how to feed baby after cleft palate surgery

We encourage you to keep the babys head up at a 45-degree angle during feedings. Feeding a newborn baby is one of the first joys or potential challenges when welcoming a new bundle of joy into the family.

Kids Health Info Cleft Lip And Palate Infant Feeding Cleft Lip And Palate Cleft Lip Clefts

After surgery for cleft palate your child needs a balanced diet of non-irritating foods.

. Your baby will be able to bottle or breastfeed shortly after surgery. As your child recovers they will require less and less pain medicine. Special bottles are available for feeding infants who have a cleft palate.

Right after surgery this will probably be a narcotic pain medication that is given through your childs IV. During evenings weekends and holidays please call 614 722-2000 and ask for the plastic surgeon on call. Your child will have some pain after their cleft lip repair which will be controlled using pain medications.

You will learn together how best to feed your baby. A cleft is an opening or split in the palate. To feed well babies need to position their lips and tongue around the nipple or artificial teat and create both suction and compression during sucking.

Babies can resume feeding breast bottle feeding on demand following surgery. Cleft palate repair is a surgery to fix a cleft or hole in the palate or the roof of the mouth. CLEFT LIP AND PALATE NUTRITION.

Due to the swelling your baby may need some extra. After the baby has surgery to close the lip she or he will be able to breastfeed or drink from a bottle as soon as they are interested. For a short while after surgery your child may not eat as well as before surgery.

We do this to protect the incision inside the mouth. There are a number of ways to help these. Babies with cleft palate commonly have feeding difficulties.

Hold your babys cheeks forward to help create a smaller space in the mouth and increase the oral contact with the nipple. Maintaining good nutrition both before and after your childs surgery is important. These feeding devices will lower the chance of injury to the lip.

The palate more commonly referred to as the roof of the mouth separates the mouth from the nose. A baby with a cleft lip andor palate will have some special needs with feeding. Sometimes babies will feed from a special TenderCare Feeder or from a syringe with Brecht tubing for the first few days after surgery.

In a few days your baby will be feeding and acting just how they did before surgery. There was no evidence to suggest that maxillary plates assist growth in babies with clefts of the palate. There is weak evidence that breastfeeding is better than spoonfeeding following surgery for cleft.

Your baby will initially be in in the NICU Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of your hospital right after being born. Feeding Your Baby After Lip Repair Surgery Babies recover quickly from a cleft lip repair. The following are suggestions to help aid in the feeding of your infant.

A feeding tube will be inserted through one nostril and will go down the back of your babys throat and into his stomach. 34 with unilateral cleft lip and palate and 16 with isolated cleft palate. Children with just a cleft lip without a cleft palate do not routinely have feeding difficulties.

It can be helpful to keep a record of what your baby takes in the first few days at home after surgery. Within a few days after surgery most babies will be able to eat the way they were fed before the surgery. Cleft Lip Fact Sheet Children S Health Queensland.

When general anesthesia is needed there are important rules for eating and drinking. Most babies with a cleft of the palate are not able to use standard bottles or solely breast feed. Because the roof of the mouth is not formed completely babies with cleft abnormalities often have trouble creating enough suction to pull milk from a standard bottle or the breast.

Having a child born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate is difficult especially when considering the extra work that goes into feeding. Feed using only a spoon - no fork or other utensils. This is important to prevent infection and encourage healing.

Your babys mouth will be sore for several days while it heals. The palate is important for feeding and speaking. Your baby is also learning to swallow using this new palate.

Presurgical Infant Orthopedics For Cleft Lip And Palate Nasoalveolar Molding At The Hospital Sick Children Health Group. Sucking is more difficult when a baby is born with a cleft palate or combined cleft lip and cleft palate. The cleft or hole in the roof of the.

Simultaneous Unilateral Cleft Lip And Palate Repair India. For infants with cleft lip andor palate feeding is often a significant hurdle to overcome. When the gum and lip are cleft the infants suction.

We discourage bottle feeding the first 1-2 weeks after repair of the palate. After cleft lip surgery. Cleft Lip No Cleft Palate If the infant has only a cleft lip there should be no loss of suction and the infant can suck well from either bottle or breast.

With a cleft palate milk can enter the nose during feeds and while breast milk does not irritate the delicate tissue here formula milk can leave deposits which may result in a snuffly baby. This cleft can make feeding hard for your baby. This may require some creative finger maneuvering on.

Sucking for children with a cleft palate is difficult because of the poorly formed roof of the mouth. Here are some ideas for what and how to feed your child. However babies born with a cleft lip and palate or cleft palate only have an opening in the roof of their mouth- between the mouth and nose.

If the baby has a cleft lip only with a normal palate heshe should be able to eat normally using standard techniques. You can reach the helpline at 614 722-6299 Monday through Friday 8 am. Cleft Palate Program 4480 Oak Street Vancouver BC V6H 3V4 604-875-2345 1-888-300-3088 wwwbcchildrensca Cleft Palate Surgery The cleft split in the roof of your babys mouth palate has been repaired.

By the time your child is discharged from the hospital. Give soft pureed or mashed foods for 3 weeks. If your baby has a cleft lip try gently holding the upper lip together while bottle feeding to help create the needed seal around the nipple.

Nov 09 2016. One baby was withdrawn from the study due to medical. Your childs cleft palate surgery will be done under general anesthesia an-es-THEEZ-ya which means that he or she will be sound asleep during the surgery.

Formula-fed babies may require 23 teaspoons of cooled boiled water after a feed to ensure that any milk is removed from the nasal airways. Before cleft palate repair youll need to develop feeding methods other than the bottle feeding of breast milk andor formula. This can cause stress frustration and anxiety for the family in the first days and sometimes weeks of life.

Adequate fluids are important and your clinical nurse specialist CNS will advise you about the amount to aim for. Surgical Repair Of Cleft Lip And Palate. Babies with cleft lip only can even breastfeed if you desire.

Cleft lip and palate infant feeding. Place your child in a sitting position for feeding. The most immediate concern for a baby with cleft palate is good nutrition.

Children can be given drinks and suitable.

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