Filing baby's teeth? (x-post)

[NYCVeg]

Added to our 1001 breastfeeding problems, we're now having issues with babe's top teeth--they're really sharp, nursing is ALWAYS painful, and she's opened up the skin a few times. Nursing at night is especially difficult and the pain usually wakes me up so much that I can't get back to sleep. We're kind of at the end of our ropes. Dd takes no bottles/sippies and eats no solids so I never get any relief.

I've been seeing an LC to work on positioning and other solutions, but nothing has helped. She told me that, as a last resort, she's had clients who got especially sharp baby teeth filed down by a pediatric dentist. To do this with a baby this young (dd is nearly one), I'd need either to use nitrous sedation or hospital sedation--both are available in my area, although the dentist who does nitrous sedation is much, much closer.

I'm not sure if this is just the worst idea imaginable or if it's a good idea. I'm struggling to get through everyday of nursing and dd is still so young--I planned to nurse for at least 2 years, but it's hard to know how I can keep this up with things the way they are. The idea of nitrous sedation for my 1 year old really concerns me, though.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I would really appreciate any insight.

[mayamama]

My first instinct would be to tell you NOT to alter your baby's teeth. It seems quite the extreme way to go. Also the fact that you'd have to drug your babe would make me anxious as well. I don't know if this helps, but I know what you're going through. When my dd's teeth came in, I was gasping in pain and woken up by my own yelping in the middle of the night our of a deep sleep. However, it has gotten better. It took about a month of really BAD nursing experiences, but I think my breasts must've gotten tougher or she got used to how teeth work into the nursing equation. Is there any way you can wait and see for a little while longer? If not, I don't know what to tell you except come back here and see what other mamas have to say. Good luck!

[NYCVeg]

Well, we've been dealing with problem for over 2 months now. I'm generally not a "jump to an extreme medical solution" kind of girl, but bfing has been HORRIBLE for me since the day she was born. We've dealt with: oversupply, OAL, palate issues (on her part), bruising, cracking, bleeding, treatment resistent thrush that went on for 2 months. Most problematically, I have Raynaud's syndrome, so nursing is always somewhat uncomfortable for me, and the top teeth have just made it so much worse. It's just gotten to the point where I don't know how much more I can take, especially with no solids or alternative feeding methods. I've tried encouraging the solids a bit more, just in the hope that maybe I could cut back on a feeding or so a day, but dd is simply not interested. She nurses at least every 2 hours during the day (sometimes more) and 3-5 times at night. Often she wants both breasts in a feeding, so it's hard even to rest them.

But, yes, I'm not very keen on sedation. The way the LC described it to me, I just pictured a little buffing of the edges to smooth them out--not something that serious. I don't want to make her teeth shorter, I just want to smooth out the little sharp thingies at the ends. She actually said she's known moms who have used a nail file to smooth the teeth a bit! The dentist I spoke to (well, her front desk person) seemed to think it was a much bigger deal. So I don't know.

[Amris]

The first thing I'd do is sit down with the pediatric dentist and find out what really is involved. Until you're informed, you're really just operating from the standpoint of "OMG, MEDICAL WORK, NOOO!" point of view. You don't know who's right, who might be exaggerating and who might be minimizing.

Next, you have to remember that baby won't be keeping these teeth more than a few years. You basically need to evaluate the value of her baby teeth being filed a bit versus the value of your nursing relationship.

Then consider that, while drugging a child isn't ideal, and isn't something we want to make a habit of, all of life is potentially risky. If your little one broke her arm, you wouldn't hesitate to get her some medical care- xrays and casts and whatnot... including sedation and shots and whatever else was required to ensure that this didn't cause her arm to never work again.

So baby can't go to formula without suffering, and you can't continue to nurse without suffering. It's not ideal to alter her teeth under sedation... but it's also not ideal for either of you to suffer on an ongoing basis, either.

Really, it all boils down to whether or not you believe she can recover from being drugged once as a baby. If she will recover, plus she will only have those teeth for a limited time... but breastfeeding is a lifetime "positive," then despite it being not optimal, it appears to be the "lesser of two evils," to me.

That being said, if it were ME, because of the hell I've been through nursing so far, and because my life situation (and my DD!) allow for it, I would change to express pumping. But, my DD will take a bottle, so that's an option for me.

Sadly, that's not ideal, either, and I freely admit it's possibly a copout. Here's the thing, though. If your DD's teeth are effecting things like this (which is not natural), then I'm not sure that you can afford to let the nursing relationship go. I say that from an orthodontic point of view. If you let the relationship lapse now and go to the bottle when you're already having teeth issues... then braces may well be in the future for her.

There really is a lot for you to think about, but without finding out if the teeth issue is yours or hers, and without knowing exactly how invasive the treatment REALLY is... you're making the water even muddier.

You need information, and then you need to simply pick the "lesser evil," and go with it, and NEVER beat yourself up for it. Pick something, go for it with full conviction and faith in it being the right thing to do, and do it, and then move on with your life.

In 20 years, when she's getting married and she's pregnant and she just bought a new house and... stuff... this will be a minor blip on the radar. Put this into the perspective of her entire life, mom. Really, I know it looms huge right now, but how important is it, honestly, that her baby teeth were filed a bit 20 years ago?

I think she'd be more effected by braces later on when she can be made fun of for them. Right now, nobody's gonna say, "Oh, look at your silly filed teeth that you'll lose before kindergarten!"

I'm not downplaying it, like I said, I know it's looming huge for you right now. And the whole fear of sedation thing isn't a small thing. Go find out if you can do the nitrous oxide. It's far easier to recover from than general anesthesia. Ask if she'd have to take antibiotics (that's what really wreaks havoc).

Educate yourself. Then make a choice. And again, try to put it into perspective against her lifetime. Not to minimize it, just to see it realitically and without the fear colored glasses.

[NYCVeg]

Amris--yes, you're absolutely right. I think I need to speak with the dentist first (the one I called--I only spoke to her front desk person) and THEN the one who does the nitrous sedation AND my pediatrician so I can see what's what. I have to say, after a year of bfing pain, I am SICK of it. I just want to be able to nurse like a normal human being.

I do think you maybe overemphasize the "trauma" of braces, though. I had 'em, my sisters had 'em, my brother had 'em, dh had 'em, HIS sister had 'em...I never thought it was that big a deal. Given the whacked out teeth in dh's family, we've pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that dd is likely going to need them.

[Amris]

Originally Posted by NYCVeg

Amris--yes, you're absolutely right. I think I need to speak with the dentist first (the one I called--I only spoke to her front desk person) and THEN the one who does the nitrous sedation AND my pediatrician so I can see what's what. I have to say, after a year of bfing pain, I am SICK of it. I just want to be able to nurse like a normal human being.

I do think you maybe overemphasize the "trauma" of braces, though. I had 'em, my sisters had 'em, my brother had 'em, dh had 'em, HIS sister had 'em...I never thought it was that big a deal. Given the whacked out teeth in dh's family, we've pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that dd is likely going to need them.

Oh, well, I never had them. I was just trying to give "perspective" to traumas you remember versus ones you don't, and stuff. And attempting to fit it into the long range vision.

Everyone I've known who had them seemed to be pretty upset by them... of course, I knew them in the time they had them, so I'm sure in the long range vision of life, the perspective probably changes on those, too.

[lisac77]

My sister had her teeth filed down after she got her braces off. She said it was totally painless and only took a few minutes. I would ask around and see if you can talk to some more dentists.