Betty used flavored benzocaine gel or oil of clove as a topical 
anesthetic. Often the babies would scream because they didn't like the 
taste of the gel. They also didn't like the pressure on the frenotomy 
site to stop the bleeding. The cut itself usually elicited little reaction.

Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC  NYC  cwgenna.com

On 3/17/2013 1:23 AM, Linda Anderegg wrote:
> Hi, Katherine,
>
> I've assisted with many frenotomies.  Some babies cry as soon as they're
> swaddled.  Some never make a peep.  I've seen some with a more high-pitched
> cry like in the video when the snip is made.  Others actually sleep through
> it.  We rarely gave any anesthetic, usually just sucrose drops.  The babies
> I observed seemed to react more strongly to the anesthetic being injected.
> If it was my baby, I would prefer to just have the sucrose drops.  I don't
> recall any babies crying after the procedure was over, which only took
> seconds to perform, longer if gauze pressure was needed to stop the
> bleeding.  Many babies had only a drop or two of blood.  That was when it
> was performed by the Neonatologist.  It was different when the ENT performed
> the frenotomy because he would do a blunt dissection with his finger after
> the snip.  Pretty gory but it gave good results.
>
> Linda Anderegg, BSN, RNC, IBCLC in Chicago
>
>
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