Polydactyly - should I have babies extra toes removed?

[lauraknightc]

Baby was born was with 6 toes on each foot, fully formed with bones etc. We’ve been seeing a surgeon about getting them removed and have had x-rays done etc to decide it would be the little toes to be removed. Just had a date through for the surgery and now panicking that we’ve made the wrong decision! When she was born you could hardly tell there was anything wrong with her feet but as she’s standing up the toes splay out to the side. Has anyone made the decision to have extra digits removed from their child??

Did you come across the BRAIN thing for childbirth related decisions? I used it when I had to make a similar decision for my son (hypospadias correction) and it was helpful.

If you're not familiar with it, it's an acronym that helps you remember 5 questions to ask about any procedure. (Obviously you can skip any which are obvious).

Benefits - what are they?
Risks - are there risks? What are they? How common are they? What would you do in the case of [specific complication]?
Alternatives - are there any? Why is this option being recommended over the alternatives? What are the risks/benefits of the alternatives?
Immediate - does it need to happen now? Is it any easier/harder to do it now as opposed to later? Can we have time to decide?
Nothing - what happens if we don't do anything at all?

NB - in the original acronym, I stands for Instinct, I just find immediate more useful personally.

Bertie - Thank you for that post

Really useful ACRONYM for every medical decision or operation even for us as adults

I would go ahead with the operation if it was my DC

I didn't have this but I did have and still do have extremely wide feet and so as a child had to have boys school lace up shoes - (no idea why boys were supposed to have wider feet than girls but there you go, this was the 1970s & 1980s)

I still wear men's shoes 9 or 10 as women's shoes are too narrow unless I go for very expensive ones

I agree if they are not removed it will be so hard to find shoes that fit. Also children can be cruel and having the surgery when they are an infant they won't even remember having it done.

My son was born with 6 toes on each foot and he is 2 years old now & his little toes on each foot look webbed more and it causes him pain and he don't wear shoes often because it hurts him .... However I want to have them removed for the purpose of him being teased when he starts school and finding shoes that fit correctly and the pain it causes him . My dilemma is suddenly his father says God gave him 6 toes for a reason which I find it being a control issue rather then a belief . I don't know which way to turn as I can't go against him as much as I want to .

Please do this for your child. I'm surprised it wasn't done earlier.

As a baby, their own decision isn't possible. Parents make all sorts of decisions for their children.