A cleft is a split or seperation of parts. During the early part of pregnancy, seperate areas of the baby's face and head develop individually and then join together. If this joining does not takes place or is incomplete, the baby can be born with a cleft lip on one or both sides, with or without a cleft palate.
Breast feeding is sometimes possible, perhaps with the help of nipple shield, otherwise special bottles and nipples are readily available in the market.
A cleft lip can be surgically closed soon or some weeks after the child birth while the palate can be closed from about six to nine months. Further operations may be necessary for some children.
Affected children are looked after by cleft palate team, who moniters speech, hearing and teeth. Support for parents is also available.
If you have more heart touching stories of the patient suffering from these anomalies please send it to isclpcasecretary@gmail.com