Drool management

Don't just leave your babies all wet and gross

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{I have a cold, so no voiceover today!}

I started out my mothering life (in 1980) in a bit of a vacuum. I hadn’t even really seen a baby since my early babysitting days in middle school. I was ignorant of the practical side of things, and my loosey-goosey, somewhat hippie attitude was not helped by the experts’ dismissal of all the old ways: most books at the time had little practical advice other than to scorn earlier practical advice.

One exception is a book called Your Baby and Child (affiliate link to this exact version that somehow came my way; don’t get the newer one). It explains a lot of things we’d otherwise have understood by watching our mothers and aunties take care of their babies.

Anyway, the approach of that book helped me problem solve and not just muddle through. For instance, I finally realized that the drooly, spitty baby needs to be taken care of properly and not just be left to stew in his own poor saliva and half-digested milk.

It’s not good for him to have the front of his outfit continually damp, especially going in and out of AC. He’ll get a skin irritation and a rash in the folds of his neck. Things will not smell that great. Teething is hard enough without that miserable condition.

There’s no reason for your baby to have a wet chin all the time (and for that matter, a runny nose). I notice many moms either changing outfits continually, or just giving up.

Instead, invest in or make a good stash of soft, terrycloth little bibs (like these, affiliate link). They aren’t for eating, because the baby is likely still nursing. They are for gently wiping his little mouth after a feeding, wiping spit-up, and wiping drool. There it is, right around his neck! And soon I understood that they go with whatever he’s wearing and are easily changed out, rather than changing clothes all the time. You can keep them in the diaper bag or basket so you have a fresh supply.

A stack of burp cloths should be in reach, wherever you may be. It’s nice to have some for wiping baby and putting on your shoulder for burps and drool. Small gauze or soft flannel receiving blankets work well (and you could cut them even smaller and hem with a simple zigzag stitch). When your baby is in bed with you, it’s clutch to have that cotton layer between him and your bedding.

Once you centralize the idea of a continual supply of clean, soft cloths, just for keeping your baby dry, it’s not so hard to manage the effluvia.

Be happy at home! As with everything here at the SFH, the best thing is for you to take my ideas, which come from my experience of escaping feminism to enjoy the gift of 46 years of marriage, seven children, and more than a score of grandchildren, and apply them to your situation with discernment, prudence, and confidence — and a sense of humor!

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