down syndrome and cleft lip/palate

[ldarnell92@hotmail.com]

hi, my name is stephanie and i have a daughter with down syndrome and a cleft lip and palate,so it does happen. genetics says its not related just a thing that happens and surely it happened to us(thats the way everone feels at first right) well that was the greatest gift i have recived in my entire life was a child that could change mine and so many others she is so smart she is developing at a higher stage than her age so she always is ahead and always learning...she is our little angel and beautiful. love to hear from someone else who maybe has the same stuff going on and to everone with a deformity of any kind love yourself and trust me everyone will see it ..god bless

[Anonymous]

Yours was a lovely posting to read. And I know of two other families with both cleft and downs, so somewhere along the line they maybe related ...or just co-incidence, who knows.
I'm glad you are enjoying the joys of parenthood so much.
Best wishes


Mitchy

[Kelly]

I am wondering if you can answer some of my questions. My first daughter was diagnosed with downs while i was pregnant and i lost her when i was 6 months along. after that i had a healthy son. i just had my third, another girl, born with a bilateral cleft lip and unilateral cleft palate. i have heard that there may be a connection between clefts and downs. we have been offered to test our new baby for downs, but haven't, as we'll know soon enough. but i am wondering what her chances are even though she doesn't seem to have the physical characteristics. i can't find any info on the connection between the two. i guess i just want a better understanding on why 2 of my 3 babies (and only the girls) would have these defects. coincedence? it seems we are good at beating the odds of having healthy babies. any answers?

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