When Your Child is Born With Cleft Palate

After 12 months of anxiously awaiting the birth of your child you see them for the first time and see that they have cleft palate! Your first reaction will probably be one of disappointment. With the latest technology however most parents know before their children are born whether there are any abnormalities. But this still does not change the feeling that parents have when they see them for the first time. After the initial feelings have passed you will be able to think more clearly. No one factor can be isolated as the cause for cleft palate. Possible factors are stress, medication, antibiotics or even pollution. Heredity is also considered a possible cause. But if you think about it things could be worse. You should be happy that other than a facial abnormality your baby is perfectly healthy.

There are several problems that you should be prepared to face. For example every baby with a cleft palate is unable to breast-feed or even to suck. You will need to speak to your pediatrician on how to feed the baby. One technique that I know about is pumping the milk from the mother and carefully feeding it to him with a very small spoon. The first thing that many parents do is begin reading books, especially those dealing with treatment. If the problem is discovered prior to the baby being born than you can start taking the necessary steps ahead of time. Usually you would be advised to talk to a plastic surgeon, which will usually be able to direct you to a specialist.

The doctors will usually want to wait until the baby is a little older before they decided to operate. This is according to what some very close friends of mine had to go through. There are actually several doctors that would be involved, a pediatrician, a nose and throat specialist, an orthodontics specialist and a speech therapist. Also there are usually several stages to the procedure. First the pediatrician would prepare your child for the surgeon who would operate on the lip, and after about a year or so later they would operate again to repair the palate and the roof of the mouth.

Infections are also quite common in children with cleft palate. Usually in the throat and ears, which will require the attention of a specialist? In just about all cases of cleft palate the teeth of the child grow in crooked or irregular which is why you will need the help of an orthodontist. Obviously because of this they will have problems with their speech which is why you would need to see a speech therapist on a regular basis. It is very necessary for the parents to be patient and listen and carefully take in all of the information that they are being given. Eating can be a real problem however, especially when it comes to swallowing liquids. It takes constant care so that your child will not choke on their food.

I really never realized how much work and care would be needed for a child with cleft palate. You will usually have to see you doctor on a weekly basis to make sure that he is eating enough and to help the parents adjust to this way of feeding. Once you become more comfortable with caring for your baby the visits will probably be less frequent. It should comfort you to know however that this type of birth defect will in no way affect the babies’ mental development. They will still function like a normal active energetic child.

You will also have to deal with other people’s reaction to your baby. You should make no effort to hide your babies defect, and do not try to pamper the baby. Treat them like any other normal child, and they will be just fine. Remember usually by the time they are 5 or 6 the problem would have been corrected by surgery. Also remember just because you had one child born this way does not mean that another baby will be born this way. So do not be afraid to continue adding to your family.