Cleft palate

[Sarak7]

Hey guys can someone fill me in on what a Cleft Palate is??:confused:

Is it serious?

How many babies are born with it?

[bigglet]

Funny you should ask this - I just read all about it in a magazine last night!

Basically cleft palate is when your baby's lip or palate don't form properly. The tissues between the lips and palate form between the 6-8 week of pregnancy but when it doesn't an opening is left. It is unclear why it may happen but it is the fourth most common birth defect and can be picked up via ultrasound as early as week 15 of pregnancy.
Affects about one in every 700 babies with cleft lips more common in boys and cleft palates more common in girls.

However these days cleft palates can be fixed with surgery and amount of treatment varies with each case - lip repair done about 3 months of age and palate repair about 6-10 months old. Babies do have problems feeding initially.

This information was all taken from the June/July 2006 Mother & Baby magazine :thumbsup:

For more information see http://www.cleftpals.org.au

[reAllytee]

We have a member on here who's daughter has this problem.
Her nick is the_queen so im sure if you PM'ed her she would be more than happy to answer any questions you have :)