Feeding a baby with cleft lip and palate is not difficult. As long as you choose the proper nursing feeding method, pick the right pacifier, adopt the right feeding posture and patiently practice feeding skills, a baby with cleft lip and palate can get adequate nutrition and enjoy the warmth and affection when nursing and feeding, just like any other baby.
1. Mother’s milk feeding: The mother’s breast is warm and comfortable, and the nipple is soft and suitable for the shape of the baby’s mouth. Breast milk contains immune antibodies from the mother, which can increase resistance, non-allergenic, both safe and very economical and hygienic. Before breastfeeding, it is advisable to pay attention to the following matters: (1) The mother needs to maintain a happy mood, because anxious emotions can easily affect the secretion of milk.
(2) Wash your hands, clean your breasts and nipples, massage them before feeding, the main purpose is to help the milk flow.
(3) Take a comfortable position, preferably sitting on a chair with armrests.
(4) The baby should be allowed to hold the nipple and areola while breastfeeding. The mother can hold the cleft lip gap with her fingers to help sucking. For babies with cleft lip and cleft palate, it is often difficult to breastfeed because of the lack of sucking power, so it is better to use a “special bottle teat for cleft lip and palate” to feed. If you still want to breastfeed, you can use a breast pump to suck out the breast milk and then put it into the bottle.
2.Bottle feeding: (1) Choose a squeezable, plastic bottle to help babies with poor sucking power.
(2) Choose a larger, softer teat. Generally speaking, latex teats are softer than silicone teats. The opening of the pacifier is preferable to Y or cross-shaped, because when the opening is pressed, the pacifier mouth will open and the baby will not choke. Parents can use a “cleft lip and palate bottle teat” with an air vent and throttle to facilitate feeding.
(3) Control the flow rate of milk to a speed that allows milk to flow drop by drop when the bottle is turned upside down.
(4) Before feeding, pour a little milk in your wrist to test the temperature.
3. Feeding precautions: (1) The correct position of the pacifier should be towards the complete lip side and palate, never towards the cleft, so as to avoid abrasion of the nasal septum or nasal mucosa, causing pain and thus affecting the amount of feeding.
(2) When feeding a baby with unilateral or bilateral complete cleft lip and palate, in order to avoid rubbing the cleft palate and to help with the sucking action, an intraoral aid, a dental flap, made by an orthodontist can be used to complete the sucking action.
(3) The baby must be held at 45 degrees or face to face and kept in a comfortable position.
(4) Do not lie down for feeding to avoid milk flowing into the nose or choking.
(5) Your baby can easily swallow a lot of air, so you need to feed him/her in small portions. When you pause in between, pat your back to help burping to avoid spitting up.
(6) After breastfeeding, you can let your back lie prone or sleep on the right side, mainly to help digestion and to prevent inadvertent choking when milk spills.
(7) After breastfeeding, besides feeding boiled water, you can also use a cotton swab with boiled water to clean the nostrils, palate, tongue and dental bed to avoid the accumulation of milk limescale, which can cause oral infection.
(8) When the mucous membrane is broken, you should ask your doctor to examine and treat the wound so that it can heal as soon as possible and reduce your baby’s discomfort.
(9) It is normal for milk to flow back out of the nose when breastfeeding, there is no need to be too alarmed, just stop feeding temporarily and continue feeding after the baby coughs or sneezes.
(10) Back patting method: You can put the baby straight on your shoulder or hold it straight on your mother’s lap, hold it by the armpit with one hand and fix the head so that the head is tilted sideways while the body is tilted forward, then pat the back to help burp. Each feeding should take no more than half an hour. If it takes longer than that, it means that the baby is trying too hard to suckle and there is still something wrong with the way she is breastfeeding, so you should consult your health care provider to adjust it.