newly adopted child with a cleft lip and palate

[Robin McEnany]

I just returned from Ukraine with a 6 month old daughter with a unilateral cleft lip and palate. I am looking for any information on infants who began the repairs this late. Thanks

[Calvero]

That isn't late at all ! My lip was repaired around that age, the palate was done around 15 months (though it is done sooner these days). So having a good repair is quite possible. Just go to any page talking about infant cleft lip repair, such as this one below:


<a href="http://www.plasticsurgery.org/surgery/cleftlp.htm">http://www.plasticsurgery.org/surgery/cleftlp.htm</a>


To find a plastic surgeon near you and advice on how to pick a good surgeon:


<a href="http://www.plasticsurgery.org/findsurg/finding.htm">http://www.plasticsurgery.org/findsurg/finding.htm</a>


You can also call Cleftline at 1-800-24-CLEFT for info or visit their site at <a href="http://www.cleftline.org">http://www.cleftline.org</a>


There are a number of other cleft sites, those are some of the good ones.


Best of luck with your new daughter!


Kim, The Cleft Club
<a href="http://cleftclub.cjb.net">http://cleftclub.cjb.net</a>

[Laurie]

We adopted 2 children from Russia last year at 12 and 20 months of age. Neither had had any repairs done before adoption. Our son had lip and palate repair done together at age 22 months. Our daughter had her lip repaired at 15 months and her palate repaired at 20 months. Both are doing very well - just a bit speech delayed which we expected due to the late repairs and the language change.