Drooling and saliva control

What does saliva do?

Saliva (spit) helps us to:

• clean our mouths
• taste food and drink
• get food ready for swallowing and digesting

Why does my child drool?

Young children and some older children may drool a lot. They do not start to control drooling until they can:

• keep their head upright
• keep their mouth closed
• feel the need to swallow

The amount of saliva made can be affected by:

• how much they drink
• chewing as more saliva is made when chewing
• eating or drinking foods with citrus flavours like oranges
• time of the day
• posture as more saliva is made when stood up
• taking medicine or being unwell
• being near food
• concentrating as having your mouth open during an activity may increase drooling

How you can help your child manage drooling

It will take your child time to control drooling.

• Do not wipe your child’s mouth. This makes more saliva.
• Do firm dabs to get rid of drool.
• Tell your child before you dab. Do not dab it away without warning.
• Encourage your child to keep their lips closed. Your child will need re-minding to do this.
• Encourage your child to keep their head upright.

If they are getting sore lips and chin, you can help by using a barrier cream. If you think your child is having lots of difficulties controlling drooling, you can speak to your doctor or paediatrician.

If your child continues to have difficulty with their saliva control, beyond the developmental age that drooling is still expected, the speech and language therapist can offer an assessment to look at the reasons why this might be happening and provide some further techniques for you to try.