A creative doctor and her 4-year-old son are wowing the Internet with realistic surgery simulations the mom creates using play dough. The anonymous doctor, who goes by The Breakfasteur online, recently shared a detailed play dough Cesarean section (C-section) procedure she worked through with her little boy, and the detailed, informative play activity is blowing people’s minds.
“Cesarean play dough surgery for my kid’s 4th birthday,” the mom writes on Twitter. In the video, tiny hands help her cut through realistic-looking play dough layers of skin, fat and muscle to deliver a Spiderman doll. Once the doll is delivered, they go to work removing the balloon “placenta.”
As they work, the mom explains everything they’re doing, the various parts of the body and what tools they’re using. At one point, her 4-year-old even requests a clamp and suction!
The video has been shared more than 3.9 million times on Twitter, and many are wowed by the mom’s ingenuity and creativity. “I was born via C-section, and my parents had photos of the section (Polaroids!!) in my baby book,” a fellow doctor writes. “I used to look at them all the time when I was little because I loved seeing how I was born. Now I’m a doctor! I find this video brilliant and so nurturing to life & childhood creativity.”
“My 9-year-old wants to be an OB/GYN. This is awesome,” another person adds. “We are always looking for interesting resources for her because we aren’t physicians. She has watched this several times.”
But others worry that acting out real surgeries could be too disturbing or inappropriate for most young kids. “Wait,” one person writes. “What if the kid tries to cut their own tummy or a friend’s?”
Some are even accusing the mom of being too flippant about the potential dangers of C-sections. “I find this disturbing,” one person says. “Cesarean birth is still birth. This exercise ignores [the] sacred element, as if it’s any other surgery. Makes a good case for avoiding surgical birth and knife-happy OBs though.”
The C-section video isn’t the mom’s first or only play dough surgery video. She posted the first in June 2020, after her son was inspired by watching surgical procedures with her on YouTube. Since then, she has made dozens of other play dough surgery simulations, including heart surgeries, hernia repairs and hip replacements.
The videos frequently feature her 4-year-old son, but some also include appearances by her 2-year-old daughter. She shares the videos across social media and on her YouTube channel, which has nearly 5,000 subscribers.
In a post on Instagram, The Breakfasteur writes that she made the C-section simulation specifically to teach her son about his own birth and the important work of obstetricians, nurses, midwives and every other member of labor and delivery teams.
“Superheroes are a common topic in our home these days,” she writes. “We talked about how being a superhero isn’t just about having super powers or abilities — heroes are made by using whatever power they have to help others … To the OB/GYNs and FM/OBs who use their superpowers for their mamas and miracle babies (alongside a team of midwives, L&D staff!): You are heroes.”
