Tongues

OK, just thought I'd ask.
How many of our kids have a protruding tongue?
Do you do anything ahout it? As in trying to get them to keep it in their mouths?

Aden did for the first 1 on and off and in his 2nd year he did a bit not much. Now at 2 + it has happened a few times but nothing like we did see in the first 12 mths.
Did we do anything ?

Well we were told to by other parents and nurses at the hospital when he was born to stick his tongue back in and tell him no.
Well I did this and it just upset me, I noticed him doing it more and more. It felt terrible for doing it too.
So after talking to our GP and Pead we stopped doing it (We had only tried it for a week)

This is what I have found and some of what our Doctors have said

I found that Aden did it more when his reflux was worse, and still find this is the cause if it happens now, It’s only because I have given him food that upsets his tummy.
Many baby’s go through a stage of this it just seems more noticeable with our children before of the lower tone in the jaw joints…. Aden’s mouth defiantly sits more open from his low tone.
Our doctors have said it is a development stage that many baby’s’ go through and not to worry about it.

What upset me was the thought he would do this as an adult cause I have seen others doing it.
Now I just have to wonder if it is because years ago our children weren’t given proper reflux meds.
So they are in a habit of tongue thrusting, because of the acid in their throats.
Also it is possible it is a sensory issue for some baby’s.
Either way I’m not worrying about it, this past month I have seen Aden do it twice. He is differently growing out of it. He didn’t really do it a great deal though.

Oh also we give Aden a dummy. has will suck his tongue if he hasn’t' got it in bed with him

Ciara's was more often than not sticking out in her first year or so. We just told her to stick her tongue back in- and when she was younger we would gently push it back in her mouth and say that her tongue belonged in her mouth. A good way to help is to encourage them to do things that make them suck (drink from straws, blow kisses etc) and close their mouths (Like Moo like a cow- it is hard to moo with your tongue hanging out )

Ciara does still have it hanging out very occasionally- it seems more a sensory thing now and it is usually only out in appropriate circumstances (like licking dirt off her hands or trying to catch bubbles with her tongue or lapping like a dog ) She has never had reflux or anything like that but it was something she grew out of doing

Andy mostly has his tongue in his firmly closed mouth. When he is tired or concentrating though, he will sometimes leave his mouth open, but his tongue just kind of sits there, he doesn't stick it out I used to just model it to him and say "close your mouth"

Amarli is only 3mths old but she sticks her tongue out alot too I just touch her chin softly and she stops. It sounds like it is a problem with our kids mostly in their first year, so i dont really have any ideas on what to do for an older child. Though i used to tell my son when he was little if he didnt keep his pants on the crows would come and get his "willy" Good luck.......Robyn

Talitha stuck her tongue out a lot too at first but now she doesn't do it very often. She has pretty bad reflux. She does have a long tongue when she sticks it out to lick something or because she has something in her mouth she is trying to get rid of. We did try to push it in for a while but then we just encouraged her to do things that meant it had to stay in her mouth. She sometimes has her mouth open and her tongue kind of just sitting inside mostly because of breathing issues and when she is asleep.

Ha Ha on the crows. Would have freaked my little guy out. He was permanently naked for about 6 months because he just wouldn't keep clothes on. His willy even got tanned. LOL

heheheh i've never seen a tanned willy before! we have strict rules about keeping undies on. That's about all my kids normally wear though lol...

Jirah sticks her tongue out and we normally push it in and say "Keep your tongue in" but she doesn't do it as much as she used to. She also has a super long tongue and can even lick her belly!

Cas

lol at all the loooong tongues! Milly has a long one too.

Where Milly goes to school, there are a few kids with ds in the senior classes. I have noticed them with their tongues hanging out a lot. I was just wondering about this. See, Emily hasn't had her tongue out like that since she was a couple months old. If she stuck it out I would either tap her chin, or her tongue and say "tongue in". It wasn't long until she kept it in all the time.
So, do they just progressively start protruding it again?
What do you think?

long tongues!!! samantha use to stick her,s out at about new born to 5 months and when she started on solids i use to tap the tongue, with vegemite and say no back in please she loved that!!! and eventually stopped!! just a help for hint

Abbie's tongue is always out but she cant breath thru her nose and i think its all too much to open her mouth and breath and keep the tongue in, but i do gently push it back in her mouth and it will stay there for a couple of minutes before its back out again.

