SMILES

I think I may be pregnant with my fourth child,not planned at all. My third child was born with a cleft lip, the other two were fine. I thought I read if I increased my amount of folic acid I might prevent a cleft from occurring again. what is the max. amount a pregnant woman (with history of baby having a cleft)should take to try a prevent reoccurence? I heard you should take folic acid a couple of months prior to becoming pregnant...but that time has past for me.Any advice would be helpful.

Hi, my dr. recommended .8mg or 800micrograms per day with my 3rd preg. She said they recommend this amount for women with history of having children with clefts or neural tube defects (spinal bifida). My 2nd has a cleft lip and palate and my first and third has none. Congratulations!

Hi, Congratulations. My first child was born
with a bi-lateral cleft, and his surgeon advised
me to take 5mg of folic acid, this i did for about
4 years until i finally managed to become pregnant.
My new baby nearly 5 months old was born free from cleft.
good luck to you

I was born with a cleft lip and palate and my OB/GYn perscribed folic acid for me, though I can't remember how much it was. But be aware that there is such a thing as too much of it. My OB/GYN origanally prescribed too much and the pharmacist refused (rightly so) to give it to me. Then the OB/GYN relized she made a mistake in the amount and changed it.


Best to go talk to your OB/GYN, maybe a couple professionaly opinions about it.


Also want to say that the cleft lip/palate is formed sometime during the 5th-8th week of pregnancy.


To give you some hope, I was my parents first child, and they three more after me and none of them were affected.


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

First off, Congradulations! My 1st child was born with a cleft lip and palate, and also down syndrome, before I tryed becoming preg. again I did take a folic acid pill, that I just bought from a local store. I took one a day , and did until my 4th month! Remember if you ate healthy , you were most likely getting the folic acid you needed, my 2nd baby was born free of any problems of any kind,,good luck an god bless!

I heard about folic acid too. I had a son with a cleft lip and palate. I don't know if you 3rd child was with the same father or not as the others but that would be a good reason why the 3rd was born eith it and not the others. I'm sure folic acid might somehow reduce the chances but I'm sure that you probably shouldn't take any more than what a woman with no cleft lip babies. I actually think that too much is also not good. I think I asked this querstion as well.

I took 1000 with my pregnancy. I was on a vitamin before conceiving my son, and he was still born with a cleft lip and palate. Also, my diet was high in folic acid - I am a huge orange juice drinker. Sometimes you do the right things, and things just happen.