Has anyone tried this feeding technique??

[Jen]

Hi all!
I am a speech-pathologist at a Children's Hosp. in the West, and I have a newborn on my caseload with a complete bilateral cleft of the lip and palate. We tried a Haberman feeder twice today with not-so-great results. Mom has been syringing milk into his mouth - which takes about an hour for 20cc (2/3 of an ounce). I read in a textbook that children with severe clefts such as this one can do "just fine" with a preemie nipple that is cross cut pretty wide, then compressing it with their tongues against any palatal bone that is intact. Has anyone tried this? Nursing is going to attempt it this weekend, and I may even go in to see how he's doing. Does anyone have any other ideas that are better than syringing (this is so time-consuming and unnatural). THANK YOU for any help or pointers you can give me and the parents!!!

[Anissa]

Hi, when my son was born with bilateral cleft lip and palate they gave me the Ross nipple also and the cleft palate nursers(bottles which are softer than regular bottles)..When he first started feeding and for a few months until he got the hang of doing it himself I had to squeeze the bottle to make sure he was getting his milk...This is time consuming but worked really well for me...It is going to take time for the baby to eat at first, my son would take 1 hour to get an ounce down for about a month or so..Patience is the best key to making this work....Now he is 13 months and has not been on the bottle for a few months and can drink fine on his own from a cup...It just takes time at first to help them along...Hope this helps you..

[denise]

Our daughter was born with a cleft of her soft palate only. I had three different lactation specialists try to help with breast feeding. She had great mouth action but could not suck. (Learned to suck at 5 months) It would take 1 1/2
hours to get 1 oz of milk down her and she had to be fed every 2 hours.
If they don't get fed within 45 minutes they burn more calories than they take in.
We tried squeezing the nipple to get milk in her mouth but the bottle leaked. She could swallow milk but couldn't draw it out of the nipple.
We finally got an Evenflo bottle that was soft sided and cut the nipple larger. The bottle is squeezed slightly so some milk enters the baby's mouth. A overzealous feeder can express too much milk and make the baby choke and technique needs to be practiced - slow and gentle at first. It did speed feeding and she began to gain weight at about six weeks. ( At three weeks she was still below her birth weight.)
Hope this gives you some tips to work with.

[peter]

we used the evenflow nurser with great results. You have to practice squeezing the bottle at the right time and with the right amount of pressure. Our child would swallow and inhale, swallow then exhale. Good luck.

[kathyhart5@hotmail.com]

I used a small dixie cup to feed my son who was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. We then tried the premie nipple-with the cross-cut and would gently squeeze a special bottle that was made by Mead/Johnson. We got 2 of these bottles from Boys Town in Omaha, NE. I tried to find more bottles and had no luck. I used the small cup most of the time and used the bottle when we were gone and when someone else was feeding Ben. Knowone has the patience to use the cup but me because they would spill most of the milk. I also pumped my breast milk for Ben. My 6 months he was drinking from a cup by himnself. Wish I has computers and internet when Ben was born 15 years ago. I would like to help anyone I can. Just e-mail me. kathyhart5@hotmail.com