Clefts that occur only on one side are called unilateral clefts. When the cleft affects both sides, it is called a bilateral cleft.

Cleft lip and cleft palate can occur by themselves, or in some cases along with other problems. Most of the time, cleft lip or cleft palate is detected during routine scans in pregnancy.

Sourced the information from The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne website.

Causes

• The exact cause is not known.

• Genetic and environmental factors may be responsible; family history could also play a role.

The risk factors include:

• Alcohol consumption

• Cigarette smoking

• Insufficient consumption of folic acid and prenatal vitamins

• Being obese or having diabetes during pregnancy may also increase risk

What the future could look like

• Impaired voice

• Speech difficulties

• Snoring

• Feeding difficulties

• Ear infections causing hearing loss

• Missing teeth or extra teeth

Treatments

• 0- 6 months - Lip Repair

• 8-18months - Palate Repair & Grommets Inserts

• 7 -15 years old - Bone Graft

Depending on their needs, your child may need to have ongoing care from a cleft team. This might include a/an:

• clinical nurse consultant

• audiologist

• dental specialist

• ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon

• oral and maxillofacial surgeon

• pediatrician

• plastic surgeon

• speech pathologist'

This is the transformation of Rylen that was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate, the plate that he needed helped with bring the lip closer together to prep for his lip surgery when he was 4 months old.

Specialty Feeding Systems Available at
Cleft Connect Australia

Cleft Connect Australia is a great group of volunteers that provide support to those on the Cleft journey.

Their website also has some information regarding on clefts and what to expect for the oncoming years.

The special bottles that are needed for most cleft babies are also available to buy on their website.

Cleft Connect Australia also have hospital support bags.

Please click link below to head on over to the Cleft Connect Website if needing more information and for feeding products.