Cleft lip and palate
In the US one baby in every 700-1000 babies are born with a cleft lip and palate – where the lip and/or palate don’t fuse early in pregnancy.
With a cleft lip, there’s a gap that extends up to the nose; with a cleft palate there}s an opening in the roof of your baby’s mouth. Some babies can be born with both but it’s a treatable birth defect and your baby will be able to have reconstructive surgery in her firs two years to close the cleft.
There’s no obvious reason why it happens, although it does run in families (this means that if you already have a baby with the condition any other children you have are at a greater risk of having it too). There’s evidence that smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day makes you twice as likely to have a baby with a cleft.
Children with cleft lip and palate tend to be more susceptible to colds and ear infections. They can also find it hard to feed, because they need to be able to create a seal with their lips around your nipple to breastfeed, or the nipple of a bottle in order to bottlefeed. With a cleft lip or palate, the seal is not airtight, so your baby may find feeding difficult. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t try to breastfeed your baby, although you may need some assistance from a lactation counselor in getting him to latch on. If you choose to bottlefeed, a special prosthetic palate can be fitted to the roof of your baby’s mouth to help him suckle better.
Treatment
Cleft lip and palate can usually be surgically repaired in your baby’s first two years in a series of small operations. ?Surgery to repair a cleft lip is simpler, but repairing your baby’s palate is more complicated and he may need to spend a night in intensive care afterwards. Babies recover very quickly from the cleft operations and don’t experience much pain. Feeding your baby after the operation isn’t usually a problem.
Further surgeries may be needed depending on the severity of your child’s condition and can help improve the appearance of his lip, improve his breathing and stabilize his jaw (in some cases, upper jaw growth is slower than lower jaw growth). It’s possible he may have further surgery in adolescence, when he has stopped growing. Your child may also need dental and orthodontic treatment to align his teeth – until then, you’ll be shown how to clean his teeth with a soft sponge rather than a brush.
Cleft lip and palate can cause problems with speech development, so take your child to see a speech therapist when he’s around 18 months old.
The information on this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.
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Last Modified: 19/06/2007
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