Baby Born With Soft Cleft Palate

Cleft lip and cleft palate are facial and oral malformations that occur very early in pregnancy while the baby is developing inside the mother.

Baby born with soft cleft palate.

But in babies with cleft lip and cleft palate the fusion never takes place or occurs only part way leaving an opening cleft. Clefting results when there is not enough tissue in. Cleft lip and palate are some of the most common birth conditions that affect a baby s mouth and face. Babies with more severe clefts are not able to breastfeed.

Usually an oral surgeon is a part of a treatment team to treat cleft lip or cleft palate along with speech therapists ear and nose specialists and other medical professionals our surgeons offer consultations and treatment for cleft lip and cleft palate at our office in los angeles ca. Sometimes a baby with a cleft palate may have a small chin and a few babies with this combination may have difficulties with breathing easily. This type of cleft extends from the lip to the hard or soft palate. 1 causes and risk factors the causes of orofacial clefts among most infants are unknown.

About 1 in every 1 700 babies is born with cleft palate in the united states. A lactation specialist can teach you how to pump your breastmilk to give to your baby by bottle. Normally the tissues that make up the lip and palate fuse together in the second and third months of pregnancy. E very year in the us over 2 600 babies are born with a cleft palate and over 4 400 with a cleft lip.

Although most babies with cleft palate can t breastfeed some babies with a small or narrow cleft of only the soft palate may be able to breastfeed. Cleft lip and palate develop early in pregnancy when separate areas of the face begin to develop individually and then merge. Cleft lip and cleft palate occur when tissues in the baby s face and mouth don t fuse properly. A cleft palate can range from just an opening at the back of the soft palate to a nearly complete separation of the roof of the mouth soft and hard palate.

Infants with this type of cleft normally have extensive feeding difficulties and are often unable to breast feed successfully.