Baby yet to be born - cleft palate

My first GC was born with an horrendous cleft lip and palate.
It really was a bad one.
She had the lip repair at 3 months and the palate at 8 months, she then had bone taken from her hip and grafted into her upper jaw and today at 21 she is fortunate that her speech and hearing are perfect.
She has had some cosmetic ops on her lip but on the whole the outcome has been good.
My dentist told me he has patients who he would never have know had cleft palates until he saw the tiny signs when looking closely into their mouths.
Try to reassure her.

Firstly, I'm sorry to read the news about the baby. However, modern surgical techniques are amazing and I'm sure the little one will be fine after their impending operation.

Both my premature twin daughters were born with clefts and heart conditions. Both had cleft repairs when they were almost a year old at Great Ormond Street Hospital. I’m pleased to say neither have had any problems due to the clefts - that was 40years ago. There is a cleft lip and palate support group. Best wishes.

It was a wee bit better. It was a bit late for her to change speech patterns and we were attuned anyway. Her biggest problem had been difficulty eating and constant infection. That did improve, albeit a little late for her.

I'm sure with the help of the speech therapist, your grandson will improve.
My daughter had speech therapy from the age of three, she was blue when she was born, due to the cord wrapped around her neck. It had a detrimental effect on her speech.
It was a very long process and took a lot of patience, but she got there in the end.
She is now 36 and like her mum, never shuts up.?

Wishing your little grandson all the best.

Marydoll sorry didn't read your reply before posting.
Your aunt's situation sounds very similar to DGS. His speech is very hard to understand at times.
Did your aunt's speech improve post op, do you know ?

Mum is lucky to have advanced warning. DD had terrible trouble trying to convince the
medics there was something wrong with our youngest DGS. He had various exams and tests to find out why he had so much trouble feeding. One pediatrician virtually accused DD of having Munchausens by Proxy.
A wonderful surgeon eventually operated on him, he was six by this time.
He's had two surgeries. He recovered very quickly (home the next day) both times and is now having speech therapy due to the fact he is having to learn to speak differently. This shouldn't be a problem in this case as the defect will be corrected before the child learns to talk.
I hope all goes well for the child, as I say it's a major advantage to know early.

Thank you Oopsminty and everyone else. My cousin actually lives in Brazil, but I would like to send her some positive outcomes so she has something to focus on. The baby is expected around Christmas.

polyester, understandably, your friend will be distraught.

Without meaning to minimise the seriousness, surgery for cleft palates has improved dramatically from when my aunt was born eighty years ago with a cleft palate.
She went through most her life with a hole in her palate, unable to be understood, until her dentist organised treatment for her at seventy.

Just be there for your friend, she will need your support, as will her daughter. We would rather suffer ourselves, than see our family suffer. ?

A much more serious condition for children born outside of the west but with current medical practices it is far more likely than not that there will be little trace she ever had the condition. Completely understand your cousins reaction though op.

A colleague of mine went through this with her granddaughter

Little girl had the correctional operation when she was about 6 months old and you'd have no clue she'd had a cleft palate at all. It's incredible what the medical world can do today

Some excellent information here

Good luck

bwc.nhs.uk/cleft-patient-stories/

Just that there are excellent specialists and after care for babies with cleft palates. There are also specialist feeding bottles and breast feeding aids that can help initially. Perhaps your cousin could investigate the facilities in her DS or DD area but try not to show her anxiety/distress to the parents to be as they will be already very anxious.

polyester57, it's a common and easily corrected condition. Thank Heavens it's nothing serious! My cousin had a daughter with a heart condition - and lost her.

How very sad polyester57.
But your friend needs to be possitive for the family even though she herself is feeling sad.
Besides,the operation that the little one will go through takes no time at all,and it will make a heck of a difference to the future of the baby.