breast feeding with hair lip and cleft palate

[wendy davis]

Hi i am a student midwife doing an assigment on babies with hair lip and cleft palate.Please send me as much information as possible.
I would like to know if it is possible to breast feed with a baby with this problem
thanks wendy davis

[Anonymous]

HI, there is a difference in the physiology of cleft lip and cleft palate. It is the palate cleft that causes most of the problems when breastfeeding as there is a hole which allows air to escape into the nasal cavity and therefore the baby is not able to keep the breast in the mouth in order to suck. Many babies with a cleft of the lip only can be breastfed and I am sure that those who have managed it will respond here. Also, I would like to let you know that the term "hare-lip" is sometimes offensive to people. It is hare not hair and it comes from ancient associations with hares and witchcraft or the dark sciences. If you will write me privately I will send you some excellent research on breastfeeding and cleft. There are several dozens of scientific journal articles in the bibliography of this little booklet and there is some great information in it also. Please write me at bluenose1@home.com and give me your earth address and I will pop it in the mail to you.
Yours sincerely Pat Bacon Smith

[Anonymous]

Hi there, I think it all depends on the individual child. My son (now seven) had an incomplete cleft lip and was able to breastfeed perfectly both before, immediately after and for anohter four months after surgery. My daughter now three, had a bilateral cleft lip and partial cleft palate, and when she did latch on she fed strongly, but could only hold the suction by supreme effort, and only for seconds at a time. She also wasn't able to stimulate my milk enough cos she couldn't suckle properly. Within weeks, she had developed a secondary problem with the skin in her lips and nostrils splitting and bleeding with any kind of feeding, breast or mead johnston bottle, and she had to be syringe fed for the next three months. Our health visitor came up with that marvellous idea .. a syringe (minus the needle of course) was filled with milk and we simply squirted it in. It stopped the bleeding and gave her mouth a chance to heal before the surgery, which was necessary.
Mitchy

[Kelly]

I am nursing my son who was born with a cleft palate. It was a tremendous ammount of work, but after surgery it was possible. You can email me if you want more info. mommy2bb@yahoo.com

[cheezeballs69@yahoo.com]

hi, I'm pete, I have a cleft palate and h lip, and I can safely say no, you can't breast feed unless you want to drown the poor kid. or just make a big mess lol, but thanks for the offer lol. by the way im 36 and just looking for someone to chat with on this subject, but i was looking for someone with a comroderic outlook. pete

[Barbara Humphreys]

midwife interested in aiding women with breast feeding