A 16-Month-Old Baby With Tongue Double The Adult Size Flashes First Smile After 2 Surgeries

A 16-month-old baby girl from South Dakota whose tongue was larger than an adult tongue (caused by a rare condition) can now smile finally after undergoing two surgical treatments to prevent it from choking her to death. Baby Paisley Morrison-Johnson has Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) which is an overgrowth condition affecting many births all over the world.

They say a baby smile can lighten up a room. It's different in Paisley Johnson's condition. Born with an uncommon overgrowth disorder known as Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome, Paisley can't smile because an oversized tongue hangs out of her mouth which causes her difficulty in smiling, feeding and worst breathing.

In fact, she needed to be fed through a tube in her stomach till she was six month old, according to MailOnline. "Doctors tried bottle feeding he, but they couldn't find any nipple that would help her," mother Madison Kienow said to Caters News Agency. She added that the baby had to have a gastronomy-tube fitted because not enough food was getting into her stomach.

To make Paisley more comfortable, parents, Shannon Morrison-Johnson, 23 and Madison Kienow, 21, decided to schedule the first tongue reduction operation when Praisley was 1-year-old, as per GoodHousekeeping. However, it did not solve the problem as the muscle grew back to its original size not long after the surgery, the report continued. So they tried again and this time cutting off over six inches of the baby's tongue.

After the second surgery, finally Paisley smiled. "Since recovering she smiled for the very first time, I couldn't believe it and was shocked by how beautiful my little girl looked," mother Madison via the Mirror. She added that being able to see her smile is absolutely huge for them and now she is not even having difficulties eating which is a massive relief for them.

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome affects females and males in equal numbers, according to National Organization for Rare Disorders. The condition is calculated to transpire in 1 in 13,700 persons in the general population, the report added.