IT’S a breastfeeding mum’s nightmare.
Doctors have said that sometimes babies can be born with teeth. This is despite the fact that they are often tiny, have little hair, and cannot speak.
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A midwife named Angela posted a photo of the rare phenomenon to her Instagram page.
It featured a baby’s mouth showing two front teeth or lumps similar to them.
Angela said: “This little one will be evaluated for breastfeeding difficulties and see a pediatrician and possible dentist.”
“Natal teeth” are extremely rare (an estimated two per cent of newborns) – but if your baby has them, you’ll know about it.
It can cause problems with breastfeeding “because your baby may accidentally bite you while breastfeeding”, Stanford Children’s Health says.
It could also cause injury to the baby.
Because the teeth are usually small, loose and weak, they may fall out either at any point during a child’s infancy.
There is a chance that a baby or child may inhale or swallow the tooth if it breaks. If the baby is unable or unwilling to eat properly, it could injure its tongue or lips or become malnourished.
For this reason, a lot of the time the baby’s tiny gnashers are surgically removed if an X-ray shows that they are loose.
Typically teeth start to come through around six months of age, but natal teeth are present from a babies first breath, while “neonatal teeth” arrive within the first 30 days of life.
Doctors are baffled about why some babies have them. They appear almost always in the middle of their bottom gums.
India’s first baby was born with seven teeth.
“There appears to be an inherited tendency to developing natal teeth with up to 60 per cent of cases reporting a positive family history,” According to DermNet.
Some health conditions that implicate growth are also linked with neonatal teeth, including Sotos syndrome and Hallermann-Streiff syndrome.
While for most parents it’s nothing to worry about, some cultures are superstitious.
If a child is born with teeth, they are considered monsters in China and India as well as Africa.
But in England, it’s been believed the condition would “guarantee the conquest of the world”, researchers wrote in this medical paper.
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