Feeding an infant is important not
only in providing nourishment; it also provides intimacy and closeness for both
the parent and the child. Infants with a cleft of the lip or of the soft palate
seldom have problems with feeding either by bottle or breast. In babies with
clefts of the hard palate, the opening in the roof of the mouth often causes difficulty
in creating adequate pressure on the nipple, thus creating an inability to suck
well enough to get adequate nourishment. Feeding the infant takes patience and
practice. We recommend soft squeezable plastic bottle with long nipples. You
can increase the flow by gently squeezing or putting pressure on the bottle. It
is important to feed the infant before he/she becomes too hungry.
Position the infant in an upright
position with the head tilted back slightly. This position allows the milk to
flow down into the throat and less into the nose. Infants with clefts do
swallow more air and need to be burped more frequently. At first, it may take
extra time, but this will steadily decrease. Feeding time of the newborn varies
from 20-30 minutes. When feeding takes longer than 45 minutes, the infant may
be burning up calories necessary to gain weight. If this occurs the feeding consultant
should be contacted to help with the feeding technique. Breast feeding the
newborn with a cleft of the hard palate is often unsuccessful. Generally the
infant cannot produce enough negative pressure to obtain ample breast milk to
provide adequate nourishment. Using a breast pump to extract the milk and
feeding the infant breast milk from a squeezable bottle is recommended.
