Cleft lip & palate

[zippy4]

My 20 week scan has shown that our baby appears to have a cleft lip (and possibly palate). It is left sided but other than that we know very little. Everything else appeared normal, thank god! Does anyone have experience of this? We are meeting with a specialist next week for a 3d scan to assess the severity. We were both very upset but have come to terms with it, our baby will just be extra special xx

 

[LadyHutch]

Fortunately cleft palate is pretty easy to repair these days.

I am worried about it because I took lamictal early in pregnancy, unaware I was pregnant and cleft palate is the highest risked birth defect for lamictal moms. I'm still in the waiting game =/.

Let me know how it works out.

 

[maybethisit]

I read someone saying on here a couple of days ago that surgery for cleft lip and palate has improved enormously in recent years and that the child she knew who had had it you could not even tell hopefully the specialist can reassure you x

 

[kelzyboo]

Thats a lovely way of looking at things x

These things can be easily corrected these days, will be hard but you will get there and your beautiful baby is lucky to have parents like you.

Good luck and i hope you find support from someone in a similar situation xx

 

[zippy4]

LadyHutch I hope your baby doesn't have it. But just wanted to say, I did everything by the book and I have never smoked or anything and our wee bump still has it so you just never know but hopefully you will get the all clear.

Hubby and I have been doing our research and the operations are so good these days, it is just difficult to think of my baby needing several major operations and all the feeding problems etc xx

 

[cazza1982]

Zippy4: My son was born with a cleft lip and palate last year.

I don't want to go in depth about it on here, so if you want any advice, then just PM me.

x

 

[rachaelmoore8]

hi my nephew was born with a cleft lip last year. When they went for their 20 week scan it was picked up and they were told they didnt know how severe it was. They got sent to a specilist and had a 4d scan on behalf of the hospital. They found that it wasnt as severe as they first thought and it was just his lip in the middle that was the problem. When he was born my sister in law was very worried about how people would deal with it and would they treat him any different and to tell you the truth, honestly it really doesnt matter he was such a beautiful baby and once you had seen the lip you forgot all about it. What made it hard for her was that our other sister in law was due 4 week earlier and all was fine so she found it hard. From when she found out we were very worried as she seemed to be getting depressed, when they got taken to the cleft lip and palate ward to see other babies that have had the operation and got to speak to other mums going through the same thing that helped them alot and she seemed much happier about it. He has now had the operation on his lip and its healing extremely well. You can only see the line where it has been brought together and its just slightly red. He has a slight hole at the back of his mouth that makes his breathing sound like he has a cold but they cant do anything about that till he is older, and the doctors said when he starts talking he will proberly sound like he is talking through his nose.
All i want to say is that no body will love the baby any less. As my mother in law said to my sister in law if your child falls over and cuts his face would you love him any less? i havent been through it myself but we are a very close family so we have been through it together and yes its hard and upsetting but in time its gets better.
We dont see our nephew as any different to the other 4 nephews, he is never treated any different and he never was as i think that would have made her worse as she would have thought we were treating him different due to his lip.
i hope this has helped you and everyone is different i am not saying how you should feel i just wanted to share our experience with you.

Rachael

 

[zippy4]

Just an update . . . . we saw the specialist and he confirmed a unilaterial left sided cleft lip (and probably palate) but other than that he seems perfectly healthy Hubby and I are over the moon as we were panicking incase something else the wrong - also his cleft is narrower than we expected! He is just my special little dude xx

 

[kirski]

Our little boy was born with cleft lip and palate, we too were very worried im now 23 weeks pregnant with our second baby, he had his lip repared at 3 months and his palate repared at 9 months. His cleft was one sided but quite severe but didnt bother us at all, he was perfect. He is our special little boy.

 

[zippy4]

Our little boy was born with cleft lip and palate, we too were very worried im now 23 weeks pregnant with our second baby, he had his lip repared at 3 months and his palate repared at 9 months. His cleft was one sided but quite severe but didnt bother us at all, he was perfect. He is our special little boy.

It just makes them extra special doesn't it It is amazing how quickly you get used to it. His cleft doesn't bother me in the slightest now. I just can't wait to meet him. Did they look for it with your current pregnancy xx

 

[kirski]

Yes they checked at 16 weeks and also at 20 weeks with a 3d scan which i couldnt make out lol. They cant see anything so far but cant rule out inside his mouth. Im still nervous but at least we have the experence of having a little boy with a cleft. If you have any question i would be happy to answer