Cleft and Lip Palate

Cleft lip and/or cleft palate occurs in one out of every 700 babies.

During an unborn baby’s development, the palate (also known as roof) of his/her mouth is supposed to be formed with no opening (cleft) on any part of it. A cleft palate results when the palate’s two sides do not meet by the 10th week of a woman’s pregnancy. When a woman is in the early stages of her pregnancy, her baby’s face develops in separate units first. Later, those individual units join as one.

The cleft palate can independently exist or it can exist in conjunction with other defects present at birth (face and skull). Cleft lip is a common counterpart to cleft palate. The head and neck birth defects that occur most frequently are cleft palate and cleft lip. Feeding (sucking, swallowing), speech developing, and hearing can all be affected if cleft palate is not treated surgically.

Dental, sinus, and ear issues can also occur.What precisely causes cleft palate is not fully known. However, genetic and environmental factors may be two contributors. Mothers who themselves were born with the defect put their babies in an increased risk group for developing the defect, too. When trying to determine just how at risk an unborn child is, several factors can be looked at:

How many people in the family have the defect
How close they are to the baby (blood relation)
How severe their individual cases were.

Clefts can sometimes occur out of the blue in a newborn. If the baby’s mother did not have the defect herself, she may still put her unborn child at greater risk for developing it. During the duration of a woman’s pregnancy, she should use caution when taking certain medicines.

She should also steer clear of

Radiation exposure
Infection
Drugs
Cigarettes
Alcohol

Facial deformities at birth can signal the presence of a form of cleft palate. However, contrary to what most may assume, the degree of facial deformity does not necessarily reveal how serious the defect is. Instead, where the cleft exists dictates the defect’s severity. After 14 to 16 weeks of growth in the mother’s womb, an ultrasound can be performed to check for symptoms of cleft palate. However, this method of detection cannot be counted on entirely.

In order to treat the defect, often more than one surgery is necessary. The first occurs when a child is between 12 months and 16 months and the last around the child’s teenage years. Post-surgery issues may arise for which special treatment is required. During the time between the first and last surgeries, speech therapy may be introduced. Dental and orthodontic treatment may also be administered. Even with the most severe cases of cleft palate, breastfeeding can still be performed. Education and equipment may be delivered to mothers from lactation consultants, craniofacial specialists, and speech pathologist to ensure proper breastfeeding is provided to children with clefts.

Child cleft treatment improvements have been made by medical professionals. For more information on cleft palate, please visit the Cleft Palate Foundation’s Web site: cleftline.org and here are some recommended readings.