Victorian Clinical Genetics Services VCGS provides genetic consultation, counselling, testing and diagnostic services for children, adults, families, and prospective parents. The Genetic Support Network of Victoria GSNV is connected with a wide range of support groups throughout Victoria and Australia and can connect you with other individuals and families affected by genetic conditions associated with cleft lip or cleft palate or both.
Babies born with a cleft lip alone are usually able to feed well. But babies with a cleft palate often have difficulty with creating enough suction during feeding to draw milk from the breast or a regular bottle. They tend to need bottles and teats specially designed for babies with cleft palate. If your baby is not able to feed directly from the breast, you can still feed your baby your expressed breastmilk. Talk to a midwife, lactation consultant, maternal and child health nurse, paediatrician or paediatric speech therapist with experience working with babies with cleft lip and cleft palate about how you can do this.
Breastmilk protects your baby against infections and other common health problems. Breastmilk is beneficial for all babies, but it is particularly beneficial for babies with a cleft palate because:. The Australian Breastfeeding Association provides information on the benefits of breast milk for babies with a cleft palate, and helpful information on managing feeding. Babies born with a cleft lip alone usually breastfeed or bottle-feed well. Some babies breastfeed better with the cleft facing upwards.
The breast tissue usually fills the gap caused by the cleft and allows efficient feeding. Your hospital health care team will give you a referral to a lactation consultant and a paediatric speech pathologist to provide support regarding positioning and maximising feeding efficiency. Babies with a cleft palate usually have difficulty creating enough suction to draw milk from the breast or bottle. This is because air leaks from their nose to their mouth.
The degree of difficulty depends on the location and severity of the cleft palate. If a baby has a cleft lip and a cleft palate they may not be able to compress the breast or teat well enough to push milk from the breast or bottle. Babies with cleft palates usually require special bottles and teats to be able to feed well.
It is important to get help to find what works best for you and your baby. Help is available through lactation consultants, hospital midwives, maternal and child health nurses.
They can:. Your hospital health care team will give you a referral to a paediatrician and paediatric speech pathologist for further support and review. A number of bottles are available for babies with cleft lip and cleft palate , including:. In most cases a baby with a cleft lip and palate can be fully bottle fed.
In some rare cases, if the baby is unable to feed successfully using a bottle, they may require a short-term naso-gastric tube for feeding.
This is a tube that passes from the nose into the stomach. If tube feeding is necessary for your baby, your hospital team will help you. If you need to continue tube feeding your baby once you leave hospital, your hospital health care team will help get you established with the appropriate support network — such as registering you for a home enteral nutrition HEN program.
Read more about feeding a baby with a cleft lip or palate. This is also known as a cleft clinic or cleft team. Your baby will be referred to a cleft team at birth or soon after. Referrals to a cleft team may be provided by your GP, ultrasound specialist, obstetrician or maternity team.
A cleft lip can be treated with lip repair surgery. This usually happens when the baby is around three to six months of age. Often, an altered nose is associated with a cleft lip. Cleft lip repair involves reconstructing the shape of the lip and the nose and joining the tissues that were not joined before birth. When having cleft lip repair surgery your baby will be placed under general anaesthetic.
This means they will be asleep during the surgery. Read more about cleft lip repair surgery. Cleft palates have to be surgically repaired before the baby is ready to speak, usually between nine months and one year. During the operation, nearby mouth tissue is used to close over the cleft. Some children will require further operations, such as pharyngoplasty, to help seal the mouth from the nasal cavity.
Some children born with cleft palates will have speech difficulties after surgery. Speech pathology can help overcome this. This will need ongoing attention from their ear, nose and throat surgeon. Depending on the location and severity of the cleft, other treatments might include:. Your child may need some or all of these treatments, depending on their condition.
Surgery to repair a cleft lip usually occurs in the first few months of life and is recommended within the first 12 months of life. Surgery to repair a cleft palate is recommended within the first 18 months of life or earlier if possible. Children born with orofacial clefts might need other types of treatments and services, such as special dental or orthodontic care or speech therapy.
With treatment, most children with orofacial clefts do well and lead a healthy life. Some children with orofacial clefts may have issues with self-esteem if they are concerned with visible differences between themselves and other children. Parent-to-parent support groups can prove to be useful for families of babies with birth defects of the head and face, such as orofacial clefts.
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Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Birth Defects. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Facts about Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate. Minus Related Pages. Click here to view a larger image Click here to view a larger image. Joshua's Story. Cleft Lip. Cleft lip A cleft lip is an opening or split in the upper lip that occurs when developing facial structures in an unborn baby don't close completely.
Cleft palate Open pop-up dialog box Close. Cleft palate A cleft palate is an opening or split in the roof of the mouth that occurs when the tissue doesn't fuse together during development in the womb. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic.
Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Wilkins-Haug L. Accessed April 3, Crockett DJ, et al. Cleft lip and palate. Cleft lip and palate repair: Correcting abnormal development. American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Campbell A, et al. Cleft lip and palate surgery: An update of clinical outcomes for primary repair. Facts about cleft lip and cleft palate. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cleft lip and cleft palate. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Brown A. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. March 5, Cleft lip and cleft palate pediatric.
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