and then the lateral incisors bottom and top. And then a few months later, then you'll get that, those first molars. And that sequence is very, very typical. And so that's happening then you need to look at, okay, what's he doing with his mouth? Right. Is he getting a lot of oral motor stimulation? Is he mouthing a lot of things and really, really biting on things? Are you giving him too much pureed food still? Is he getting a great opportunity to chew a wide variety of textures and flavors, right. And then really hone in on some of those oral motor play that can help put him back on track. and as you're a little guy or you're a little gal. Uh, really gain more control of the whole body movements. Again, we're going to look at tummy time. And pre crawling and crawling and his stability to sit up right, and to move from a crawling position to sitting up to rolling over all of this physical play meant, And you'll see less and less drooling as he's mastering these gross motor skills. And that's important too. And so in the beginning, you'll see some drooling, because like I said, that's going to take a back seat because he's trying to figure out how to crawl. but as crawling is mastered and he's pretty mobile kid now, and your life has turned upside down. Then the drooling should only be present when the teeth are coming in. And then. When they're doing more advanced finger or fine motor tasks. Like the finger games that we were talking about or trying to color, or even speech that fine motor, then they might be drooling. during the teething too. So. Oh, you know, look at it and look at these different sections of fine motor and gross motor. And what is he really trying to do? And where is he in that developmental hierarchy as well. So then the final section that I really want. To, to be clear on about too much drooling. Is that you have to look at the other areas. We talked about what. Looks like a sick child and you better call your family doctor, but you also want to look at. Are his, because this is what you want. Right? You want clear sinuses and easy nasal breathing. And I talked about that back in episode 56. And I think it was titled strong possibility of why toddlers are grumpy and how to address it. so you, you want good nasal breathing? Right and clear sinuses. You want a good sensory perception in the mouth? Right? Can you brush. His mouth. Or clean his gums off. Does he have a hyper gag reflex? Is he stuffing his mouth? Right? And you also want, and this is one of the first things that I noticed when a new client would walk in my office door is your child's mouth at Rast is a closed. And so that would then lead back to good nasal breathing. If at rest. They're just sitting there with her good jaw alignment. Good jaw height. Comfortable lip closure and the tongue is resting up against the hard palate. Again, look back at pacifiers and we want to make sure that the pacifier isn't in their mouth all day, every day. That the pacifier is used to calm, your very, very fussy baby and help transition to sleep ONLY, and that's a hard one. So go back and listen to that episode. If you haven't already. And then the other thing to look at what you want is you want to see your child swallowing spontaneously every 30 seconds. And the stat that I've always shared with families for 35 years is we swallow about 2000 times a day five pounds of pressure every time we push our tongue appropriately against our hard palate, shaping the roof of our mouth and spontaneously swallowing. And a nanosecond, right? What you don't want to see is you don't want to see a stuffy nose with chronic mouth breathing. You don't want sensitivity in their mouth or over stuffing, right. Or poor tour. You don't want an open mouth posture at rest, you know, look at him in the back of the car. If a child is chronically drooling. They aren't swallowing. So that's infrequent, right? So those are symptoms that you want to say, okay, I have to up the ante. Let's buy some more chew toys. Let's do it together. Let's do some mirror work. Let's learn how to take turns, investigate with each other. If you see some of these symptoms that suggests that there's possibly low sensory perception in the mouth. low tone. Right. And so we want to then help them really improve through practice and that's all it is. And one of the primary ways that we can do that is by teaching your baby and your toddler. So a 5, 6, 7, 8 month old baby can easily learn how to drink through an open cup or to use a straw appropriately. And I'm excited to share with that in this next video here, because this is part of this masterpiece of those first 24 months. There's a lot going on and I. It can feel overwhelming. I know, but no matter where you are on this journey. You can always reset the stage. You can always look and gather information, do some self examination, make a new plan, right? Focus on one element at a time. And ask yourself, is he really too fussy at bedtime, right? Or is he starting to be more and more of a picky eater? W what else can I do? Or you could ask things like. is he really hard to soothe once he gets frustrated? What's what's what's their recovery time, like? Right. are they really trying to use gestures and words together to communicate? To share to be present with us. And do they really help enjoying being with you and try to do the everyday things that you're doing, like laundry and grocery shopping and sweeping and dusting and weeding and you know, sorting the mail, cooking cleaning all of those wonderful daily activities that they should. Be eager to be a part of. Right. So don't forget to download my packet, learn to self sooth for you and your baby. Have a great week. Remember, eat. Talk and play. God bless see you next week.