Question about 8 month old and teething/tongue

[Faithr]

We have a baby staying with us.  His two lower front teeth are in and I think the upper two are trying to erupt. But he does something odd that I've noticed over the last couple of months.  He regularly holds his tongue between his lips.  I wish I knew how to put a photo on here, but he often has his tongue peeking out between his lips.  It just stays there, he isn't thrusting it or anything.  It is sort of his resting face (LOL) when he isn't smiling or making noises.  My own kids did not do this.  Is this within the realm of normal or is there something amiss?

 

 

[JonesinIndiana]

I don't think it's normal. Relaxed lips together, teeth apart, tongue on roof of the mouth. It helps the skeleton form correctly so the maxilla(upper jaw) is outside of the lower jaw and the palate is gently curved not a deep, high vault. It might be a problem when the child starts to speak or when the adult teeth come in, around 5 or 6. I know a young child that had something similar, all the photos were of her tongue outside the mouth. As she's gotten older, almost 7, her upper jaw is underdeveloped and inside the lower. I've never seen that in baby teeth, only in adult teeth.

[Tangerine]

I've had two children with protruding tongues, and we are still working to understand why.  It seems there is a genetic component at play.  An ENT has said my oldest has a large tongue, a dentist said a tongue thrust, the orthodontist says she has tight cheek muscles.  We're hoping orthodontia will help her accommodate it.  The tongue coming out of the mouth can also be because of low core strength.  I think they call it muscular overflow.  My 2 with the protruding tongues seem to have low core strength as well.

[Faithr]

Thanks ladies.  There does't seem to be anything else wrong with the baby except he is teething and the teething really seems to hurt!  Lots of discomfort, drooling etc.  I'd forgotten how tough teething can be.  He is extremely strong and coordinated for his age.  He took his first step the other day!  He just turned 8 months!  He's very strong.  I though am a little worried about maybe palate development, though he is making da da and ba ba noises right on schedule.  So that's good.  We've started tapping his tongue to get him to take it in and he does retract it but then goes right back to holding that funny way again later. 

 

Anyway, thanks for the input.  We'll keep trying to figure it out.

[momacacia]

A chiro with specialty in infant cranial sacral therapy would probably have some thoughts I this for you. I know they have therapies for some of these things, and palate, jaw muscles, etc.