Teething 9-Month-Old Has Strange Bump in His Mouth. Docs Think It's a Tumor Until They See a Toy Embedded in His Gums
A mom was changing her baby's diaper when she saw something that scared her.
Rowan Steiner, 31, said her son, Max, then 9 months, was crying during the diaper change — and that's when she spotted a massive blue lump by his gums. The Salt Lake City, Utah, mom of five said she and her husband rushed her son to the hospital, where he spent 12 hours being examined by five different doctors, according to Daily Mail.
Kennedy News & Media Part of a fidget toy that was in 9-month-old Max Steiner's mouth
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Docs originally thought it was a tumor but admitted it could be something else.
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'Throughout the day the doctors had mentioned it could be a toy. We were totally open to the idea because I have five children and a nine-month-old wants to put everything in their mouth at that stage,' Steiner said of the 2022 ordeal. But, 'I, his dad, and all of the doctors physically touched it ... every single person did.'
One doctor even said Max needed a CT scan. But when an ear, nose, and throat specialist examined Max, he used a dental tool to pry the 'mass' off — and the Steiners discovered it was a bubble from a fidget toy that had come loose while the tot was sucking on it.
Getty Stock image of a fidget toy.
'It was just suctioned so tightly that it wasn't moving at all,' Steiner told the outlet. 'We were like, 'How would this make sense?' A fidget toy was not what we were thinking of at all."
'We were terrified, and then when we found out it was a fidget toy, we were relieved.'
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Max had some swelling and bleeding around his gums after the plastic bubble was removed, but his mom shares, 'That was probably the best case scenario after thinking that it was going to be a tumor, or he could have swallowed it or choked on it.'
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