Dear Wise Ones,
I received a phone call from a client, looking for a way to ease her
baby's discomfort.  Her son is 4 months old and has been breastfeeding
well since birth.  In the past couple of weeks, the baby has been
showing increasing signs of pain while nursing due to an epstein pearl
(cyst) that has been in his mouth since birth.  The pearl is the size of
a pea and is located on the hard palate, just behind the area where the
upper front teeth will erupt.

Originally the epstein pearl was the same color as the surrounding
tissue and looked like an attached piece of skin.  Lately it seems to be
getting larger, appears inflamed (purplish in color) and looks like a
blood blister.  The pediatrician has looked at it recently and said that
it will just fall off with time.  The pediatrician offered no
suggestions on ways to provide relief for the baby's pain while nursing.

This baby experiences a great deal of pain every time that he nurses!
The other day he bumped his chin on mom's shoulder and went ballistic!
Baby has become very clingy and won't let mom put him down and certainly
won't let anyone else hold him.  Is there anything this mother can do
(or apply to the epstein pearl) to ease her baby's discomfort while
nursing?  Should she look into a second opinion from an oral surgeon for
possible removal?

Thanks for any insights that you can share!

Janet Talmadge, IBCLC
Naperville, IL

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