Amarli is funny now, we only have to say to her in a stern voice.........Put that tongue away or we're not talking to you, and in it goes and stays there
You know it is quiet funny that we are so intent on making them keep their tongues in when on the other thread we complain about comments people make about Ds. Is not a protruding tongue part of Ds, and are we the same parents that say we wouldnt change our kids for the world interesting..........

Hi Robyn, are we the only ones up, should really go and spend some time with the hubby
Agreed with you there again why do we do it... acceptance maybe, i dont know myself.

Yes i think we are the only ones up
I dont have a hubby to spend time with

Interesting thread this one. Tuscan sometimes pokes his tongue out but the Docs in the special care nursery told us that was quite normal for a child his age. Someone there also said to me that some kids with DS can have large tongues which causes them to often stick them out. They didn't think Tuscan had a particularly large tongue, but I guess we'll see. Could it also have something to do with lower muscle tone issues?

Hi Tim, I was told by our paed that it is not that they have large tongues, although i do think some of them do, its the low muscle tone in their tongue. But who knows it could be a combination of the two

Yeah right, that makes more sense. I'm pretty sure it was an older nurse in the SCN that told me about the large tongues so I'm pretty tempted to go with your suggestion. This certainly wasn't the case with all the older nurses but so many of them seemed to think they knew everything about every condition just because they'd been a nurse for 20 years, it was incredibly unhelpful.

I thought we made them put it back in to help with the low muscle tone and therefore, later on eating? As it is very hard to eat nicely with your tongue hanging out Although I have seen some people accomplish it

I heard that's it's due to a small palate so therefore not enough room for it to sit comfortable inside. Perhaps it's a combination of larger tongue, low muscle tone, small palate and just that's what babies do. I don't recall any adults with DS having a protruding tongue. Might be wrong though!

Cas

Gaz and I feel strongly at the moment that we would like the tongue to stay in, but that might change in the future. If it turns out that it's just part of her, than that's ok too, but we will encourage her to keep it in and see if it works out. I am reading "You can call me Ellie" at the moment (yes, still reading it!!!) and Ellie's mum always prompted her to put her tongue back in, with success.

When Georgia was born we looked at her tongue, and were relieved to find that it looked a normal size. We thought this meant that it wouldn't hang out of her mouth, but now I know that is not the cause, as you said Tim, low muscle tone issues, I asked the physio at Early Intervention about it. Georgia sticks her tongue out quite a lot, and often I will touch her chin and she will put it back in, must be a reflex. I am certainly not too worried at the moment though, as don't all babies stick their tongues out? I don't want to be worrying about something that is probably just a normal part of her being a baby!

Tori-Shaye is the same, she has her moments, but I was of the understanding that it was due to a smaller palate like you Cas. Perhaps it is a combination of a lot of things. She tends to do it more when she's doing her exercises, rolling around stretching for things. Also when she's having certain solids where the texture feels strange to her. I read on another site that a speechy suggested when feeding solids, gently push the tongue down with the spoon to encourage it to stay in there, so I've been trying that. I hate telling her to keep it in and tapping her chin for her to put it back in, but I guess thats all just to guide her. I'm sure though after reading everyones posts, that they will eventually learn how to manage it.

I can't touch Jirah's chin to get her to put her tongue in - her tongue covers it! I think the red patch she has on her chin at the moment is from her constantly licking it She's in a bit of a lick-y phase at the moment - even licked my laptop monitor the other day

Cas

caspearson wrote:

I can't touch Jirah's chin to get her to put her tongue in - her tongue covers it! I think the red patch she has on her chin at the moment is from her constantly licking it She's in a bit of a lick-y phase at the moment - even licked my laptop monitor the other day

Cas

Aden is in the licky stage too,. he spills his water on the floor just to lick it up