Nursing Infant With Cleft Lip - Advise Please?

Hello All,
My son will be operated on to have his cleft lip fixed this week. It's an
incomplete cleft of the lip and part of the gum. The surgeon explained to
us about the procedure and said that we can continue to breastfeed the baby
(2 month-old) afterward. However, we're deeply concerned that our son may
not want to latch on due to the pain that sucking motion will cause to his
lip. We're expressing milk with a pump and save them just in case we need
an alternative feeding procedure. Here are some question we hope that some
of you may have the answer to:

- Is there a website where we can find article regarding our concerns?
- Do you have any practical advise that can help us with breastfeeding our
son?
- My son will need further surgical procedure performed at around 12 month-
old, do any of you have the same experience?

Thank you in advance for any input you can share.

Regards,
Alan


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In article , NG User
writes:

Hello All,
My son will be operated on to have his cleft lip fixed this week. It's an
incomplete cleft of the lip and part of the gum. The surgeon explained to
us about the procedure and said that we can continue to breastfeed the baby
(2 month-old) afterward. However, we're deeply concerned that our son may
not want to latch on due to the pain that sucking motion will cause to his
lip. We're expressing milk with a pump and save them just in case we need
an alternative feeding procedure. Here are some question we hope that some
of you may have the answer to:

- Is there a website where we can find article regarding our concerns?
- Do you have any practical advise that can help us with breastfeeding our
son?
- My son will need further surgical procedure performed at around 12 month-
old, do any of you have the same experience?

Thank you in advance for any input you can share.

Alan,
My heart goes out to you! My son was born with a cleft palate (but not lip) in
April of this year. We were not able to bf b/c he is also tongue tied and none
of the dr's we saw would clip it. Anyway, I'm SO GLAD that your wife if able
to breastfeed!

Yes, after the surgery he may be a little adverse to nursing. In that case,
you can cup feed him. You should be able to find a Medela cup feeder at
medela.com or you can ask your plastic surgeon about them.

There are some cleft support groups online if you are interested.
Cleft Advocate's Family-to-Family Connection
Your on-line source for education and inspiration!
Learn more at Cleft Advocate! http://www.cleftadvocate.org

That's a good starting place.
Feel free to e-mail me personally as well. Although I'm not nursing my
cleft-affected son, I do pump for him. We will face surgery for his cleft
around his first birthday, so we'll be going through some similar situations as
you.

Best of luck to you! I wish your son a long and happy nursing relationship!


koa
Still nursing James, 02/06/01
EP'ing for Joey 04/02/03 (BCP)

Hello,

Our little one was born with a submucosal/partial cleft. It was no more
difficult to nurse with him, but milk came out of his nose!

Look at the following links - they are great. Also do you live near a
Children' s Hospital. St. Louis has a great "Team" for cleft palate
issues. It was well worth the 2 hour drive!

http://www.preemie.com/nubawicllipo.html

http://www.widesmiles.org/outreach/ws735.html

http://www.kellymom.com/links/bfhelp-cleft.html


Good Luck,
Mutti

Thank you all for the support and the links. The resources were incredibly
helpful.
We were very grateful that Alex can latch on and feed like a hungry cub;
Though, he spits up through his nose easily. Because Alex is such a
voracious eater, we were concerned that pain and discomfort will prevent
him from feeding at the normal level.
Again, thank you for your quick helps & replies.

Regards,
Alan


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